Damonic
Well-Known Member
First time hop grower here which does NOT excuse such a rookie mistake.
I ordered 6 varieties of rhizomes and was so damn busy I wasn't able to get them in the ground right away. I'm also moving this fall and wanted to find a foster home for a season once they started growing. So I decided to plant them all in a large starter pot. At least they wouldn't go bad and I'd be able to repot later.
Now I didn't just thrown them all in without any way of identifying them. The rhizomes came with paper tags identifying each one. I also made a "map" of where each type was planted in the pot. So I figured I had two methods of confirming what was what after they sprouted.
So they've been growing nicely and I decided to re-pot them in individual pots this weekend. I neglected to realize that the paper tags (inkjet printed most likely) would bleed badly after frequent watering. 4 out of the 6 were still legible and I had positive ID's but two had disintegrated completely. According to my map I know which should be Cascade and which should be Nugget. But now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if I mixed those up during the repot process.
These are first year plants and I'm not counting on them producing, but once they do will I be able to confirm which is which from the hop cones? From what I can tell, Nugget cones are long and tight whereas Cascade are elongated. Will it be obvious or will I have a hard time discerning? Will I have to brew to tell? Will I ever know for sure?
(From Freshops, hopefully they won't mind!)
NUGGET
CASCADE
I ordered 6 varieties of rhizomes and was so damn busy I wasn't able to get them in the ground right away. I'm also moving this fall and wanted to find a foster home for a season once they started growing. So I decided to plant them all in a large starter pot. At least they wouldn't go bad and I'd be able to repot later.
Now I didn't just thrown them all in without any way of identifying them. The rhizomes came with paper tags identifying each one. I also made a "map" of where each type was planted in the pot. So I figured I had two methods of confirming what was what after they sprouted.
So they've been growing nicely and I decided to re-pot them in individual pots this weekend. I neglected to realize that the paper tags (inkjet printed most likely) would bleed badly after frequent watering. 4 out of the 6 were still legible and I had positive ID's but two had disintegrated completely. According to my map I know which should be Cascade and which should be Nugget. But now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if I mixed those up during the repot process.
These are first year plants and I'm not counting on them producing, but once they do will I be able to confirm which is which from the hop cones? From what I can tell, Nugget cones are long and tight whereas Cascade are elongated. Will it be obvious or will I have a hard time discerning? Will I have to brew to tell? Will I ever know for sure?
(From Freshops, hopefully they won't mind!)
NUGGET
CASCADE