are different hops ready for harvest at different times?

[vanceromance]

My hallertau look way past the time when i should have picked them, my nugget is no where near ready. Is this normal?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Yes, but its not just that. Plant to plant even within the same species can be vastly different. There are so many variaables that play into when they are ready.

Why do you say they look way past the time you should have picked them? Now and for the next few weeks is the standard picking time.

 

[day_trippr]

I've been growing Chinook, Centennial, Cascade and Fuggles for three years now, and they never have been ready at the same time. Close, but not quite. Centennials have always been first in line, followed by the Fuggles, and then it's a race between the Cascade and Chinook - which the Cascade has been winning by a week or two.

Which turns out to be A Good Thing, unless you have the drying facility to handle them all at the same time. I'm drying almost 9 pounds of Centennials I harvested today and it totally filled up my setup, and from appearances I'll have even more than that in Cascades, and the more again with the Chinook.

The house REEKS of Centennial hops right now. It...is....awesome!

Cheers!

 

[B-Hoppy]

All hops have their optimum time for harvest, just like apples. Some are early, medium and late which is a great tool for the growers to be able to spread the work load out a little. The information in this: http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/docs.htm?docid=14772 document is most likely based on harvest time for those hops grown out in PNW and does vary from Yakima Valley to the Willamette Valley. Your location and how/when you initially train them will also have a bearing on when they're ready for harvest. For me, like with day tripper, my Centennials are generally ready just before the Cascades and the Chinook are usually a few weeks behind the Cascades. Brewer's Gold is very close to the Chinook and the Canadian Redvine is usually the first week of September. Again, your location/climate/soil has a big influence on the matter. Take good notes from year to year.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I'm in the same boat. I harvested most of my Hallertau yesterday, Zeus needs at least 1 more week but Mt Hood & Nugget look like they've got 2-3 weeks left.

 

[vanceromance]

Most of the the Hallertau cones turned brown way before the Nugget cones were even formed. Maybe not a harvest issue.

 

[mattrettig]

Doesn't "mittlefreuh" (as in hallertauer mittlefreuh) mean "mid-season"in German? Right there that tells me that the Germans believe that different varieties mature at different times even if all other factors were normalized, which they never are.