Hops in Michigan - first year report

[Oaky]

So I got a number of species, from local sources and also from the Internet.

In order of success here are the ones that seem to grow best (for me) in Southeast Michigan. I should provide a caveat that not all have similar exposure and that certain had been started a month prior in dirt containers prior to going into ground.

Tettnanger - the noble bavarian hop is doing great. I have bines that go in excess of 20 feet. They have numerous horizontal shoots - which are now bearing roughly dime sized hairy cones. The cones look like hairy puff balls atm. There are easily 50-100 for each of the two mounds. The horizontal arms start as low as 6 feet but most seem to be happening higher up 10-14 feet and above.

Nuggest and Horizon are second best. they both have 6-7 feet atm - which is nowhere near the Tettnang. The Tettnang were all started in pots 1 month before. The Nuggets werre local and were also transplanted from pots to earth. Horizon came as a rhyzome and is doing better than Cascades, Centenial and Columbus.

So - either the 1 month start in the bucket gave a very strong headstart to Tettnang or Bavaria and Michigan share similar climates making it a good environment for Tettnanger growing.
As far as method, I dug an 18 inch hole, filled it with humus and gravel/sand and some slow fertilizer. I planted plants in mounds of 2. I used bricks all around them and used twine to make them climb to my deck. I put moss all around the hops to retain moisture.

more on this as I get closer to harvest!

(if anyone wants to trade hops rhyzomes in the fall let me know.)

 

[adamjab19]

I live right across woodward (I'm in Berkley) from you somewhere and I just picked some Centennials off my first year plant today. I'll be harvesting for the next few weeks as I have ripe hops and some that are still burrs.

 

[Oaky]

That's really close. I live off of woodward - right by Nellos.

Ya mine are still all burrs -starting to connify tho. Glad to hear that your centenials are already coming in. Do they come in over time? or do you cut and pull them all down at once?

I'd like to try cloning but I hear the ratio is poor (1-12 or so for clones vs rhyzomes).
When did you plant the centenials? I planted mine as rhyzomes in May - so fairly late.

Also where do you get your gear? brewing world or elsewhere?

 

[adamjab19]

I'm by northpointe medical.

Yeah mine are coming in over time. I'll be up and down the ladder a few times over the next couple of weeks. And as I read further I may have picked my first handful a few days too early....not as papery they could be as a video I saw on youtube. Plus they are lacking the strong centennial aroma. But some of them actually had leaves coming out of the cones??

I planted mine in April sometime. Just one rhizome in a big planter.

I go to adventures in homebrew in taylor, brewing world in warren (though they often do not inspire confidence), and capncork when i am visiting family.

 

[Oaky]

interesting that your centenials are way ahead of mine. did you do anything special to the planter?
I'm starting to wonder if putting them straight in the ground is the best plan.

I heard that the way to tell is to squeeze the lower part of the cone and if it sticks a bit and releases and feels papery you're in good shape. Some hops apparently are earlier than others - tettnang is supposed to be lower yield but earlier.

weird re the leaves in the cone.. thats weird

I havent tried the place in taylor. how does it compare. Brewing world is a bit messy but they tend to have better prices than capn and others i have seen. Skippy is a darlin once you get to know him.. heh heh..

anyway, would love to compare notes - let me know as you progress.

 

[Oaky]

https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/ant1hops.jpg

So here is a photo. They're about 1.25" long atm. these are about the longest ones. they feel very dense - hard actually which surprises me.
So they're still doing great. a week or more from first harvest tho

 

[HomerT]

I live in Wixom. My first year plants range from 18" tall (Mt Hood), 3ft tall (Kent Goldings), 6ft (Cascade), 12ft with burrs/cones (Cascade and Centennial) and 19ft with cones/burrs (Hallertau). Overall, i just want good root establishment. 2nd year harvest is the what I am interested in.

My 2nd year Hallertau is a monster. Last year it hit 20ft by mid to late august and produced 2.5oz of dried hops (11oz wet). This year itt hit 20ft almost a month and a half ago. I had the first harvest sunday. I filled a 5-gallon bucked to almost the 4-gallon mark. They are finishing the drying now and will be weighed/sealed tonight. Looking at the bine, I know I will have atleast one more harvest of about 2-gallons. :rockin:

 

[Bjornbrewer]

I'm over in St. Clair Shores. First year hops consist of a Willamette and a Cascade. I started both in pots while getting the garden built. The Willamette is about 3' tall but the Cascade is over 6. no hops so far, but not expecting much the first year.

 

[Scooby_Brew]

I think maybe the reason why the European varieties are doing better this year is because this summer was so mild in MI - cool, not many days over 90, not so humid, lots of rain.
I got 6 Cascades from this year, they are 6-18 feet tall, 1 Centennial from last year, about 12feet tall.

 

[HomerT]

Well, last night I weighed, bagged and sealed the first pick. As I said it was from a 2nd year Hallertau. From that first pick I netted 5.5oz dried. Not bad, especcially since I know it will likely produce another 2oz at least.

 

[Oaky]

its shocking how much volume is needed to attain a fair amount of weight.. but then again, i'd settle for 7 oz per plant!
Interesting that Hallertau and on my end Tettnang are both high producers - both nobles and european stock. Bavaria and Michigan, who knew? I'll be curious to see how that differs next year.

I'd like to get some high alpha varieties going. anyone getting success with Nuggett? Mine are quite green - 6 ft max but no cones this year.

 

[adamjab19]

Just packaged my first harvest. Have another one coming by this weekend especially with this heat. Picked them on Monday dry by this morning (Wednesday) using the fan and screen method.

1 and 1/8 ounce dried Centennial so far!

 

[CNL]

I am in Livonia and my leaves are browning the plant is 10' tall, and I have some cones but I am worried the plant is sick

 

[Oaky]

5.50z dried sounds good. Can you give me a feel as to how much volume/weight you had in wet hops? Did it hold true to your 2008 ratio: ie 2.5 oz from 11oz.

I think I'm getting close to my first pick. I have yellow dust at the bottom and the hairs have mostly fallen off.
What other cues should i look for? I ate one of em.. yummy.. the bitterness was really in the lower part though.

 

[HomerT]

5.50z dried sounds good. Can you give me a feel as to how much volume/weight you had in wet hops? Did it hold true to your 2008 ratio: ie 2.5 oz from 11oz.

I think I'm getting close to my first pick. I have yellow dust at the bottom and the hairs have mostly fallen off.
What other cues should i look for? I ate one of em.. yummy.. the bitterness was really in the lower part though.

Volume wet was about 3.5~4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket. To be honest, I didn't weigh them wet this year, as my scale is a quite small and I only cared about the dry weight. I would estimate it as being similar to last year....ie, a quarter to a fifth of the wet weight.

-Todd

 

[Oaky]

Volume wet was about 3.5~4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket. To be honest, I didn't weigh them wet this year, as my scale is a quite small and I only cared about the dry weight. I would estimate it as being similar to last year....ie, a quarter to a fifth of the wet weight.

-Todd

Now do ever use them wet?
I've heard that it takes more hops because they retain water. It would seem that the fresher the hop the better (undried).

 

[Scooby_Brew]

These are my first-year Cascades. Some of them are larger then my second-year Centennials. I think it's getting close to the harvest time, but I don't think the cones are "dry" enough yet.

 

[Oaky]

These are my first-year Cascades. Some of them are larger then my second-year Centennials. I think it's getting close to the harvest time, but I don't think the cones are "dry" enough yet.

woa.. my first year cascades are nowhere near that. That's a nice plant.

I have a few cones - but nothing usable. the bines went up about 6 feet and that was that.
I notice that the cones are different in shape than what I have growing (primarely tettnang). They seem more conical and tapered.
Have you tried cutting them in 1/2? I've been doing that every 3-4 days to get a feel for lupulin

 

[Scooby_Brew]

I think I'm getting much better success in growing hops this year in the new house from before in the old house. I'm starting to suspect that the raised bed garden has a lot to do with it. I noticed the same thing when browsing these forums: good looking hops are usually grown in a raised bed garden or in a really big hill.

Have you tried cutting them in 1/2? I've been doing that every 3-4 days to get a feel for lupulin

Right now the cones are still very green and squishy, so I think they have a few more weeks to go. I want to wait till they get more dry and crunchy before I start thinking about harvesting them.

 

[Oaky]

I harvested all my tettnang about a week ago. Dried they filled 3 large freezer bags. They have lupulin all the way up to the top leaves of the cone. They taste quite spicy.
I'm in the process of doing my first IPA with them supplemented by cascades and some sweet hops.

i have managed to clone a few of the hops. As I trimmed the bines from the picking - I ended up keeping the longer bines and placed them in water. Two hgave taken so far and I just planted these.

I moved on the harvest because I noticed that one of my 2 "mounds" (they're not really mounded but there are two rhyzomes per plant grouping) - anyway i noticed that it started growing new lateral shoots... and sure enough I have a second crop underway.
not bad for a first year plant!

I think I have about 4-6 oz dried - that's a very rough calculation.

 

[Oaky]

If anyone wants to trade or get some Tettnanger Hops rhizome let me know! I have a large number of rhizomes and can't get them all in the ground!

 

[Oaky]

Added a number of varieties this year and here is a photo of the Tett 2nd year. It's as thick a bine as it was by end of year. Looks promising! More photos in the gallery for those interested!

 

[Oaky]

Quick update:
So far I've gotten 2 large brown bags of hops which we used fresh in 20G of beer from the Tettnang. There is likely another 1.5 brown bag (the large shopping kind) and my other hops - Cascade, Nuggett and Horizon are all doing great. All said I believe I got 4-5 brown bags - more than enough to fill a 5 G pail at least once if not twice.

Awesome ;-)

 

[Figbash]

I'm over in Farmington Hills. My varieties are Centennial, Nugget, Magnum, Willamette and Sterling. The Centennial is the most productive with three vines filling almost two 5 gallon buckets. The nuggets were next followed by the Magnum. The Willamette's will likely pull ahead next year because they are only two year old plants but two of them nearly filled a bucket. They reached 36 feet tall this year and had cones all the way up. The Cascade's were just planted this year so their production was minimal. The Sterling have been in for three years and have yet to produce any usable hops. I'll probably take them out next year. All of my hops are in reach of the sprinkler system and get watered twice a day. My total harvest this year was 3.6 pounds of dried hops. I may need to give them away next year because I already have over five pounds in the freezer.

Oaky, it sounds like I may need to plant some Tetnanger's next year if they grow so well around here.

Tom

 

[Oaky]

I'm over in Farmington Hills. My varieties are Centennial, Nugget, Magnum, Willamette and Sterling. The Centennial is the most productive with three vines filling almost two 5 gallon buckets. The nuggets were next followed by the Magnum. The Willamette's will likely pull ahead next year because they are only two year old plants but two of them nearly filled a bucket. They reached 36 feet tall this year and had cones all the way up. The Cascade's were just planted this year so their production was minimal. The Sterling have been in for three years and have yet to produce any usable hops. I'll probably take them out next year. All of my hops are in reach of the sprinkler system and get watered twice a day. My total harvest this year was 3.6 pounds of dried hops. I may need to give them away next year because I already have over five pounds in the freezer.

Oaky, it sounds like I may need to plant some Tetnanger's next year if they grow so well around here.

Tom

I'd be curious to see your set up - getting to 36 feet is impressive - I don't know if I could easily do that here in downtown royal oak! I have a somewhat shaded lot, so I'm limited in what i can do. That said you have way more per plant. I also didn't use the sprinkler system this year. All of this is making me wonder what i can do to boost yield.
Anyway, I vacuum sealed most of my hops last night. I did most of them as wet hops. Do you keep any for wet hopping?

As far as Centenial - my vine never made it. if you want to trade some rhizomes let me know. I can probably get you some tett as I'll likely move some rhizomes around. Columbus smelled great but didn't produce much. My other performer was a second year Horizon - which I understand is somewhat rare.

 

[Figbash]

The Willamette vines are still up since I was able to pick them from the deck and balcony so I left the vines for decoration. All the others have been taken down although the trellice is still up. Most of them get full sun all day so they really do well. I'm around after five on most weekdays and pretty much all weekend if you want to take a look. I sent you a PM with my phone number.

Tom

 

[Privateerx]

Great to see all the good hops in Michigan! I have 9 first year plants in downtown Detroit and most of them have not yielded many cones except for one of my Magnum and one of my Cascade plants. I also planted Nugget and Fuggle, but I'll just have to see if they do better next year.
Cheers!

 

[adamjab19]

Privateerx, welcome to the forum from downtown! Very Cool! You live in condo./apt. or near Wayne state. Would like to hear how you fit 9 plants in.

Anyway, my second year Centennial was ****. I got maybe an ounce. I'm not sure if it is root bound in the pot already (although it is a huge pot) or if I didn't give them enough TLC. I actually threw the hops away because they were so tiny and didn't even smell like hops should.

Glad to see everyone else had a decent year though!

 

[Privateerx]

Well the dry weights are in: 4oz Cascade and 4oz Fuggle. I'll take it for a first year harvest, very little attention was given to the plants. After they emerged from the ground I only watered them maybe once a week. I'm excited for next year though.

 

[Oaky]

Privateerx, welcome to the forum from downtown! Very Cool! You live in condo./apt. or near Wayne state. Would like to hear how you fit 9 plants in.

Anyway, my second year Centennial was ****. I got maybe an ounce. I'm not sure if it is root bound in the pot already (although it is a huge pot) or if I didn't give them enough TLC. I actually threw the hops away because they were so tiny and didn't even smell like hops should.

Glad to see everyone else had a decent year though!

From what I've read hops are relatively ravenous plants - meaning they need lots of nutrients. Even if you have a large pot (ie 5G) you may still end up with some mineral deficiency. I would suggest two things - first look at the leaves (did they have any unusual characteristics - ie curling, spotting etc)? Second if you haven't get some composted manure and maybe some slow release fertilizer. Those things need to eat, takes a lot of energy to build up a plant that tall.

 

[Augie62]

I am looking for some Hops to start growing anyone local have any plants to get rid of?

 

[Oaky]

I have a couple of plants from last year in 2 gallon buckets, but I'm in Royal Oak. A bit far for you.

 

[Augie62]

I do work in Clinton Township and could meet you or set up a day for me to come pick up

Derek

 

[BeerFilter61]

I will be digging up a few Willamette crowns April 1st if you would like to trade for some of your Tettnanger rhisomes.

 

[Oaky]

have any of you guys seen some sprouts? I have a bunch of 1/2" purple shoots on a number of the hops. I found someone with rabbits and fertilized with straw and rabbit pellets over the winter. Seems they really liked it. Anyway. I will see what I can dig up for trading or whatever this spring.

 

[big_al_in_k-zoo]

LOVE this warm weather we're having in Michigan! Here's a pic of my Magnum Plant. Noticed it this morning.

Was worried the freezing Cold killed these as I was too lazy to move this and my other planter in my basement this past winter.

 

[Oaky]

LOVE this warm weather we're having in Michigan! Here's a pic of my Magnum Plant. Noticed it this morning.

Was worried the freezing Cold killed these as I was too lazy to move this and my other planter in my basement this past winter.

that looks awesome. I just found a bunch that are around 1' as well. I don't think the cold can easily kill these. Are you putting these in the ground or leaving them in that tub?