2016 Hop Growing Thread

[s0615353]

Do you think it would be better for the plant to thin out the bottom, or leave it alone? It is getting to be a knotty mess with all of the off chutes.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1465340810.906363.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1465340832.554826.jpg

 

[TandemTails]

My first year rhizomes are starting to take off. The two on the left are cascade and the two on the right are wild neomexicanus. I'm trying to train 2 bines per twine for a total of 8 bines of each type.

They're growing like crazy and keeping them trained to the twine requires attention about twice per day.

 

[signpost]

Nice growth! Kharnynb - Does one of your hop plants have a "whorled" leaf arrangement as opposed to "opposite"?

I have a golden hop plant currently showing whorled arrangement on the main stalk. Curious how common it is and whether it has any impact on growth or productivity.

Could it be the beginning of side-arms rather than actual whorled arrangement?

 

[Robx]

Typically - but I've got one with 3 leaves per node in a whorled pattern:

The offshoots growing now (this was taken a few weeks ago) are typical opposite pattern.

 

[BrandonMH]

What should I use, bone meal blood meal for additive to supplement the soil? I accidentally bought blood meal instead of bone meal.

 

[brewcat]

What should I use, bone meal blood meal for additive to supplement the soil? I accidentally bought blood meal instead of bone meal.

What nutrient are you trying to fix? I used both. Bone meal to boost the phosphorus early in the season. Blood meal to boost the nitrogen. Be careful with your amounts. It doesn't take a whole lot.

 

[EcuPirate07]

I just use black cow and speckled hen or whatever it is called

 

[BrandonMH]

They don't seem to be growing fast like they should. They did grow earlier in the season, but seem to be starring to grow more again. I am using 10-10-10 fertilizer, as well as some of the good compost soil and manure. The garden is growing like crazy right behind it. The plants are maybe 3 ft high, everyone else's seems to be like 10 ft by now. 1st year so maybe that is it.

 

[thaymond]

They don't seem to be growing fast like they should. They did grow earlier in the season, but seem to be starring to grow more again. I am using 10-10-10 fertilizer, as well as some of the good compost soil and manure. The garden is growing like crazy right behind it. The plants are maybe 3 ft high, everyone else's seems to be like 10 ft by now. 1st year so maybe that is it.

My established plants ate going nuts. A root cut rhizome is only about 3 feet and very spindly. Same soil, water light and growing conditions. Give it time.

 

[pshankstar]

First year grower! I picked up three Centennial and Chinook rhizomes this spring from a local hop farm. The Centennials are doing well! One Chinook was not doing well and a critter bit it off and one other Chinook (the smallest) was also bitten off by a critter. So the lone Chinook is doing well, probably bigger then my largest Centennial currently.

I have two poles setup, one for each of the varieties I planted. Below is a photo of just one of the poles, but they are identical. I got the build design from BYO Magazine and the Basic Brewing Podcast.



The below picture was taken on 6/1/16 of my largest Centennial, you can see another behind it. Although it may be a little hard with the long grass, I really need to trim the grass around it back some.

 

[Robx]

Location: Massachusetts, USA

It's a jungle out there. The fabric potted first year hops is far out in the lead. 12' of growth on the longest bine and 18-20" sidearms. No cone production yet, a good sign that she still has a lot of growing to do. Now all I need is a bigger deck.

There is a bit of discoloration on the leaves - some is clumps of pollen blowing in and some is a little bit of nutrient burn. I'm riding the edge and really pushing nutes hard (1.5 EC) in the hydroponic solution.

This variety (tea-maker) had the most advanced root stock at the beginning of the season, and I'm sure the fabric pot has really helped it along. Whenever posible I will be growing in fabric in the future. Good stuff.

I'm running a hydroponic setup using coconut fiber.

 

[jleiii]

Here are mine from a couple weeks ago. The supports at the top are 15' high.
Since then they've grown another 6 feet or so, and I finally had to clip the bine tips to keep them from spreading to each other or across the roof. Near the top the side arms are close to a foot long, and there are hundreds of cone buds already forming everywhere. It's going to be an early crop.
From left, 2 Cascade (4 yrs), 2 Nugget (4 yrs), 4 you can't see well that are slacking (2 yrs), and lastly 2 more Cascade (2 yrs).

 

[Rypcord]

What should I use, bone meal blood meal for additive to supplement the soil? I accidentally bought blood meal instead of bone meal.

I used Black Kow manure and Miracle Gro organic Blood Meal (the one with the "vampire eggplant").

 

[Robx]

Here are mine from a couple weeks ago. The supports at the top are 15' high.
Since then they've grown another 6 feet or so, and I finally had to clip the bine tips to keep them from spreading to each other or across the roof. Near the top the side arms are close to a foot long, and there are hundreds of cone buds already forming everywhere. It's going to be an early crop.
From left, 2 Cascade (4 yrs), 2 Nugget (4 yrs), 4 you can't see well that are slacking (2 yrs), and lastly 2 more Cascade (2 yrs).

Nice setup - looks super clean, modern, and easy to disassemble if you move on.

 

[Robx]

How long do hop sidearms typically get?

 

[ffaoe]

How long do hop sidearms typically get?

Depends on the variety. They can go anywhere from 1-4 ft.

 

[BrandonMH]

Also, when you add manure, just add it on top right? The nutrients will seep down with the waterings. I have mulch down, but could probably take it out to put manure down again. When do you put the manurest down again? I put a mix of that with gardent soil with leaves I till into the soil.

 

[Calder]

Southern Ohio:

Second year Cascade doing amazing, hundreds of cones, and many hundreds more flowers to turn into cones.

Second year Chinook; hundreds of cones, but slightly less than the Cascade

Second year Centennial, doesn't seem to be doing much better than first year. Probably about 14 feet, no secondary shoots, no flowers/cones

Second year Willamette; I see the first flower - got zero the first year. Secondary branches are about 6 inches. A lot more growth to go.

2 x First year Cascades have flowers, growing well.

1 x First year Chinook has flowers, going well.

1 x First year Centennial, doing OK, only about 7 feet tall, no secondary growth or flowers.

 

[Robx]

Also, when you add manure, just add it on top right? The nutrients will seep down with the waterings. I have mulch down, but could probably take it out to put manure down again. When do you put the manurest down again? I put a mix of that with gardent soil with leaves I till into the soil.

Adding compost ontop of the soil is called topdressing. It will eventually work its way into the soil with enough water and time. It's less damaging to the roots of an established plant to top dress than to till it into the soil - however, it is not as efficient at getting the nutrients TO the roots, and you will have to wait longer to see an impact.

You might consider brewing some tea out of your poopy-fertz in addition to the topdressing (under your mulch). Look up compost tea if this isn't on your radar.

 

[The10mmKid]

My Centennial hops did this last year. Looks like I'll pick a few ounces before our expected heat wave.

It will side-arm in a couple months with a second bounty . . . . who knew.

'da Kid

 

[jleiii]

Nice setup - looks super clean, modern, and easy to disassemble if you move on.

Thanks. It was pretty inexpensive since it's steel conduit. No signs of rust in 2.5 years, except on hardware that I thought was coated.
If I move, the building goes with me!

 

[Kozwald]

My hops are going crazy this year. Should I train the side shoots to attach to the ropes or just let them span into free air??

 

[fuzzy2133]

Is cutting side arms off a bad idea? My cascade was getting crazy bushy.
How it looked last week after trimming going to administer a dose of fertilizer this weekend.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

Is cutting side arms off a bad idea? My cascade was getting crazy bushy.

How it looked last week after trimming going to administer a dose of fertilizer this weekend.

Side arms are where the hop cones grow. Cutting off side arms = no hops. [emoji33]

 

[fuzzy2133]

Side arms are where the hop cones grow. Cutting off side arms = no hops. [emoji33]

Ok guess I am doing an experiment now. Woops, never seen the side arms get so long over the past 2 years.

 

[brewcat]

I'm not sure about my mature Cascade this year. It was growing good, but two of the apical buds were recently damaged. One looked like something took a chunk out of the bine. Not sure what happened to the other. The shortest bine is still intact.

 

[Robx]

Side arms are where the hop cones grow. Cutting off side arms = no hops. [emoji33]

DO the cones only grow on sidearms or do cones just grow at nodes - more sidearms = more nodes? There's a pic on the previous page with cones growing right off the main bine.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

DO the cones only grow on sidearms or do cones just grow at nodes - more sidearms = more nodes? There's a pic on the previous page with cones growing right off the main bine.

Yup those are my plants. Only one of my plants is doing that. The others are all putting on sidearms. From what I've read and seen the hops traditionally grow from the nodes on the sidearms. I may be wrong but that's what I've come to understand

 

[BaylessBrewer]

...

 

[BrandonMH]

I habe heard of manure tea. I put some fert down the other day and used the soaker hose for a while, today I hit them with some alaska fish feet in the watering can since supposed to rain pretty good tomorrow (they have been off with for casts lately though). Thanks for the input Robx. I was looking at the hop growers handbook last night and today about stuff.