Growing Hops in Charlotte

[BrewInspector]

Looks a little a early but hard to tell from a photo.They should be springy when compressed. A little papery.

I usually look for a little browning at some of the tips with a rustling sound and feel (paper like) when rolled in fingers.

Other than the already harvested early batch, I expect I will start harvesting some in the middle of August when I start to see some are ripe. Most will come in late August.

 

[BrewInspector]

1234

1 too soon (smells green, light color, soft)
2 nearly there (darker, little springy)
3 almost too late (springy, crunchy, browning)
4 too late.(brown, falls apart, crunchy)

Since they do not all rope at the same time I will end up with a slight mix of anything from 2-4 with most falling in the 2-3 range.

Squeeze one that you know is not ripe. See how it stays a little flat and how soft it was? Then squeeze one that has a touch of browning. It will spring back more and feel a little crunchy.

 

[CarolinaMatt]

1234

1 too soon (smells green, light color, soft)
2 nearly there (darker, little springy)
3 almost too late (springy, crunchy, browning)
4 too late.(brown, falls apart, crunchy)

Since they do not all rope at the same time I will end up with a slight mix of anything from 2-4 with most falling in the 2-3 range.

Squeeze one that you know is not ripe. See how it stays a little flat and how soft it was? Then squeeze one that has a touch of browning. It will spring back more and feel a little crunchy. View attachment 638172View attachment 638173

this is amazing! Thank you for sharing! How do you dry your hops?

 

[BrewInspector]

I use a food dehydrator.

I'll pick a bunch put in a bucket.
Load up the dehydrator, rotate the trays when the lower tray hops start to dry. (They will open up).
Dump dried hops in another container, refill the dehydrator then start weighing out 1 ounce of dried hops in a large bowl. Form a new bag and vacuum seal each ounce as I go along. I have to stuff the bag by hand squeezing them into a small area.

Start the cycle over again.

It breaks up the work to load the dehydrator and package then wait for the next batch to dry.

How long it takes depends on how much I place on each tray and I don't recall the specific amount of time it takes for them to dry. Weighing and packaging doesn't take much time at all. You'll be surprised how many dry hops it takes to make an ounce.

One trick for loading the dehydrator is to place a cover over the central hole (I use a Gatorade cap) to keep them from falling into the fan and heating element area in the base. Just remember to remove it before adding the next tray and when you are done.

Don't let the fresh hops sit too long. If you delay drying them they will start to decompose from the weight and moisture.

1 dried hops
2 bagged
3 sealed
4 dehydrator and sealed hops in 2017

 

[Stand]

Last year I used a box fan and spread them between two oversized kitchen towels to avoid heating them. It worked really well, but it was my first year. I didn't have that many to dry out.

This year I'm going to measure my box fan and buy cheap-o AC filters. I figure I can just buy more filters and keep stacking them depending on how much I get.

 

[BrewInspector]

So far I have harvested, dried and sealed 17.5 oz for 2019.
I may get another few oz before I get them all.

Better than last year where I only got about 15 oz
Two years ago I managed just over 48 oz

 

[CarolinaMatt]

alright... spring weather is upon us! Time to start of year two. I have no idea where to start. Do I need to cut back all of the old/dead vines? I never got around to that. I noticed last night that there was a shoot starting to come out of a "dead" vine just above the ground. Any tips would be appreciated -- thanks!

 

[CarolinaMatt]

So far I have harvested, dried and sealed 17.5 oz for 2019.
I may get another few oz before I get them all.

Better than last year where I only got about 15 oz
Two years ago I managed just over 48 oz

realized I did not tag you in my post -- alright... spring weather is upon us! Time to start of year two. I have no idea where to start. Do I need to cut back all of the old/dead vines? I never got around to that. I noticed last night that there was a shoot starting to come out of a "dead" vine just above the ground. Any tips would be appreciated -- thanks!

 

[BrewInspector]

I haven't done anything yet either.

First I will remove the old dry bines.
This year I plan to trim all of the initial shoots once they emerge from the ground cover.

I'll be waiting until that first batch of shoots is around 3-4 inches to trim.
I'll try to limit the second shoots to about 3 per plant that I will allow to grow.

 

[CarolinaMatt]

I haven't done anything yet either.

First I will remove the old dry bines.
This year I plan to trim all of the initial shoots once they emerge from the ground cover.

I'll be waiting until that first batch of shoots is around 3-4 inches to trim.
I'll try to limit the second shoots to about 3 per plant that I will allow to grow.

sounds good - is it normal for it to have a shoot grow off the old/dead bine? Or should the new shoots come from the dirt/ground/rhizome?

 

[BrewInspector]

I have not seen them sprout of old dry bines before. All mine come from the ground but then this is the longest I have left last year's in place before removing.

I'll look to see if I have any when I take them out

 

[BrewInspector]

Nope. Just cleared the yard. No new growth on old plants. Nothing poking up above the ground cover either.

I have some sprouting out of two pots used only for decoration that have been out for a couple weeks now

 

[Boilinginsc]

I’m over in South Carolina by Laurens, y’all answered 2 questions I had!
1- what kind grows best here
2 what to plant in a certain area that drains really well but most of the water from that part of the yard runs through there and down the hill.
Thank you

 

[BrewInspector]

Glad we could help another nearby grower.

 

[Stand]

Sheesh. Time to start cutting already.

 

[akpingel]

For what it is worth, I have tried to grow centennial hops every season since 2017 and have had them not last a season. I am trying again this year in a new spot and then giving up if they dont make it. I have a cascade hill and a chinook hill and they are doing great.

 

[TSIG37]

I haven't done anything yet either.

First I will remove the old dry bines.
This year I plan to trim all of the initial shoots once they emerge from the ground cover.

I'll be waiting until that first batch of shoots is around 3-4 inches to trim.
I'll try to limit the second shoots to about 3 per plant that I will allow to grow.

So do you cut off the shoots to just have 3 or 4 ? I have a hop plant that i've had for 3 years and it has a bunch of sprouts ,like probably 20 , so should i cut all of them off but a few?

 

[TSIG37]

So do you cut off the shoots to just have 3 or 4 ? I have a hop plant that i've had for 3 years and it has a bunch of sprouts ,like probably 20 , so should i cut all of them off but a few?

I tried that last year and it seems like they just keep sprouting more and more ,and i can't keep them all cut off.plus the root ball is probably a foot by eighteen inches so that seems like alot of roots to just cut back to 3 or four vines?

 

[Stand]

My understanding is that you should cut all of them back because the first bull runners are hollow and don't produce as much. In NC this is probably double true since we are going to have a long growing season compared to Pacific northwest.

I cut back everything and let 3-4 go from the second growth last year, and it worked out.

I am no expert, so please check that out before you proceed.

 

[TSIG37]

My understanding is that you should cut all of them back because the first bull runners are hollow and don't produce as much. In NC this is probably double true since we are going to have a long growing season compared to Pacific northwest.

I cut back everything and let 3-4 go from the second growth last year, and it worked out.

I am no expert, so please check that out before you proceed.

 

[TSIG37]

So if it looks like this already i should cut all this off at the ground and then use 3 or 4 shoots that come back out? what if more then 3 or 4 keep coming up , do i keep those cut back? I did cut a few of these off when they first came up but then there was so many?

 

[Stand]

I've cut mine back entirely, and the new bines are growing incredibly fast.

Read this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/whats-the-deal-with-bull-bines.574666/

I took this yesterday. The bines from my last picture I cut down to the ground and started over. It's hard to convince yourself it will come back better, but it does.