Hoppo's Hops Garden

[tchuklobrau]

Looks great. Only concern I have is this. How much will that area get shaded by the trees when they are full leaf? I bring this up because with my setup 3 plants get shaded by the cherry tree growing in the corner alot. their growth is 1/10 of what the others are. Those 3 plants only get like 3-4 hours of afternoos sun, where all other plants get sun almost all day.

Hoping this does not become an issue, setup looks great. looking forward to seeing it when you have the surrounding landscape done, and the hops are full climb.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Points well taken. I addressed my concerns earlier in the thread. The span between the sets of trees is in a SE orientation, so there is full sun for the morning and early afternoon. There are a few hours where the trees do block out the sun, but then in the late afternoon and early evening, there is full sun again from the backside. I'm going to see how they do here first and then if it's obvious that they aren't getting enough sun or not producing viable cones, I will have to move them to the back yard and build a more elaborate elevated bed and trellis system. For now, I'm going to just ride it out and see how they do where they are at. Thanks for the input!

 

[Gridlocked]

awwww. They are so cute! Two years from now you're going to look back and remember what it was like when they were so teeny. ...they grow up so fast...

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Just a quick update.....of the 8 rhizomes planted, all but 1 have broken the surface with multiple sprouts. Nothing worthy of pictures at this point. The hallerau, the one least likely to succeed in my region, is still in the lead and already leafing out. Once these little b*stards grow a little more, I'll post some pics. I also extended my sprinkler system and installed a 360 degree pop up sprinkler head right in the middle of all of the hills. It is a head that I can damper down the flow rate, so I have it on a fine mist, as to not over-saturate the rhizomes. Now it's a waiting game.

 

[Gridlocked]

Nice job!!! C-mon GROW!!!

 

[1fast636]

sweet man i swear all your threads are awesome i will be watching this on too lol

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Your too kind.

There are signs of life from all 8 rhizomes! I know my hops garden location isn't ideal, with the trees sheilding the sunlight for a few hours during the day, but I'm going to ride it out. After 2 days of solid rain, I'm going home today to mow my lawn and then plan on trimming the cherry trees a little more to maximize sunlight exposure to the hops garden. Unfortunately, there is only so much trimming that I can do. My cable system seems to be functioning just fine. I tooks some of the tension out of the cables and we have had some really windy days over the past few weeks, a couple with 40 to 50 mph wind gusts and I think that the slack left in the cables allows for enough sway in the trees, as there has been no damage to the trellis system.

I know this is , but this past weekend I dug the trenches for my asparagus roots and covered them with 4 inches of top soil. I will then back fill the trenches as they start to grow until the dirt level is back up to the surface. I put the asparagus patch on a south facing slope, about 5 feet off of the edge of my lawn in the back yard. The soil is a mixture of tops soils, sandy loam, and clay. Hopefully they can survive with these soil conditions, but unfortunately the back of my property has a high clay content, hence my hops garden going up front. I also planted my vegetable garden over the weekend as well, so now I can just sit back with a beer and watch all of this stuff grow!

 

[TalkingGoats]

Oh, Wow. Wish I would have thought of something like this before I planted mine.... Genius and should look amazing.

 

[Gridlocked]

Update?
It's been a while since you've posted. What you been doing? Working?
Remember to stop and enjoy a pint every now and then.
Hope things are well.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

As Gridlocked indicated almost 2 months ago, I have neglected this thread for quite a while. I have been extremely busy at work and just got back from a vacation in the Smokey Mountains. Just a quick update. Those of you that had concerns about my cable/trellis system not allowing sway with the trees....I added slack to the cables and have had no problems through several nasty storms with high winds. Initially, I was not very hopeful that these vines were going to thrive, so I wasn't updating the thread. Once the canopy of the trees filled in, it did cut down on the direct sunlight that I was expecting for this location. They do get several hours of direct light in the a.m. and a couple of hours of partial sunlight in the late afternoon, but there is far more shade than I expected during the middle part of the day. Some are doing well and others are not. I plan on transplanting to a full sun, elevated bed in my back yard next spring with a new and improved trellis system, but for now I just have to roll with the punches.

I'll post some pictures when I get a chance, but the status is a follows.

Hallertau: Was doing great and growing the quickest out of the gait, but the stake in the ground that secured the lower end of the climbing rope was slightly below grade and it rotted the rope and snapped. During a thunderstorm, the rope not being secured at the ground snapped the 2 bines in half. I replaced the rope with a nylon rope and restaked it. There have been several other bines and they are now climbing, but are still only 3-4 feet tall....

Chinook #1: Leading the way at about 15 feet. There are 4 bines that are climbing and side shoots starting to sprout. It was a slow starter, but is doing great now.

Chinook #2: Similar to the Hallerau, the climbing rope rotted and needed to be replaced. The first climber snapped off. I now have 3 bines climbing and it's a little behind the pace of #1 at about 8 feet.

Glacier: Was by far the beefiest rhizome with the most shoots that I planted. It was also by far the slowest starter and although there are numberous bines, 4 of which are climbing, it's very slow. Probably 2 feet at best.

Columbus: Slow starter, but has 3 bines climbing and is at 6-7 feet.

Cascade #1: 3 bines and thriving similar to the chinook climbing to around 15 feet with some side shoots forming. Mild aphid damage early on, but corrected with an organic spray to keep them away.

Cascade #2: Lagging behind cascade #1 at about 9 feet tall. It also had an issue with rotting rope that had to be replaced, so I had to carefully unwind it from it's ascent on the climbing rope and re-wrap it on the new rope. It also had early mild signs of aphid damage, but got under control with an organic spray. I'm not sure if it somehow stunted the grown a bit, but it seems to be doing ok.

Centennial: Sucking A$$. Lots of bines, but not really thriving and wanting to climb. I think that there are 2 bines that are a couple of feet up the line at best and seem to want to keep letting go. I go out there every other day and keep trying to train them, but they are being stubborn. Early on there were moderate signs of insect damage (small holes in the leafs), so I also had to spray with an organic spray to keep the aphids away. It was the most affected of the bunch. Maybe it stunted them????

That's the update, I'll snap some pics tomorrow, so you can see the growth. I am obviously brand new to the hop growing game, so any and all advice is appreciated.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

OK....here are some pics of my hops garden and it's progress. As you can see by the pics. and with my descriptions above from yesterday, some are doing great and others....not so much. The pictures do not really show the true height of tallest 4 in the bunch, but it's the best I could do. My cables are 20 ft. high and there are now within 5 feet from the top and a couple of others that are catching up quickly. The other 4 are climbing, but much slower. I will say that I was not holding out much hope in the beginning with the slow start of most of them and the sun exposure issues, but a few of the first years are really surprising me. It's looking like a few of them want to produce some first year cones a well with 3 of the vines producing some side shoots and burrs over the past week or so. As you can see, I still haven't found the time to weed and mulch the entire bed area.....not enough hours in the day.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Here a few more pics., with one close up of the burrs that are forming. One of the tallest two.....a cascade is absolutely loaded with burrs. I also have another cascade and a chinook that are just starting to show signs of burr formation. Quite frankly, I have not take the best care of these vines. As you can see, there were some issues with aphids early on with tiny holes in the leafs and a couple of vines showing signs of slight over watering. Besides my initial soil mixture and initial fertilizing, I haven't fertilized at all. The most I have done is assist them in their climbing efforts and shoot them occassionally with an organic spray to try to keep the insects away. I'm pleasantly surprised that I will likely have a small first year harvest. :

If I move my hops garden to full sun next spring in an elevated bed with ideal soil conditions, I'm afraid that I may be overwhelmed in another couple of years if all 8 vines start producing to their full potential.

 

[bigljd]

If I move my hops garden to full sun next spring in an elevated bed with ideal soil conditions, I'm afraid that I may be overwhelmed in another couple of years if all 8 vines start producing to their full potential.

No such thing as too many hops

They are looking good - I agree with you that they need more sun and they will go nuts. Nice work!

 

[Gridlocked]

Looking good man! Are those Cascades from my rhizomes? Mine went pretty insane the first year too - lots and lots of burrs. I had 6 plants my first year, 12 my second year and I'm back to 6 again this year. Your 2nd year harvest will (should be) be overwhelming. With your schedule, you'll probably have a harvesting party and invite a couple friends over to pick cones.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Thanks guys. Yeah Ted, the cascades are from the rhizomes you sent. I have to say that with the exception of the centennial, the 2 cascades and the 2 chinooks that you sent are doing really well. I'm not sure what is up with the centennial, except for the fact that it is closest to the tree and there was a mild aphid issue early on with that particular vine and a couple of others. The rhizomes that I purchased from my HBS pale in comparison to the ones that you were gracious enough to send my way. With the rhizomes from my HBS the hallertau was doing ok until first 2 climbing bines snapped in a wind storm when my lower anchor of the climbing line let lose due to rope rotting. The columbus is doing fair and the glacier (the beefiest of all of the rhizomes planted) is sucking hind tit. I'm just going to sit back and see what happens. Even the ones that are lagging behind in climbing height are filling out really nice, so hopefully a decent root structure will be established. I will then consider transplanting to an elevated bed in full sun in my back yard in the spring.

 

[Gridlocked]

Both of my Centennial are the same - the Chinook and Cascades are 2-3x the size - EASY. Just a different species.
Be careful with the Chinooks - the bank next to my house have called the cops on her twice - trying to stuff vines up the drive-up tubes. I think she may take over my yard. I don't let my kids near her.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

That's some funny sh*t! Post some pics of that beast when you get a chance, I'd love to see her.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

CONES ARE FORMING!!!! (pics. this wk. end)

I think I'm going to devote everything that I'm able to harvest to one big wet hopped IPA! Just need to figure out a wet hopping schedule based on what I harvest. It's not going to be a truck load of hops by any means, but I want to use what I get and really don't want to go through the drying process with a limited first year harvest. Those with experience....give me some advice here, because this will be my first go around with home grown hops. I know that you can only estimate AAU% based on variety and the lupulin production may be less than maximal with first year hops, but I'm gonna use 'em anyway. Does anyone know an approximate correlation between wet and dry hops.....meaning 1 oz. of typical dried whole leaf hops = how many ounces of wet hops? Advice would be appreciated!

 

[paulster2626]

CONES ARE FORMING!!!! (pics. this wk. end)

I think I'm going to devote everything that I'm able to harvest to one big wet hopped IPA! Just need to figure out a wet hopping schedule based on what I harvest. It's not going to be a truck load of hops by any means, but I want to use what I get and really don't want to go through the drying process with a limited first year harvest. Those with experience....give me some advice here, because this will be my first go around with home grown hops. I know that you can only estimate AAU% based on variety and the lupulin production may be less than maximal with first year hops, but I'm gonna use 'em anyway. Does anyone know an approximate correlation between wet and dry hops.....meaning 1 oz. of typical dried whole leaf hops = how many ounces of wet hops? Advice would be appreciated!

Now I'm no expert, but I believe it's about a 5:1 ratio of wet:dry weight.

 

[Gridlocked]

Alright Hopphippo, or whatever your name is.

I used my entire 1st year harvest in one batch ~13oz in a 5 gallon batch. I was not familiar with the aroma of hops and I figured if I were going to wreck a batch of beer, I would only wreck one - and that I would wreck the **** out of it by using them all. I dried mine for a week or something though. Then froze them in a non-air-tight ziplock for like 2 months.

Here's the thread and recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/curious-about-using-home-grown-hops-215200/

This ended up being one of the best beers I've ever made and I have not been able to re-create it. I've tried twice and I'm going to keep going until I hit it. This is one instance where I wish I would have taken careful notes because this beer would have probably won awards - like best beer in all the kingdom universe. The goal was to have a very light-colored and hop forward beer that made it VERY clear as to the bitterness and flavor. I wanted to know exactly what they tasted like and did to the beer. What I didn't account for was the volume of liquid that was left in the hop cones themselves. I only had about 4.5 gallons of beer to ferment so I sanitized a pail and a 5 gallon strainer bag, poured the kettle-sludge, hops and all into the bag, in the pail and rung the liquid out as much as I could - and then dumped the liquid into the carboy. Oh yeah, I sanitized my hands too. Ask Paul's mistress, this beer was amazing. I'm serious.

 

[Gridlocked]

Kent!
What's up?
-Ted

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Kent!
What's up?
-Ted

Sorry man. Took a rock to the eye mowing on Sunday and tore the cornea of my right eye. I spent several hours at the opthamologists office yesterday and have been out of commission for the past few days. I'll update some pics when I get a chance, but have been staying away from the computer.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Here's some pics of the cones on my 1st yr. vines. The chinooks and cascades are producing better than expected. There is a handful on the columbus and just a few burrs on each of the centennial and hallertau, so not much production out of them. Nothing on the glacier, but there's always next year.

 

[Jhoss]

From another Ortonville-ite - well done! I am thinking about only going Centennial next year (first hop planting) but hearing you say not much from the Centennials - may have to re-think that one. Nice pics - and sorry to hear about the accident - get better soon!

Jhoss

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Thanks man. If you could get your hands on some crowns, you would have a much better shot at having them produce cones first year as opposed to rhizomes. Great Lakes sells crowns for a decent price.....not sure if they have cents tho. In a couple of years, I'll dig some rhizomes up for you if you would like....not sure if these 1st years will have any rhizomes off shooting in the spring, but if they do they are yours.

 

[nagmay]

I picked up some crowns from Great Lakes last fall and highly recommend it: Centennial, Newport, Teamaker. All are doing great and producing cones this year. The teamaker has the best spot - up the chimney - and has dozens of cones. The other just have a handful (as you might expect for such young hops).

 

[Gridlocked]

hey Kent, will you send me one (ok two) bottles of the beer that you make with these?

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Of course.....I owe you way more than that! I'll let you know when brew day will be and we'll go from there. My fermentation chambers are almost complete, so I'm going to have a piggy back brewing session with a home grown IPA hop bomb and my very first lager. I figure, I've got two chambers, why not use them. I typically brew more like your buddy Paul, but I'm going TED style on this b*tch.....handfuls of home growns throughout the entire boil! I'm using every last 1st year cone, including Chinooks, Cascades, and Columbus. The Columbus is going in early and the rest continuously throughout the boil. I'm not measuring sh*t!

Check out my chamber builds when you get a chance.....just finshed the poly on the wood work and will be installing the cement board and tumbled travertine when I get back from the holiday weekend. Thanks again for the rhizomes my man!

Oh....here's the link if'n you want to check out the chambers. I built them to match the keezer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ho...bers-ale-lager-301274/index7.html#post4375279

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Oh.....by the way. Do you have any of the fish poo brew left from the BTV episode? I'd love to try it.....since your famous now and all.

 

[Gridlocked]

HA! You don't think I already checked out the ferm. chamber build thread??! I need to get off of my ass and get a freezer to convert - picking up ingredients for three 10 gallon batches today if I can sneak out of work for a while...
Congratulations on letting go of the reins of control!!! Just write down about what you add and when (and try not to get too drunk). I'm currently on my 4th re-brew to try to re-create the beer that I made with my 1st home grown hops where they also all went into the boil. It turned out awesome and I NEED to make it again.