My Hops Garden Project

[Gridlocked]

Yeah, that's one crazy plant. It's amazing that this is only it's 2nd year. I suppose I'll trim quite a few of them back. I have four ropes by this plant so I'll see which take off the fastest, maybe two per rope and cut the rest. I don't know yet, though - I'm still a newbie.

 

[NuclearRich]

Have you done any trimming? Or do you know what trimming entails? I have my first years in the ground now, so I'm not too concerned, but I hear all about trimming, but haven't seen how its done. Do you just snip the bine at its base?

In any case, your hopyard looks great and it was one of the main threads that I have used for my own hopyard plans. Very helpful, and nice! Keep up the good work.

 

[Gridlocked]

Nope, not yet this year but I will have to. I would let your first plants produce as much above ground as that will help the plant fund the below ground growth. Of course you'll find contradictory information but when I trim these I'll just snip them back at the base, I suppose. Thanks for the complements!

 

[jangelj]

Special thanks to Gridlocked. Shipped me a Cascade rhizome, gratis!
Grid, here is a pic of it today. about 5 or 6 leaves coming up. so far so good. should I clip any of these? or just let it grow?
Thanks again.

 

[extra_medium]

Have you done any trimming? Or do you know what trimming entails? I have my first years in the ground now, so I'm not too concerned, but I hear all about trimming, but haven't seen how its done. Do you just snip the bine at its base?

In any case, your hopyard looks great and it was one of the main threads that I have used for my own hopyard plans. Very helpful, and nice! Keep up the good work.

i did a trimming in accident. i was trimming some extra shoots, one about a foot in length was buried, leaves and all excecept for the tip. It is growing fine now all by itself.

 

[Looper]

Special thanks to Gridlocked. Shipped me a Cascade rhizome, gratis!
Grid, here is a pic of it today. about 5 or 6 leaves coming up. so far so good. should I clip any of these? or just let it grow?
Thanks again.
View attachment 25625

looks like a weed to me

 

[Gridlocked]

Special thanks to Gridlocked. Shipped me a Cascade rhizome, gratis!
Grid, here is a pic of it today. about 5 or 6 leaves coming up. so far so good. should I clip any of these? or just let it grow?
Thanks again.
View attachment 25625

Crap, that's not a hop plant, **** **** ****! Damn it - sorry man! That's totally a weed. Dig that thing up and let me see if I can find you an actual rhizome. ****.

 

[lebshiff21]

ROFL - so you sent him a weed?

 

[Gridlocked]

yep. I'm a ****ing moron. I found the same root near all three of the plants that I grew last year. The weed root was the exact same color as the hop plant roots and it was less than a foot away. I tried to follow it back to the plant but it was deep so I snipped it off and called it good.

 

[br1dge]

Crap, that's not a hop plant, **** **** ****! Damn it - sorry man! That's totally a weed. Dig that thing up and let me see if I can find you an actual rhizome. ****.

LMFAO - Classic!!

 

[Gridlocked]

I'm embarrassed.

I planted crab grass in pots of my own and sent weeds to other members. I'm a effing genius.

 

[Jaysus]

lol

 

[lebshiff21]

RDWHAHB!

 

[ChadS99SVT]

wow not sure if that is serious but it's hillarious!

aside from that great looking spot you have there.....I have never been so excited about growing plants as I have with my hops..:rockin:

 

[HokieBrewer]

That is tooooo awesome.

 

[extra_medium]

here are my babies...they turned 2 this year.

willamette

zues

cascade

brewers gold

and the twins, centennial


I also have some others from this years rhizome exchange that are starting to poke out of the ground. more posts later

 

[SauceBoss]

great thread!!! Thanks so much for sharing. I am hoping to eventually have my own hop garden (mini of course compared to yours) but will keep up with your thread for tips and tricks. Great pics too!

 

[Gridlocked]

Here are my babies that I NEED to get outside SOON.
~5/4/11

5/10/11

 

[jangelj]

Here are my babies that I NEED to get outside SOON.
~5/4/11

5/10/11

Hmmm, mine doesn't look anything like that

 

[NuclearRich]

friggin hilarious mis-plantings. Sorry to laugh at your expense, I would not be happy at all, but I think we are all finding that a little amusing!

 

[Gridlocked]

Yeah, it's funny, no doubt. Embarrassing as he11, but funny.

 

[extra_medium]

Grid, here is a pic of it today. about 5 or 6 leaves coming up. so far so good. should I clip any of these? or just let it grow?
Thanks again.
View attachment 25625

jangelj - PM me if you still want to try to get some one in the ground. I think I might be able to get you a cascade rhizome or cutting.

 

[Gridlocked]

I finally had time today to get the wood for the trellis and put it together while my kids were sleeping. The ropes are hanging and now I just need to get a yard or two of dirt and get these new additions into the ground. It's getting closer.

The more I look at this thing, the more I think that I'm going to want to move it. I would hate if a strong wind came along at night and slammed this thing into my house. My bead is on the other side of that wall. I suppose I better do that before I fill it.

 

[Retrofit]

Man I'm showing these pics to my wife so thinks I'm less crazy.

Couple questions:

On the side of your house, why did you build the trellis at all? Couldn't you have just put eye bolts into the eve of your house like you did in back?

Not judging, just asking.

Second comment.

You know that hops are poisonous to *some* dogs?

My dogs have no taste for hops. They walk around and through bines 24/7. No fence to keep them away. I can never tell if I'm hearing urban legends, but I know there is at least one guy at this site who says his dog died eating hops. Something to consider.

What I did was set a bowl of hops on the ground to see if the dogs would eat it. If they were interested I would have taken it away. They had NO interest. It sat there while I watched a movie. 3rd year hop grower with two healthy dogs, but something you might want to investigate.

 

[shmEk]

Just a paranoid note: I bought a house with a similar planter up against the house. Termite inspectors told me to get it away from the house or I would get termites.......... I was lazy and forgot about it... got termites after the first rain chewing through my wall. Could just be my area with lots of subterranean termites, but wow it sure looked similar.

It doesn't look like you have the problem or took in to account with a barrier up against the house, but that scared me good just looking at the dirt up against the side.

 

[Gridlocked]

Retro: The first plan was actually to run eye-screws up to the eves but because I put the ones in on the other side with a ladder and don't have one high enough to get the others in, I decided to build the trellis. I could lean over and try to put the eye screws in while laying on my stomach on the roof but I decided not to risk my life. If I can find a way to do that next year, I probably will.

Dogs: Yes, I know they are poisonous to dogs. Both of my dogs have been strongly encouraged to leave them alone and really do. The only reason why she was there was because I was running around on the other side of the fence messing with her. As a precaution, I take a few pieces of dog crap and put them on the fence-side of the two that I have growing there just to make sure they don't spend too much time hanging around them. I am very careful during harvest time so I don't drop any into the grass.

shmEk, what part of the country are you in? I don't know how bad of a problem Termites are in Minnesota but I don't want to risk that! The box is 5-6" away from the house if that matters.

 

[RustyMusket]

Next Year mod 2: Another plan for net year will be to section off the growing area of dirt so I don't end up with a yard and planter full of hops. I will either pound sections of stainless steel or marine/exterior plywood into the ground on the left and right of each growing section.

if your gunna section them off with metal i would go with copper. Copper is a natural root pruner, not sure about SS though. youll get alot more roots which means alot more nutrients injested which mean bigger faster growth. you can pick some copper sheet up at lowes or home depot for pretty cheap.

Your hops are pretty awesome for first year! Nice dog too!

 

[vicegrip]

This is my first year for growing hops. Im hoping it will give the chickens some shade as well.

 

[Randar]

That's a sweet chicken run you got there. Hopefully the hops give them some relief int he heat of the summer. I am more jealous of the chickens than the hops! I have the hops but the village has an ordinance against poultry

 

[Retrofit]

Aurora has an ordinance against chickens as well.
Randar I wanted to add that last year you were very helpful in educating me and influenced the design of my garden. I was at a hop gathering and my garden was described as ideal and my yields pros would love to have. Just saw some pics of your garden. They have no idea there are other better gardens out there. Thanks for all the comments and advice.