2009 Hop garden picture thread.

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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?

For sure, they are maturing 3000 miles later than the east coast. :drunk: Just kidding. I noticed the same thing and was wondering about it.
 
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

Very nice, I wish I had that much acreage.
 
Here are some pictures of our set-up in Rhode Island: Flickr: Hop Farmer's Photostream.

We've got about 200 plants in so far, with plenty of room to expand. I'm hoping to have about a 1/2 acre planted by next year and up to 5 acres in the next couple of years.

Our mature plants are covered with cones. The smaller plants in the pictures are first years and we should get a decent harvest from those too.
 
Wow Rhody, that is one of the prettiest set ups I have seen. It looks like golf course quality grass there. You can see a picture of our newest field at Home Page. Look for the 2 part links to the photo essay on the left. Sorry about the size. We're not webpage designers.
 
With that many hops, don't forget to wear gloves if you are going to pick by hand. Contact with all that estrogen will cause women to menstruate and men to lactate...or, uh, so I've heard.
 
Thanks Dan. My secret is lots of milorganite in the spring and early summer - the grass loves it! It breaks down pretty quick though so you need a couple of applications.

I have look at your photo essay before, that's a nice chronology of the set up! I especially like the auger attachment on the bobcat. We used a 2-person power auger and will definitely be getting a PTO attachment for the tractor this fall for the expansion. My arms were killing me for days after putting the poles in!
 
Yeah, the only problem with the bobcat one is its a little messier. So if you use it to make a 4 foot hole, enough stuff falls back in to bring it back to only 3 feet. So as the chief hole digger/pole setter, I had to clean them all out first. Of course, I would rather dig out 1 foot of loose soil than 4 feet of compact soil with big glacially deposited rocks.
 
My hops 4 months later i think they grew pretty good for 1st year hops
All but one rhizome grew

Yeah I would call that some good first year growth. Better than I have had. I don't have any pics right now but 5 of my 8 came up and they haven't grown too much.

I think the lack of sunlight this summer is contributing to their lack of growth. I am just hoping the ones that grew survive the winter and come back next year with a vengeance.
 
Yeah I would call that some good first year growth. Better than I have had. I don't have any pics right now but 5 of my 8 came up and they haven't grown too much.

I think the lack of sunlight this summer is contributing to their lack of growth. I am just hoping the ones that grew survive the winter and come back next year with a vengeance.

I posted some pictures from May also: Flickr: Hop Farmer's Photostream. It's amazing how much they grow in one season!
 
I harvested my first year Hallertau today. I picked about 80% of the hops, the rest were still pretty young. SWMBO helped...

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Got about 2 1/2 quarts full which only worked out to be 4.5oz!

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Drying in the garage. According to my calcs this will only yield about 1oz. Can't wait til next year!

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some of mine are ready for picking.

I have some pics, but its going to take a bit to load them.
I am pretty happy with my yield so far.

Only the magnum did not take, but I dug it up and put it in a pot and watered it constantly until it sprouted. I then transplanted it and it was doing pretty good. Until my dog played tug O war with the twine I had it running up. She broke the top off of it and stunted its growth.:drunk::mad:
 
These are first year cascade and fuggle. I'm trying the method from byo where you let out rope from a short post as the bines grow. You'll notice the damn caterpillars got to the cascade but I think I got the little f*ckers.

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Here are some pictures of my first year cascade plants. I am in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, and these plants came from Richters. I planted 6 plants in this corner, and they all seem to be doing well, with one doing better then the others and climbing to 10 feet or so (though the stakes I have in for them this year are only about 6 feet high. I plan to build a better trellis of some sort for next year.

Am I correct that what I am seeing in the bottom picture is the start of some hop cones? Should they still have time to develop this late in the year? (picture was taken Aug 6)

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Yeah those are hop burrs forming which will turn into cones. It took my plant about 5 weeks or so from that point to picking the actual hop but I think weather plays a role into that.
 
From Seattle
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These are the best ones I've got so far. My nugget and others seem to be behind my Cents and Wills. I'm hoping to do the first harvest in a week or two (but the stupid weather isn't cooperating, first too hot, now too cold).
 
wfeddern, my hops look just like yours, with the burrs just starting very small like that. My hops are growing in the U.P. of Mich, so quite a bit further north than yours. Last year it was mid Sept before I could pick them.
 
Just like wfeddern, my hops are just starting to come out in burrs:

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This is my first year growing hops; I've got four rhizomes in my father-in-law's garden. The Cascades, natch, are taking off like gangbusters (they're the ones in the picture). The Willamettes are coming along despite a slow start. Sterling is slow -- I doubt I'm going to get any cones from it this year -- and the Mount Hood is looking positively anemic.
 
I know...worthless without pictures...but...

Cascade harvest 2+ lbs wet...12.3oz dried. I REALLY have to brew soon...no room in the freezer!.
:ban:

-Will
 
Here's a few from the left coast. My Chinook's are just about all harvested now and I should start picking the Cascades later this week. I also have a Centennial but so far it has only grown about a foot.

I'm jealous of some of the setups you folks are using but for my first attempt at growing hops, I'm pretty satisfied. Since these are first year plants I didn't expect to get much but so far I have about 6 ounces of the Chinooks. Looks like I'll have about the same amount of Cascades if they keep it up.


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And the Cascade
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That's odd looking...not only the redness but the long leaves coming out of the middle of the cone.
 
Here are a couple pics from my 1st year hop plants!! I got a late start on the season, but hopefully the cones will mature soon.

Willamette on the left, Cascade on the right:
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Cascade cones forming:
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Here are my year 0 hops. I'm not sure if I should leave them on the vine or harvest them. What say you internets?

Cascades:
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Chinook:
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