Planting in Southeast Michigan

[JackCity63]

Like the title says, I am growing in southeast Michigan. I am a first time grower, and I got some plants in last Saturday. With the sudden snow in early April, I decided to pot them and keep them inside until the weather got a bit better. I was wondering if now would be a good time to plant, now that the weather might be stabilizing, or if I should wait until it gets a bit warmer.

 

[24ChainsDG]

My general rule of thumb for S.E. Michigan is to wait until Mothers day to plant. you are not going to harvest all that much year one as is so better safe than sorry IMO.

 

[JackCity63]

My general rule of thumb for S.E. Michigan is to wait until Mothers day to plant. you are not going to harvest all that much year one as is so better safe than sorry IMO.

Awesome! This will give me a bit more time to finish my garden now too. The plants came in a bit earlier than I expected.

 

[24ChainsDG]

What hops are you planting and what is your trellis setup? I miscalculated the weight of the plants in year 3 and have to rebuild the trellis.

 

[JackCity63]

What hops are you planting and what is your trellis setup? I miscalculated the weight of the plants in year 3 and have to rebuild the trellis.

I have one nugget, one Zeus, and one cascade. I hope those are good, from what I've read they should grow. The cascade had already grown about an inch in the pot. I have a similar set up to the forum titled 2014 new hop garden. 4X4 box with ~7 ft high polls, that I will wrap twine around.

 

[signpost]

Yay! Metro-Detroiters!

I am growing hops for the first time as well. I got my plants in the ground on Saturday, right before the snow hit. I covered them with some rice hulls (from the shipping package) and a good amount of hay. I was just too excited about doing something in the garden to wait any longer. I'll let you know if my enthusiasm ends badly.

Oh, and right before planting them, I worked in the spent grains from my brew the day before (about a 13.5 lb. grain bill). They were smelling strongly like a sour mash after sitting out over night, but I'm sure they will be good for the soil composition.

 

[24ChainsDG]

I have one nugget, one Zeus, and one cascade. I hope those are good, from what I've read they should grow. The cascade had already grown about an inch in the pot. I have a similar set up to the forum titled 2014 new hop garden. 4X4 box with ~7 ft high polls, that I will wrap twine around.

I made a sail style trellis that ended up about 15ft tall, 3 years into growning Cascade and Chinook and the were about 10ft or more above the top of the trellis. New plans are to make the top of the trellis 20ft or more as the cascades take off in Mi.

 

[Homercidal]

Cascade will grow like a weed. Not sure about the others.

Plan them to grow 20 feet or so. The full bines can weigh a lot if you don't cut them back and thin the bines down to only a few at a time. 20 feet of several bines does weigh a bit.

I sunk a 4x4 post a few feet in the ground and cut it off about 2 feet up. Then I planted another 16' post on top of that and braced it with 2x4's on each side. I can loosen the bolts that go through everything and pivot the 16' post to the ground for hanging string or harvesting. Much easier than trying to climb a ladder!

 

[brewcat]

If you can dig. Plant them. They'll start growing right when it starts warming up.

 

[wmubronco]

I'll have 4th generations growing from the previous years... they get stronger and taller each year. Did not even mean to have them last year but they sprouted up.

Cascade topped everything last year I had a great yield.

 

[thaymond]

I have one nugget, one Zeus, and one cascade. I hope those are good, from what I've read they should grow. The cascade had already grown about an inch in the pot. I have a similar set up to the forum titled 2014 new hop garden. 4X4 box with ~7 ft high polls, that I will wrap twine around.

Nugget is a big producer in green growth, and zeus has been my big yield plant. Cascade tripled output last year. Mine are just now beginning to break ground and begin growing leaves.

I hope you have 3 4x4 boxes. Your hops will most certainly tangle if they're all on one box. I have a tough time keeping them apart in their own separate boxes.

Get them in the ground as soon as the ground is soft. Let everything grow in the first year, don't cut or hack anything. Let that root ball get big and healthy.

 

[JackCity63]

Nugget is a big producer in green growth, and zeus has been my big yield plant. Cascade tripled output last year. Mine are just now beginning to break ground and begin growing leaves.

I hope you have 3 4x4 boxes. Your hops will most certainly tangle if they're all on one box. I have a tough time keeping them apart in their own separate boxes.

Get them in the ground as soon as the ground is soft. Let everything grow in the first year, don't cut or hack anything. Let that root ball get big and healthy.

I currently have only one, but now that the weather is a bit nicer, I should finish the other two by the weekend, and then in the ground they go! I actually modeled my boxes after your other post.

How many vines(I forgot what they are actually called) is it safe to train around the same piece of twine? one plant already has 4 large ones, and just sprouted another.

 

[thaymond]

I currently have only one, but now that the weather is a bit nicer, I should finish the other two by the weekend, and then in the ground they go! I actually modeled my boxes after your other post.

How many vines(I forgot what they are actually called) is it safe to train around the same piece of twine? one plant already has 4 large ones, and just sprouted another.

I'd probably keep it to 1 per line, but I've had 2 or 3 on a line. It's just easier for harvest to have less tangled mess. They thicken out. A lot.

I'm interested to see how your boxes progress through the year. Best of luck.

 

[JackCity63]

I'd probably keep it to 1 per line, but I've had 2 or 3 on a line. It's just easier for harvest to have less tangled mess. They thicken out. A lot.

I'm interested to see how your boxes progress through the year. Best of luck.

I'm planning on posting pictures of the plants in the ground, once I get em in. Now I just have to get home form work with enough daylight to make some progress.

 

[JackCity63]

This is the plants when I got them a few weeks ago:

Here is the garden:

Another angle all strung up:

Zeus:

Nugget:

and Cascade: