2016 Hop Growing Thread

[EcuPirate07]

First year hops from rhizomes. The Cascades are doing well, the chinook never came up and don't know if they will.

 

[LarMoeCur]

I planted 4 this year my cascade is 8 foot and climbing. My centennial, magnum, and willimette are little sprouts still. I'm trying not to worry because they are first year. Hopefully they are growing underground. Fingers crossed.

 

[thaymond]

Completed some repairs on broken lines and trained bines this afternoon. Things are beginning to fill in nicely.
View attachment 1463877648198.jpg

 

[Calder]

Do any of you use liquid seven on your hop plants to kill off pests? Something has been chewing the leaves a bit. I looked under the leaves and didn't see anything. I did find green worms and green aphids on rose bushes today though.

I use it, works great. I try not to use it after the flowers have formed.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I really need to finish this up. We had a LATE snow that came in and probably hurt my hops but they were getting to a point where they wouldn't stand up on their own anymore and needed something to wrap around. Well that's just one plant and two others are just poking through and my Pacific Gem hasn't broken ground yet.

I flooded them with water yesterday since it was a nice day and I'll see how they do without string for a few days. Maybe I'll do this Thursday morning when I can take all morning. It sucks not having my truck available and just wanting to brew more.

Completed some repairs on broken lines and trained bines this afternoon. Things are beginning to fill in nicely.
View attachment 355497

 

[corkybstewart]

Normally I'm harvesting my first Cascade cones by now, but everything is slow and behind schedule this year. My tallest Cascade is less than 2' tall, Centennials are less than 1' tall and the Magnum and Columbus have barely broken ground.

 

[signpost]

Just had my first hop plant make it to the twine!

I have 5 more plants and 2 of them are within a couple inches of the twine. I'm sure I'll be able to train them up by the next time I check on them.

So excite! Much grow! :rockin:

 

[sablesurfer]

Normally I'm harvesting my first Cascade cones by now, but everything is slow and behind schedule this year. My tallest Cascade is less than 2' tall, Centennials are less than 1' tall and the Magnum and Columbus have barely broken ground.

Wow, interesting for NM. Was Spring strange or something?

 

[corkybstewart]

We had a severe blizzard around Christmas, my hops were actually under snow for 2 weeks, and it's been a cool spring, we're almost through May and not a single day over 100F yet. My cacti were even at least a month late blooming this year, everything has been late.
As of yesterday I do have 2 Cascade in the 5' height range, they seem to be taking off finally.
And on the bright side the 2 neomexicanus I planted in 2014 that promptly "died", and never even showed up last year, are back and doing great this year.

 

[Texconsinite]

Woohoo, harvested first few cones off the first-year Cascade yesterday, came to .3oz after drying. In spite of the torrential rains here, hops keep growing, don't seem to be overwatered. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464032286.986402.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464032364.136463.jpg

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

My Cascade grew about a foot over the weekend, and is now officially taller than me. At the rate it's going, it will soon outgrow my vertical strings, so I'm going to want to start stringing some lines horizontally in the next week. Fun to watch, for sure.

 

[Apollo]

Nice looking cones. My Cascade has some small cones on it so far.

 

[Robx]

Looking good! Those are some fat leaves.

 

[philipCT]

Finally getting some sunny days between the cold and rainy ones here in CT spurring growth up to my knees so far. Year one rhizomes.

 

[s0615353]

One week of sunshine forecasts and NO RAIN here in NJ! Just trained my one hop plant, and the other still has some catching up to do! Finally I am getting some good growth!!!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464140108.626609.jpg

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I have two 4th year plants that were basically neglected last year. I have been adding blood meal and a molasses based organic fertilizer every other week for the past three weeks. One hop plant is doing great, and will probably be ready to train in about a week. The other is barely growing! Do you have any tips to catch it up?

View attachment 354504
View attachment 354505

Some calcium could help... Clean an dry egg shells worked into the soil a bit would suffice.

 

[losefreeze]

This is my first year with hops and as usual I decide to go all out first thing out of the gate. First pick is my mini nursery of the hop first years I got last week and the second is their permanent homes I built with a friend this weekend. Just had a big hail storm here in CO so prob good they weren't already super long up the twine (still need to install)

 

[losefreeze]

Nursery

View attachment 1464145487527.jpg

 

[losefreeze]

New trellis homes

View attachment 1464145523286.jpg

 

[sablesurfer]

New trellis homes

Trellis looks nice, why does she have to sleep outside?

 

[rupert130]

Cut them all down to the dirt on 1 May. Trained them and gave them their first drink of fertilizer over the weekend. I'll bet some of them make it over the fence by Saturday!

View attachment 1464198900495.jpg

 

[brewcat]

I need to get out in the yard but last week was too windy to apply fertilizer and this week is too wet to move soil. My plan is to hill the rows.

I was able to get some bone meal around the plants the other day. Need to apply some blood meal.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I never believed when people say you could "pretty much watch the hops grow" but sure as could be, last night I'm standing outside and I see the sucker moving. In about 60 mins I was outside, it grew about 2 inches.

Truly amazing. I think I'm going to be sad when it's over

 

[HotRodTractor]

I joined this forum as a farmer that is looking at commercially growing hops in Ohio. Doing my due diligence I slapped 6 plants in the ground last June just to figure out what I didn't know and go from there. I joined here originally to look at doing some home brew just to better understand the product that I am looking at growing. I'm quite excited to see an active hop growing community on here with lots of reading for me go through to help me learn more about what I don't know about growing hops.

Just starting out and trying to determine if its right for me - I went as budget as a could. I put in some 4x4s into the ground with about 10 feet sticking out of the soil (not really in deep enough, or tall enough, but it was quick and cheap for my test). I have 6 plants, each a different variety. Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Newport, Willamette, and Zeus.

As of Sunday the bines on the Newport were nearly 9' tall and over 10' now. Other varieties are lagging behind with Centennial being the least excited about reaching the sky so far. I look forward to seeing how they do for me and if this adventure warrants a proper trellis system expanded over a couple of acres to get me started, or if this just turns out to be a good excuse to make and drink good beer.

 

[jakeasaur]

Nice looking cones. My Cascade has some small cones on it so far.

How do you have those PVC pipes attached to the deck? Looking to do something similar. Just moved and transplanted a 5th year cascade and Chinook and 4th year Crystal and Mt hood

 

[lzrdkng14]

Cut them all down to the dirt on 1 May. Trained them and gave them their first drink of fertilizer over the weekend. I'll bet some of them make it over the fence by Saturday!

What are the specs on those pipes? Get a lot of flex?

 

[Texconsinite]

Nice, HotRod! Welcome to HBT and hops growing. Seriously though, do u ever need an excuse to drink good beer?

 

[rupert130]

What are the specs on those pipes? Get a lot of flex?

They are 3/4" PVC. They do flex, but not too much. I wanted some flex because we do get some fairly high winds and I'd rather they bend than break.

 

[Apollo]

How do you have those PVC pipes attached to the deck? Looking to do something similar. Just moved and transplanted a 5th year cascade and Chinook and 4th year Crystal and Mt hood

Jake,
I used wood furring strips. I simply took some zip ties and secured them to the vertical railing supports. That way they can easily be removed in the fall and winter and put back next spring.

 

[Imperial207]

First year growing hops, planted fuggle and nugget. Planted rhizomes around May 8th got a few inches of growth so far... Growing in my mom's flower bed, using 5gallon buckets with bottoms cut out to help prevent it from spreading too much. Placed eye screws into overhang to eventually tie ropes too..