85 year old hop plant...

[rhamilton]

Hop Union does testing. For an 85 year old plant it might be worth it!

 

[ThreeSheetsBrewing]

I'm wondering if there is any update to this?

 

[BradleyBrew]

keep me posted... very cool story!

 

[Hopelesst]

Subscribed.

Cant wait to hear how they're doing this year. I'd be willing to road trip up to york and buy some hops from you in the fall. I would love to,try these out!

 

[PariahVineyard]

Sub'd. I only live 30 minutes or so away from the OP.

 

[Pezedorado]

I'd like to hear about the harvest this year. What a great thread!

 

[Zorin]

This truly an outstanding find, I wish you the best with your hops. Subscribed...

 

[1fast636]

dam i drive threw york to my buddys house alot if you do any cutting on the roots let me know i would love to have alil history in my garden

 

[strumke]

If you're willing to ship a rhizome, I'd be interested (and willing to pay for the shipping and a few bucks for your time)

 

[HydroGeologist]

If you're willing to ship a rhizome, I'd be interested (and willing to pay for the shipping and a few bucks for your time)

Same here!

 

[H-ost]

It would be nice to get an update but neither the OP or J_treegirl have logged on since september/october 2011... so.... might not happen.

 

[WuAnquo77]

My cousin and I 'liberated' a few rhizomes last spring from a plant that is at least 70 years old. We did a 'midnight raid' in mid March after a few beers and came away with a few extremely vigorous bines. It was fortuitous of us to 'liberate' them when we did. The electric company had everything trimmed way back just after we did it. I don't really think it hurt the plant that much, but it definitely has to reach out to find something to climb now. No clue what variety they are, but we've both got female flowers, so a pale ale is in store if things go well.

 

[j_treegirl]

It would be nice to get an update but neither the OP or J_treegirl have logged on since september/october 2011... so.... might not happen.

You are correct, neither of us have been on here in a long time. Bkelley was supposed to be helping me work with this plant in exchange for the hops at harvest time to brew some beer, but life occurred for both of us...Last year, we did not harvest the plant at all, so I still have no idea what type it is or how it tastes. My father and I decided this year to make a makeshift trellis and see what happened, neither of us really know much about hops and although I have made wine, I have never tried my hand at beer. We set two 20' pipes with a pipe spanning the top and ran ropes up one side, over the top and down the other every foot or so. Well, we started by taking one bine to each rope and just loosely wrapping them once around, they seemed to be fragile at that stage. Within two days, the plant decided that it would send two or three up each rope just for the hell of it. By the end of the week, it was obvious that next year's trellis will need to be much, much bigger...By the end of week two, most of the bines had reached the twenty or so foot top, found no where else to go, and decided to start down the other side and then back out into the yard again. It is now a much larger, more tangled beast than ever, but seems to be quite happy about it! We still have the problem of the blackberries/raspberries and tearthumb occupying the base of The Beast, but the upper reaches of it are happy for now. We planned to cut the ropes and bines down at harvest time, thus making harvest easier and cutting back The Beast at the same time, but now that it has gone crazy that might not work at all. Not ready to even think about that things roots yet, so no freebie rhizomes yet...I don't even know the first thing about cutting them yet, and can't get to the base of the thing to get at them. Trying to get a cousin on dad's side to help harvest and make some beer, but he's busy too. My time is sucked up by my business and taking care of a husband who was hit by a drunk driver in May, and Dad is busy on the farm with other things, so I'll try to keep everyone updated more as The Beast progresses. Sorry for the delay, life just can't seem to slow down to smell the hops...

 

[Chuginator]

Thanks for the update, and sorry to hear about your husband - that's terrible. Best wishes for his swift recovery.

People (well, OK - me) really like pictures, and I know you're slammed - but if I can be selfish and request a current picture of The Beast if you can squeeze in a moment some day...

 

[solbes]

Thanks for the update Treegirl. Pretty cool hop plant you have growing there!!

 

[ffaoe]

Im sorry to hear about your husband. You got a very cool monster hop plant growing, much nicer than the two 1y.o. I have going. I happen to live in York. If you ever decide to offer fresh hops, or rhizomes for sale I would love to know.

 

[Rahahb]

20' in 2 weeks. Wow.

 

[UWbucky]

A tragedy for you and your husband. I pray for a quick recovery.

 

[brewertux]

You should overnight me a sample =D. I'd love to propagate it.

This.

What's more, I'm semi-local (northern VA), and my in-laws are in Chester County PA.

FANTASTIC story here, guys. Absolutely fantastic.

Edit:

The above was written before reading through the rest of the thread - sorry to hear about your husband. That really sucks I'm sure that there are locals and semi-locals that would be willing to help out with the care and feeding of The Beast, and honestly, any other help that you may need.

 

[Pezedorado]

Im an Ag consultant and I would drive to York from BMore for a day to work on cleaning up the Beast and taking home some cones to test out! PM Me.

 

[j_treegirl]

Not that anyone probably follows this anymore...but a mini update anyway.

Not much was done with The Beast since the last post, but it doesn't seem to have minded being mowed down to the dirt! We're gonna try to build a bigger, better trellis, but the darn Beast just keeps gobbling up every available bit of real estate it can gets bines on. I've been so busy that I really haven't learned much else, other than that I don't think that I could kill this thing if I had too anyway, it will outlive us all and inherit the Earth when we're gone. I did take pictures of it after it first discovered the trellis, I'm just not sure where I stored them at the moment...

 

[B-Hoppy]

". . . other than I don't think that I could kill this thing if I had to anyway, . . ."

You could always try this: http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/dupont/FarmingWithDynamite/ thanks to GVH_Dan. Although, dynamite isn't the solution to everything: .

 

[jack_a_roe]

everyone is always interested in something like this

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Remember the east coast of the USA was the hop belt for years until a disease wiped them mostly out in the 20's or 30's I believe. Then the growing region became the NW of the US. If you want to come up to Halifax to see what I do pm me. I would love to have some rhizomes from that plant just to see what it is and how it grows. It probably survived the "blight" somehow. Want to trade?

found this on the web from USA hops.

Hop production in America followed closely the settlement of the first colonies in the New England areas. Early American brewers used wild hops, but the cultivation of hops in the old world had progressed to "industry status" and soon moved to the new world. After growing hops in New England and Virginia, the center of hop production moved to New York State by the middle 1800s. Problems with powdery mildew practically wiped out the production of hops in New York about 1909. The region revived again around 1920 with the discovery of sulfur-based fungicides only to be devastated again in the late 1920s by downy mildew.

 

[pigroaster]

I also have been watching this from day one. Keep reporting>

 

[NC_Drewbrew]

This is definitely one of the most interesting threads I have read. Would love to see some new pics of the the new trellis and the progress. I agree with one of the previous posts that for a plant that old may be worth getting it tested to find out what it is. Keep the info coming!

Cheers

 

[brewertux]

Agreed with the above - and would love to see updated pictures

 

[JohnSand]

Thanks for the update. I'm new to this thread, but read it all and enjoyed it.

 

[passedpawn]

I can't believe no one has grabbed some of those cones and made beer with them.

 

[WayFrae]

Awesome thread! I am excited to see the new trellis!