I've got hop cones already!

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Spartan1979

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It's only April 25th and I have hop cones on my second year Chinook plants already!

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That's awesome! I am a first year grower and I can't wait to see some hop cones. My centennial is growing well but my cascade and chinook are slowly growing. Still early and they are new plants so I'm not expecting much.
 
That is amazing! I am near Chicago and my third year Chinook are over six feet tall but no cones yet. My Cascade and Centennial are languishing in comparison.
 
The same here. 2nd year Chinnook and Cascade with hops cones all over. Some are already 1 inch around. This is crazy. Can I get 2 harvests in one year? Looks like they'll be mature in a few more weeks...
 
Keep us posted, it looks promising for a double harvest. The on-again-off-again New England cold has slowed my plants.
 
Thats amazing! I've got tons of side arm growth but no cones yet. Second harvest would be baller tho!
 
i find this kinda worrying. just another sign how f*cked up our weather patterns are becoming, IMO.

hops base their flowering schedule on hours of sunlight. when days start to get shorter, they stop growing leaves and concentrate their energies on flower production. the fact that you've got flowers now doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless maybe they're under a tree so as the leave have been coming in and blocking the sun, the plant is assuming that the growing season is coming to a close...

i've never heard of anyone getting 2 harvests during a single growing season. dunno if it's even possible, given the plant's growth cycle (awaken, grow, flower, die back, hibernate).
 
That's what I'm worried about. I brewed a Fresh Hop Chinnook Harvest in September last year. At this rate, it looks like I'll be harvesting in June!! I don't think that new cones will come up then...unless the cone production is constant and I just have to start picking as they get matured.

Tese pictues were taken this morning May 3rd. 2nd year Chinnook has reached top of my deck and is going sideways now. it still has 3 months of growing season to go in Hotlanta!

It's a monster! LOL

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My Cascades have started forming cones too, over the last week or so. Nothing on my other plants yet. I think it's normal for Southern growers to have cones ahead of everyone else, since our plants get an earlier start (the Cascades have climbed 15 ft already, and that's after cutting back the first growth in March).
Mine are only second year plants, last year my Cascades kept growing and producing new hops all summer, so if it does that this year I'll probably have a staggered harvest where I'll just pick cones all summer as they become ready until late fall.
 
In the San Diego area, I've had two harvests per year but we don't have as drastic changes in daytime hours as some of you all in the higher latitudes. I've never had cones on pants yet, though, and this year has been unseasonably cool in these parts, which have put my plants about a month behind of year they've been in years past. My Chinooks, which are commonly the last of my varieties to pop, just are starting to break ground...usually this happens in early April.

I started a post last year on an experiment I was trying out with regard to second harvests on first-year plants (to cut them back to ground or not), but I am not sure if I ever updated the thread. I do have pictures, though, in case you get to the point of deciding what to do after the first harvest. In sum, there wasn't much difference between second harvest yields between the plants I cut back to ground and those that left up to do their own thing.

What I suspect will happen after your first harvest is new lateral growth will emerge toward the base of the plant from the leaf nodes, two per node. I'd suggest snipping one side and then training up the other. This one will then scoot up the rope just like the first growth. I had to string new lines, though, so the bines wouldn't get tangled in the first growth. I never came back to it to add pictures of the end result, but here's the link to last year's thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/two-complete-harvests-one-season-253297/
 
That's what I'm worried about. I brewed a Fresh Hop Chinnook Harvest in September last year. At this rate, it looks like I'll be harvesting in June!! I don't think that new cones will come up then...unless the cone production is constant and I just have to start picking as they get matured.

Tese pictues were taken this morning May 3rd. 2nd year Chinnook has reached top of my deck and is going sideways now. it still has 3 months of growing season to go in Hotlanta!

It's a monster! LOL

wow! nice, did you start with rhizomes or crowns last year?? Mine crowns are just starting to grow a little bit.
 
My first year chinook and cascade (grown in pots from rhizomes bought in late March) are already about four feet tall here in SE Wisconsin. The Perle and Willamette are a little further behind.

Hell, I'm usually getting the mower out of storage about now, but I've cut my grass several times already. The nice rainstorms we've gotten every other week or so are certainly helping, too...
 
Yeah my 2nd year Cascade is starting to bud , the chinnook and nugget are powering up the lines. I am putting in 13 more first years this weekend. Should be fun also brewing two batches of beer this weekend.
 
Nice pictures! All worry about the wonky weather this year aside, it looks like you're well on your way to a nice harvest.
 

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