New 100 Rhizome hop farm

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basementbrewbrad

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I just Received 100 hop rhizomes divided into 25 cascade, 25 centennial, 25 willamette, and 25 columbus. Will be planting them in the next couple of weeks. My parents have 12 acres and I will be planting each variety in its own section of the property. I have several different structure ideas I am working on. Will post pictures of the process once I get the ball rolling a little bit.

This whole process will be a somewhat massive undertaking but I am sure that it will be something to be proud of once it is complete.
 
Sounds fun man, I'm looking forward to seeing your project progress!

Thank you... I will work on it the next couple of weekends because I will not have much free time considering my 2nd job is working for the washington Nationals grounds crew. Luckily my parents are great gardeners/farmers and are willing to take care of them when I can not be ther.
 
basementbrewbrad said:
Thank you... I will work on it the next couple of weekends because I will not have much free time considering my 2nd job is working for the washington Nationals grounds crew. Luckily my parents are great gardeners/farmers and are willing to take care of them when I can not be ther.

Its alot of work!! But def good luck with it all. Did u happen to go to the md hop conference.
 
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Everything was laid out this morning and all of the post holes for 16ft 4x4's were doug to a depth of 3ft. The grid consists of 32 4x4's that will stick out approximately 13 feet and will be tied in with a header system made from 2x6's in line with the plants and 2x4's tying everything together in the opposite direction. Posts are 6 feet apart in 8 rows of four. 13 plants will fit three feet apart on each row with each variety having 2 rows for itself, one with 13 and another with twelve rhizomes. It will hold 104 plants when completed but we are only using 100 for now. This setup will allow for easy harvest by simply placing a ladder on the bulkhead and picking the plaint as well as allowing for 6 feet between each variety. I will update it next weekend once we get the structure up. :ban:
 
Make sure to keep an eye on them then! I had some grow mold after a couple weeks in the fridge. Might want to put a paper towel in the bag to keep the drops of water off of the rhizomes.
 
we are thinking of building a scaffold system on top of the headers so we can just put a ladder up the side and untie the twine and let them down by walking across the scaffold
 
Cool as hell, dude! I'm in Philly and would happily lend a hand some weekend if you need it.

I will keep you posted. I might hold you too that. As my old man and I have gotten deeper into it I have realized how big it is. Luckily they have lived there for 30 years and have a lot of farm equipment etc.
 

You got a nice setup...I just started my own 50ft x 50 ft area with telephone posts and tension cables at 18 ft close to San Diego. My rhizomes sprouted in one week. Do you have any recomendations on what organic fertilizer (aside from compost or spent grains) to use?
Thanks!
Miguel
www.facebook.com/BikeNBrew
 
If you can get it cow or horse manure is quite good. The folks still live in the country, though not for long, so it is readily available. If you take a look at the woods behind the farm they are gone... 66 acres torn down. The area I grew up hunting with my dad in is destroyed. This is a way to cover their second garage... the building that the farm is next to. If it does well this year we might put up a second one next year to block peoples view of the house.
 
basementbrewbrad said:
If you can get it cow or horse manure is quite good. The folks still live in the country, though not for long, so it is readily available. If you take a look at the woods behind the farm they are gone... 66 acres torn down. The area I grew up hunting with my dad in is destroyed. This is a way to cover their second garage... the building that the farm is next to. If it does well this year we might put up a second one next year to block peoples view of the house.

Thank you Brad, it looks great!
 
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You can see in the second picture how we are going to pick them with a ladder across the header system. Everything still need to be tied in and bolted up
 
basementbrewbrad said:
No but I have friends and family members! :D
If we are successful with these 100 plants and decide to add more maybe a harvester will be in order

Yowza. That's about 100 hours of picking, plus you gotta dry and package em. Harvesters are 30k plus, but you can make one. There are some plans out there.

Also I highly recommend just cutting em down rather than using a ladder.
 
Yowza. That's about 100 hours of picking, plus you gotta dry and package em. Harvesters are 30k plus, but you can make one. There are some plans out there.

Also I highly recommend just cutting em down rather than using a ladder.


Yea I was talking about making a harvester... I don't have 30k to spend on a harvester. We will most likely cut them down... the scaffold system will allow us to do that much more easily.
 
You should check out u of Vermont. They have a hop extension and some pretty cook things going on. Also check out the bine 3060. Good luck to you
 
You should check out u of Vermont. They have a hop extension and some pretty cook things going on. Also check out the bine 3060. Good luck to you

Some good info. I think we will make something to help us with harvesting in the next couple of months.
 
basementbrewbrad said:
Some good info. I think we will make something to help us with harvesting in the next couple of months.

Apparently the bine 3060 plans are online somewhere. I haven't been able to find it yet though. The reason I know about these things is because I plan on starting a hop farm in eastern pa next year. Good luck to u
 
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