2009 Hop garden picture thread.

Williams 728
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Centennials, 1oz wet (still more to pick)

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My oldest, demonstrating how to enjoy hop aroma :p
 
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These are my Cascades, they're really blooming. I didnt expect this for first year. here are my first year centennials
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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!!:D
 
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.
 
Bobby_M said:
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.
Click to expand...

I was thinking they looked early too, they also definitely aren't an ounce once dried.
 
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!
 
Bobby_M said:
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.
Click to expand...

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....?
 
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
 
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...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Chinook cones today. Some of them are starting to feel a little papery so I'll probably start picking next weekend.
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Cascades are a little behind, but it looks like its going to be a good haul this year.
cascadecones09.jpg
 
Jealousy setting in. My first years are not going to make this year. Next year I will be posting beautiful cones like these.
 
And hopefully eating any stray aphids and other nasties that might drop in. :)
 
Here is my first clippings. About 2 1/2 ounces of Cascades:

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I actually don't expect too much more. This is first year growth. My EKG is not even coning yet.
 
Got small cones starting to appear on 2 of the plants, with the flower looking pieces on the rest. It looks like I'm going to be pulling in a lot of hops this year if I can keep them alive through the upcoming seattle heat wave (Supposed to top 101 this wed, which is crazy)
 
PSmurf78... yup 90+ today 100's in the coming day's.... OMG its HOT

The PNW was not meant to be this hot. My Hallertauer, Cascades, Centenials and Nuggets are doing well as I've quadrupeled the watering times set on the auto watering system, hopefully it will be enough to ward off the HEAT and continue to generate massive budds by the MASSIVE amounts of flowers (first years).

I figure to get 2-3 OZ (2 plants of each variety) of each type. Enough for several brews! WOOOT!
 
Harvest of my Centennials...some could use another few days but didn't want to chance losing any more...so..

Removing top 10' of my pole makes harvesting MUCH easier than trying to reach while on a ladder.
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Chest-high picking...
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Not bad for ONE plant.
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Happiness is...
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I hope I will get a few more before the summer is done....

My Fuggle and Cascade are looking about the same..so may be harvesting them this week too.

-JMW
 
Im noticing all the mature and harvested plants in this thread are East Coast plants. I wonder if its because of the distance....It seems to makes sense that the West Coast plants will mature later

any west coasters harvesting yet?
 
So here is my little operation. I'm looking forward to seeing ANY cones this year. This is my first year, and first attempt. I've got:

Mt. Hood
Cascade
Centennial
Horizon
Sterling
US Fuggle

I found some old 5/8" cable on craigslist for cheap and got the poles from a local cedar saw mill. I spaced everything 7x7, but I think I'm wasting too much space. I'm going to fill in the gaps on the long axis so the plants are 3.5 feet apart one way, and 7 feet the other. We'll see how things go.

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This is all first year growth that we didn't get in the ground until the end of may, so we are way late. We'll hope for a strong start next year
 

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