2010 Hops Gardens

[SteveM]

MagNJ - I think those are ready, by the look of them. Try picking one and giving it a squeeze. If you are blown away by the hops smell, you could probably go for it.

 

[lschiavo]

MagNJ - I think those are ready, by the look of them. Try picking one and giving it a squeeze. If you are blown away by the hops smell, you could probably go for it.

how is it possible to be harvesting hops now? mine are growing like crazy but barely a sign of a cone yet. This is BS right?

 

[ctheis]

how is it possible to be harvesting hops now? mine are growing like crazy but barely a sign of a cone yet. This is BS right?

Nope...I did my first harvest on June 5.
Cheers

 

[SteveM]

Go back a page and look at my picture links - mine are already huge and there are hundreds of them. No BS.

 

[millsware]

Is it too late to plant this year? I'd love to get some plants in the ground, so that next year I have a good crop.

 

[lschiavo]

Go back a page and look at my picture links - mine are already huge and there are hundreds of them. No BS.

How is that possible? Big green thumbs?

I have always read that harvest is August or September. I live in Michigan's UP. Summer weather is brief here and really not even expected in July. My hops are at least 20 feet tall now and really filling out but few signs of flowers even yet.

 

[benmoore]

Is it too late to plant this year? I'd love to get some plants in the ground, so that next year I have a good crop.

I planted mine 3 weeks ago. I have pictures from the second week on this thread, post #231. I'm new to this as well, but from how mine are doing, I'd guess you have a good shot at getting them going this season. Worth a shot, IMO.

 

[SteveM]

How is that possible? Big green thumbs?

I have always read that harvest is August or September. I live in Michigan's UP. Summer weather is brief here and really not even expected in July. My hops are at least 20 feet tall now and really filling out but few signs of flowers even yet.

I have no idea. Mine are now three years old and they grow like weeds. I have a perfect location for them - right in the sun from dawn until about 1:00 PM, at the top of an incline. But my Mount Hood are not flowering, only the Cascade.

 

[magnj]

how is it possible to be harvesting hops now? mine are growing like crazy but barely a sign of a cone yet. This is BS right?

No BS. Second year Chinook in NJ. 10ft trellis, then horizontal lines. It probably has something to do with that. As soon as they feel like there is no where to go up they will start flowering hard and put out side shoots.

 

[Retrofit]

I suspect that if I had not cut down my hops I would likely have cones, possibly hops ready to be picked. I went with the advice of others and cut back my plants and currently have nothing to pick right now.

The premise of cutting back is (correct me if I'm wrong), you create a single picking time (good for large growers), and they develop later in the season.

It's possible a person who didn't cut back their bines could have a hops ready to pick right now (obviously they do) and may even have a 2nd growth to pick later in the year. A small grower can handle the 2 rounds of picking/drying/packaging, a large grower considers it a pain in the butt.

I'm glad I cut back my hops, my garden is so large, I can barely keep up. If I had to harvest hops right now in addition to all my other honey-do tasks, I wouldn't have time to write at this board or enjoy a beer.

 

[david_42]

Growth varies a great deal with location. My plants are only 3-4' tall, but over in Wheatland (about 30 miles east), they are pushing 15'.

The weather guessers are predicting 80F this weekend. If it happens, it will be the first time this year. It's only hit 70F four times so far.

 

[JeffHops]

Growth varies a great deal with location. My plants are only 3-4' tall, but over in Wheatland (about 30 miles east), they are pushing 15'.

The weather guessers are predicting 80F this weekend. If it happens, it will be the first time this year. It's only hit 70F four times so far.

Yo David. That's us! We own the double picker in the big yellow building about 1 1/2 miles South of the Ferry. Our Hop yards start right across from the Willamette Mission State Park and continue along most of Wheatland Rd. then East along Brooklake headed to the freeway. Stop by and say Howdy during the harvest season.

 

[BassettWrangler]

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These are 100% Wild they grow all over near my home. Its almost ridiculous at picking time. I plan on transplanting when I build an arbor over our patio these are very agressive and won't die. Before I brewed i tried killing all the WEEDS near my property. these never died off. ( If you look close you can see a snake that was sunning itself)

 

[cuinrearview]

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These are 100% Wild they grow all over near my home. Its almost ridiculous at picking time. I plan on transplanting when I build an arbor over our patio these are very agressive and won't die. Before I brewed i tried killing all the WEEDS near my property. these never died off. ( If you look close you can see a snake that was sunning itself)

I'd be interested in harvesting an ounce or two of these basset to try if you have enough. There are a couple of wild plants out my way that I'm experimenting with currently. They're few and far between around here but out there if you keep an eye out.

 

[Scooby_Brew]

These are my 2nd year Cascades, in SE MI.

They have reached the roof, but they stay off it, maybe it's too hot for them

Some of the flowers are turning into cones:

 

[uechikid]

Lookin good!!!

 

[brewyourown4life]

 

[Idlehanz]

Of the five varietes I planted a month or so ago, only the Willamette's have really taken off. I know I planted a little late, and they are first year plants, but I hope the other's grow a bit.

First pic is when I initially planted them, the second pic is from 6-13-10.

Willamette is on the far right

From a few day's ago

This is the other Willamette that I bought at the same time as the others, and finally transplanted it yesterday.

 

[Capro]

I built this in the spring this year. I've got Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook growing on it.

 

[uechikid]

I built this in the spring this year. I've got Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook growing on it.

How tall is that structure?

 

[david_42]

Jeff - thanks for the invite. I've probably seen your farm while attending Hop Madness. I am so jealous of the inland weather! I think I've got V. Wilt this year, it's been so wet.

 

[Capro]

How tall is that structure?

It is only 10-feet tall. Each string is attached to a hook at the top, so I can stand on top of a ladder and unhook each bine.

 

[uechikid]

It is only 10-feet tall. Each string is attached to a hook at the top, so I can stand on top of a ladder and unhook each bine.

I'm thinking (in the future) it might need to be taller. Maybe five or six feet.

 

[HoppyDaze]

nothing to see here

 

[Capro]

I'm thinking (in the future) it might need to be taller. Maybe five or six feet.

Since I'm a newbie, I didn't want to invest in the cost of a structure to support 15-20 feet of growth. There is also the consideration that while my location is excellent for sun exposure, that means every inch I go above the fence I'm casting more of a shadow over my neighbor's garden.

Any advice for when the hops reach the top? Will they naturally not grow further, should I clip them?

 

[benmoore]

Any advice for when the hops reach the top? Will they naturally not grow further, should I clip them?

I'm a newbie as well, but many people on this forum have suggested that once the bines grow above and beyond your structure, you pull the top of the bine down and retrain it back up your structure.

Another option, which may require some structure modifications is to design your twine system so that once the bines reach the top, you can lower the twine to give more room for the bine to climb. Though, I'm not sure if it's fine to just leave the bottom of the plant chilling on the ground or not. I'd probably want to lower the twine but be able to keep the existing growth strung up via some sort of hook system.

 

[brewingkitty]

i noticed yesterday my cascade is flowering out the ass, with nugget and santiam pretty close behind. galena has minimal flowers to date.

 

[SteveM]

Since I'm a newbie, I didn't want to invest in the cost of a structure to support 15-20 feet of growth. There is also the consideration that while my location is excellent for sun exposure, that means every inch I go above the fence I'm casting more of a shadow over my neighbor's garden.

Any advice for when the hops reach the top? Will they naturally not grow further, should I clip them?

I have a truly low budget trellis - sort of looks like an old style football goal post, about eight or nine feet tall. When the vines (bines, whatever) reach the top, I just train them back down. The plants don't seem to be fussy about this at all.

 

[rpfuror]

I thought I would post my first year hop garden 2 Cascade & 2 Magnum

Magnum:

Cascade

Both Next to a 2nd year raised beds (swmbo)

 

[Idlehanz]

Looks awesome! My first year hops aren't growing near that well. My Willamette's took off, but the others are slow goin'. I'm not to worried, as I know they got in the ground a few weeks late, and I'm not expecting a lot from my first years growth.