2016 Hop Growing Thread

[The10mmKid]

I was just trimming around the bed and I accidentally cut not just one but two of my cascade bines. I'm devastated......

 

[Apollo]

I pulled a small green Caterpillar out of one of my cones this weekend. It had made a leaf stick to the cone with it's cocoon and when I pealed the leaf back the little bugger was wiggling all over at me. Needless to say he took a flight.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

I pulled a small green Caterpillar out of one of my cones this weekend. It had made a leaf stick to the cone with it's cocoon and when I pealed the leaf back the little bugger was wiggling all over at me. Needless to say he took a flight.

I found the exact same thing you are talking about this weekend too! Only one cone on the plant had this happening and the same tiny wiggling worm came out when I squeezed the cone.
Anyone know what this little guy could've been?

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I need some help.

I will first admit: I know nothing about chemistry or biology or anything science related. In HS my mind was on the girls - not the other organisms.

That said, I have an issue with beetles and wasps eating my fencing and trellis where my hops are growing. I had a professional out today and he recommended Timbor (http://nisuscorp.com/architects/products/tim-bor-professional).

According to their website, it is half as toxic as table salt. According to various websites, some people add Borate (what Timbor is) to their hops for food.

So, if I spray this on the wood around my hops, AND POSSIBLY ONTO MY HOPS WHERE THEY ARE CLINGING TO THE TRELLIS, will my hops be okay???

Hoping there is someone out there who paid attention to their science classes.

 

[zgja2]

Looking for some direction. My hops have a blochey, spotted appearance and some have developed holes. I thought it might have been an insect so i treated with neem oil. I have not seen any bugs on them except box elder bugs were on the fence nearby but i dont think they eat hops. I am now thinking that they were over watered as my soil is not the best draining and i did not realize until somewhat recently that the soil was very moist and not drying out between watering. Any insight is appreciated as i am just guessing.

 

[brewcat]

Looking for some direction. My hops have a blochey, spotted appearance and some have developed holes. I thought it might have been an insect so i treated with neem oil. I have not seen any bugs on them except box elder bugs were on the fence nearby but i dont think they eat hops. I am now thinking that they were over watered as my soil is not the best draining and i did not realize until somewhat recently that the soil was very moist and not drying out between watering. Any insight is appreciated as i am just guessing.

Can we get a picture of the underside of a leaf or two?

 

[Littletimmy]

HarborTown,
You are opening a whole can of caterpillers with the use of Timbor on actively growing hop plants. Low relative mammalian toxicity, yes. Labelled for use around plants, no. Effective as a wood preservative, yes. The same active ingredient used as a "common" micro-nutrient fertilizer, no, not really. Boron an important element in plant growth, yes. Very narrow (parts per million) range between boron benefits and boron toxicity to the plant, YES. If you must treat the wood, I'd suggest waiting until this fall, when the hops go dormant. In the meantime, I'd get a soil test to determine your soil nutrient levels and then contact the local county Ag. extension agency to get their recommendations on wood treatments and soil/plant toxicity in your area. Just like pH in mashing, soil pH plays a critical role in plant health.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

HarborTown,
You are opening a whole can of caterpillers with the use of Timbor on actively growing hop plants. Low relative mammalian toxicity, yes. Labelled for use around plants, no. Effective as a wood preservative, yes. The same active ingredient used as a "common" micro-nutrient fertilizer, no, not really. Boron an important element in plant growth, yes. Very narrow (parts per million) range between boron benefits and boron toxicity to the plant, YES. If you must treat the wood, I'd suggest waiting until this fall, when the hops go dormant. In the meantime, I'd get a soil test to determine your soil nutrient levels and then contact the local county Ag. extension agency to get their recommendations on wood treatments and soil/plant toxicity in your area. Just like pH in mashing, soil pH plays a critical role in plant health.

Well crap. I was hoping you'd just say, "yeah it's fine for the hops, go crazy with it!"

Seriously though, thanks for all the info!

 

[zgja2]

Can we get a picture of the underside of a leaf or two?

I can. I will take a couple at lunch. Also a few of the newer leaves are curling. I do not know if that helps. I will take pictures as well. Thanks for the help!

 

[Rypcord]

Is it ok to double-train a string? I have a chinook hop where the top got broken off, so its made big side-arms. Should I run a second/third string for both side arms or is it ok to let them double-train up the same string?

 

[sfish]

Looking for some direction. My hops have a blochey, spotted appearance and some have developed holes. I thought it might have been an insect so i treated with neem oil. I have not seen any bugs on them except box elder bugs were on the fence nearby but i dont think they eat hops. I am now thinking that they were over watered as my soil is not the best draining and i did not realize until somewhat recently that the soil was very moist and not drying out between watering. Any insight is appreciated as i am just guessing.

Looks like maybe an Iron Deficiency search "epsom salt and molasses" the magnesium will help in the absorbsion of Iron

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Looks like maybe an Iron Deficiency search "epsom salt and molasses" the magnesium will help in the absorbsion of Iron

this works on all plants, epsom salt saved my tomatoes I love it

 

[Rypcord]

Is it ok to double-train a string? I have a chinook hop where the top got broken off, so its made big side-arms. Should I run a second/third string for both side arms or is it ok to let them double-train up the same string?

Trying to look on my phone for a pic of the sidearms, but not finding one.

I have one main bine for this Chinook plant, the top of the bine broke off when I replanted it from the pot. At the point where the bine broke off it has gotten two sidearms (about 3" each). Can I double-train them on one string or should I make a string for each one?

When I get a chance after work, I'll get a pic up.

 

[brewcat]

Trying to look on my phone for a pic of the sidearms, but not finding one.

I have one main bine for this Chinook plant, the top of the bine broke off when I replanted it from the pot. At the point where the bine broke off it has gotten two sidearms (about 3" each). Can I double-train them on one string or should I make a string for each one?

When I get a chance after work, I'll get a pic up.

You can double train or just cut one off and let the remaining one become the new apical meristeam. My personal preference is cutting one and letting the plant send more energy to the remaining.

 

[Brizzo]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466694835.887533.jpgcentral Connecticut and my centennial is throwing burrs

 

[fuzzy2133]

My opps moment of trimming some side arms did not slow the Cascade down. My First year Centennial is doing fine, ended up planting it in May so it is just now 6" tall (no pic needed).

 

[Rypcord]

A few recent-ish pictures of my first year Cascade and first year Chinooks (3). Meant to take these and upload them sooner, but its taken me a while. I should keep up on it more in my logging.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

Things are going good! I started watering with Alaska MorBloom 0-10-10 last week and after just 2 doses all 3 plants have put on burrs! So exciting. Even the one cascade that didn't put on any height has some burrs forming.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466729887.945693.jpg
Cascade
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466729905.551746.jpg
Centennial
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466729933.273058.jpg
And small cascade
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466729954.360161.jpg

 

[Texconsinite]

Multihead continues to bush out. Added a second line to train more of the sidearms that are just forming a tangle on the ground
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466778734.163855.jpg

Neo1 could not be more different. She's a delicate lady with little ground-level scruff, very focused on heading upwards
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466778926.717872.jpg

The bine you see behind the trellis is cascade. Which just gave me .5oz more dried cones yesterday!!!
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466778983.438691.jpg
New burrs keep popping up. Harvesting the parts on the trellis is kindof a PITA already, hopefully will get easier as more are along the line
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466779055.927005.jpg

 

[rtracer]

So, first year growing hops and they are going crazy. Like these things are nuts. Anyways, on my centennial, I have what look to be full size hops along with gillions of little hairy bud starts. I had assumed that there would be one big harvest, but by the looks of my plants, there will be multiple small harvests as the different buds mature?

 

[Rypcord]

I have 1 Cascade and 3 Chinook. They are all first years.

Next year I am thinking of expanding, what are some good choices to expand to (different varieties) that compliment what I already have, and grow well in Central PA?

 

[Punx Clever]

It's happened! I've got burrs! One of my CTZ's is starting to bud.

One of my taller plants is only a couple feet from the roof now too.

 

[Calder]

The bine you see behind the trellis is cascade. Which just gave me .5oz more dried cones yesterday!!!
View attachment 359664
New burrs keep popping up. Harvesting the parts on the trellis is kind of a PITA already, hopefully will get easier as more are along the line
View attachment 359665

Are you sure they are ready? I've had hundreds (maybe a thousand) cones on my Cascade for weeks (maybe months) and loads of new flowers appearing every day, and they are not ready yet. I checked them today by pulling back some of the layers on a few of the biggest cones and am not seeing much if any of the yellow lupulin resin.

Did you dry the cones, or did they just seem dry when you picked them? Picking them yesterday and already knowing you have .5 ozs dried cones is pretty quick. I may be wrong, but I suspect you are thinking the cones are already dry when you pick them. You don't get dried cones straight off the bine, although they may seem papery, they still contain a lot of water. After picking the cones you then need to dry them out (unless using them immediately). Typically, the dry weight will be roughly 20% of the 'as-picked' weight. So if the picked weith is 0.5 ozs, the dry weight will be approx, 0.1 ozs.

It does depend on the plant and size of the cones, but there are approximately 210 cones in 1 dry ounce of hops. To get .5 ozs dry, you would need to have picked somewhere in the region of 80 to 140 fresh cones.

Generally, hops are not ready for picking until late August or September in most places.

 

[lzrdkng14]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466895082.992707.jpg the view from above

 

[Texconsinite]

Yes, pretty sure they are done. I wait until they make the cricket noise like paper when I squeeze them. I dry them in a food dehydrator at 95f for 7-10 hrs until they feel totally dry and have lost most of their weight.
I've been harvesting a few at a time as they ripen. Done 4 mini-harvests so far, yielding 1oz (dry) total. but judging by the number of burrs there will be many more to come.

I was worried about picking too early as well. This last batch I almost let a few go too long and whole petals were starting to turn brown. Usually I wait until they lighten up and get little bits of brown on the tips before harvesting

 

[mauer_62]

2nd year centennial in central PAView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466945999.226680.jpg

 

[DurtyChemist]

Since the main growing head died off of my hops due to a late season frost I have a TON of sidearm growth just going to town. It's going to be a mess to maintain this year but it's also the first year I'm using the new hop box design from the 2014 thread.

I also had one rhizome grow about 2" out of the ground and die. I thought the entire thing was dead but this weekend I look out there and see two more buds coming up in it's place so I'll let it grow a nice root system this year.

Year 3 should be fun.

 

[BlackIce]

Hop pic update. Pics from last week. Dog wanted to play with my Chinook so I only have 1 run right now.
Chinook, Columbia,Centennial and Cascade

 

[Terek]

Are you sure they are ready? I've had hundreds (maybe a thousand) cones on my Cascade for weeks (maybe months) and loads of new flowers appearing every day, and they are not ready yet. I checked them today by pulling back some of the layers on a few of the biggest cones and am not seeing much if any of the yellow lupulin resin.

Did you dry the cones, or did they just seem dry when you picked them? Picking them yesterday and already knowing you have .5 ozs dried cones is pretty quick. I may be wrong, but I suspect you are thinking the cones are already dry when you pick them. You don't get dried cones straight off the bine, although they may seem papery, they still contain a lot of water. After picking the cones you then need to dry them out (unless using them immediately). Typically, the dry weight will be roughly 20% of the 'as-picked' weight. So if the picked weith is 0.5 ozs, the dry weight will be approx, 0.1 ozs.

It does depend on the plant and size of the cones, but there are approximately 210 cones in 1 dry ounce of hops. To get .5 ozs dry, you would need to have picked somewhere in the region of 80 to 140 fresh cones.

Generally, hops are not ready for picking until late August or September in most places.

it all depends on the weather. Last year, my hops had shoots at the end of feb. due to strangely high temps. I harvested huge cones early june. I even got quite a bit on a second harvest in sept. because hey started growing new bines after harvest in june. Weather plays a huge part. And drying typically takes me 24 hours. I lay them out on boards in my 90* garage.

 

[Terek]

the last pic was half of the harvest. I had just as much the next day when i finished. I can take only so many hours of cleaning in one day, lol