Recent content by tac0meat

First year cascades, grown in whiskey barrel halves

Houston, TX If they are catapillars, is there a way to get rid of them without harming good insects like lady bugs? I bought a bag of lady bugs to sprinkle around my plants the other day. I had aphids on my grapes but haven't found any yet on my hops. I noticed these guys above while...

From the looks of it maybe there ought to be an official "what's eating my hops thread" but I found these and I am pretty sure they are the cause of the holes in my leaves any idea what they are and how to get rid of them?:

Not to hijack the thread, but I have drainage issues in my yard as well. I have a partially covered, concrete patio that will become covered by a couple of inches of water whenever it rains. The water will recede completely within 24 hours of the rain. I was thinking about a french drain...

I wouldn't think it would hurt you. When I was in boy scouts, we used this stuff called polar pure to disinfect our drinking water. It was basically iodine, mix it with the water, let it sit for a bit, then drink. I have probably drank hundreds of gallons of water treated with the stuff.

I saw a deal on discovery channel all about coffee. They talked about this stuff and sent it through a tasting panel. They said that it was rated the same as many low grade coffees. The quote that they ended with was "poop coffee tastes like poopy coffee" Personally, I like Juan Valdez. My...

My only concern with adding the oak to secondary is that I have heard that leaving it on the oak for more than a couple of weeks imparts way too much oak flavor and I would like to bulk age it for a couple of months

Looks like Spec's here in Houston carries Chaucers and Redstone, I will pick up a bottle of each and give them a try!

I am planning on making a Bourbon Barrel Porter which calls for oak cubes and bourbon. Can I just add these to the primary after fermentation has settled down? That way, I can let the beer sit on oak for 1-2 weeks (or whenever my taste buds say it has had enough) and then rack off to secondary...

I have had a few break as well. If I have another shoot that isn't too far behind, I will clip the broken one off at dirt level and let it focus on the good one. Mine are first year plants.

One of my dogs keeps eating the leaves of one of my hops. From what I have heard, hops can be poisonous in that they can raise the body temperature of certain breeds of dogs, but it takes a substantial amount for them to reach that point. I think that for most dogs, a couple of cones won't...

That PVC counterflow is interesting. I saw one similar in my googling that was a diy version. Any details on it and how it works?

My first year cascades started off slowly, but are now the tallest by a couple of feet. Mt Hood are a close second at about 7 feet. Nugget and Willamette are lagging way behind at about 2-3 feet tall for the both of them.

I leave a little bit of slack in mine, but periodically adjust them using a taut-line hitch (yay Boy Scouts!).

I used Miracle Gro potting mix and I find that it drains so well, that within a few minutes of watering, I often have puddles forming at the bottom of my container. I think if your soil drains well, it is next to impossible to over water.