time to harvest?

[brian_n]

Here are a few pictures of my first year Cascades. There's some browning on the tips, and part of the cones are starting to turn yellow from green. A little bit papery. I dont think I'm a good judge of if it springs back or not. A good amount of lupulin and they smell great. Should I harvest or let it brown a little more?

thanks

 

[B-Hoppy]

One trick I learned from a guy who used to breed hops was to take a cone and hold it stem-end up between both of your thumbs and index fingers and try to pull it apart. It's good to do with some very under ripe cones to see what happens. As they get closer to ripeness, the bracts(petals) will begin to cleanly break away from the central strig without tearing apart or ripping the strig. There's a lot of variables out there when it comes to determining harvest time but I've found this tip to work pretty well. Hoppy Harvest!!

 

[day_trippr]

Those look ripe to me. I'd pick 'em...

Cheers!

 

[Jamminjoenapo]

Figured I'd just add to this thread instead of starting my own. They smell kinda like tomato plants with a little hops mixed in but the tomato smell is most prevalent. A few have turned a little more pale green than the others, but this looked the most ripe.