2009 Hop garden picture thread.

[HughBrooks]

clemson.... how old are those plants?

 

[clemson55]

Second yr been in the same pots the whole time and moved from SC to VA last June.

 

[HughBrooks]

nice! I hope mine look like that next year. mine are planted in the ground

 

[FireBrewer]

Centennials, 1oz wet (still more to pick)

My oldest, demonstrating how to enjoy hop aroma

 

[t-bag]

These are my Cascades, they're really blooming. I didnt expect this for first year. here are my first year centennials

They just started to take off. i might get some late cones. i planted two other rhizomes, a mt.hood which took forever to produce a tiny shoot(that died) and is now doing nothing and also a sterling which got waterlogged and ruined. Other than that im happy ive got a crap load of yummy cascade!!

 

[SOB]

Centennials, 1oz wet (still more to pick)

How big would you say those are? Bout an inch in length...bout the size of a large grape? Maybe bigger?

 

[FireBrewer]

How big would you say those are? Bout an inch in length...bout the size of a large grape? Maybe bigger?

About 1.25"-1.5" long by 1" in diameter. Not bad for first year.

 

[flyangler18]

Centennials, 1oz wet (still more to pick)

My oldest, demonstrating how to enjoy hop aroma

Love that picture of D!

 

[FireBrewer]

Love that picture of D!

Me too.

 

[SOB]

About 1.25"-1.5" long by 1" in diameter. Not bad for first year.

Yeah, no sheet that's pretty good. I'm trying to gauge how much I'm gonna get outta my Hallertau. I think the big ones are about the same size as yours.

 

[FireBrewer]

Yeah, no sheet that's pretty good. I'm trying to gauge how much I'm gonna get outta my Hallertau. I think the big ones are about the same size as yours.

Nice!! I should've planted Hallertau too.

 

[flyangler18]

I should've planted Hallertau too.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda - but didn't.

 

[Bobby_M]

It seems like it's way too early to harvest anything. Based on those pics, I'm not 100% convinced they were ready. They look really wet. The lupilin should be really dense and resinous and the flower should be a bit papery.

 

[FireBrewer]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda - but didn't.

Yep. Maybe next year.

 

[clemson55]

It seems like it's way too early to harvest anything. Based on those pics, I'm not 100% convinced they were ready. They look really wet. The lupilin should be really dense and resinous and the flower should be a bit papery.

I was thinking they looked early too, they also definitely aren't an ounce once dried.

 

[Homercidal]

I just recently realized how many buds were sprouting on my second year plants. Holy Crap! I'll try and take a pic. Sooo many more than last year!

 

[adamjab19]

It seems like it's way too early to harvest anything. Based on those pics, I'm not 100% convinced they were ready. They look really wet. The lupilin should be really dense and resinous and the flower should be a bit papery.

Honestly trying to figure out when to pick these G-damn things has been the hardest thing about 'grow your own' hops. I look at my hops and say well they are pretty big, been up there now 10 days or so, kind of papery....but they have zero aroma! I picked a handful the other day and I may as well throw some grass in my beer instead of using them. No flavor of hops whatsoever.

They only thing they don't have is the brown tips. That's what I am waiting for now. Checking them every day. Plus judging by last years threads it looks like most Michiganders were picking second week in August or so.

Also, can anyone say a time frame from the time you see an actual hop cone, until they are mature? Are we talking a couple weeks, four weeks....?

 

[HoppyDaze]

I know that each plant is going to be different...each hop or cone will be different too. Just think about a tomato plant; the tomatoes really don;t all get done at the same time. So in order to insure that all are ripe you will probably have to sacrafice a few to being overly ripe if you want to harvest them all at the same time. If not ...just slowly pick the ripe ones as they mature

 

[pilotdane]

I can't tell you how many times I've been up and down a ladder in the past two weeks checking for ripeness. Now I've got bright yellow lupilin and the aroma is starting. Patience...patience...

 

[SOB]

I was just hanging out the second story window last night checking mine. They fell a little papery, have some lupilin under the top leaves but no aroma. Just like brewing and fermenting a good beer or wine, patience is a virtue.

 

[Bobby_M]

I agree that it's hard to know. I know for a fact that I picked almost all of my last year's hops a week or two early because the ones I left ended up with a lot more aroma and a much larger cluster of lupulin.

 

[clemson55]

I have been picking my fuggles slowly for the past 2 weeks I find that they start to yellow a little when they are ready. I also don't put as much merit in the smell because thus far they seem to have a stronger smell when dried, cascade in particular.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I pick mine as soon as they start to show the slightest bit of brown spots. This usually on the biggest or most mature ones. Maybe 5% are starting to show really tiny spots. I pick about 1/3, taking the largest cones, and do this every other week.

I'll start in about two weeks. ~ 2nd Week of August for Iowa. I'm done picking by mid September.

 

[FireBrewer]

I know that each plant is going to be different...each hop or cone will be different too.

Bingo.12345678910

 

[Bobby_M]

Chinook cones today. Some of them are starting to feel a little papery so I'll probably start picking next weekend.

Cascades are a little behind, but it looks like its going to be a good haul this year.

 

[Lefty]

Jealousy setting in. My first years are not going to make this year. Next year I will be posting beautiful cones like these.

 

[Rick500]

Found a new friend tending the hops plants this afternoon:

 

[humann_brewing]

Found a new friend tending the hops plants this afternoon:

I think he is "praying" that you will have a bountiful crop this year

 

[Rick500]

And hopefully eating any stray aphids and other nasties that might drop in.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Screw you and all your cones!!

Nothing yet, But I have literally done NOTHING with my plant this year.it got watered by rain and that's it.