New Hop Garden 2014 (pic heavy)

[thaymond]

Hacked mine back as well. Hopefully I pick a good 8 per box (all cascade) and finally get hops this year. Forgetting to water them has been a problem annually so I installed drip irrigation last Labor Day.

I also hunted some rhizomes. I have a handful of good ones from each plant. A drip system would be wonderful, but haven't pulled the trigger on that yet. I hope it all works for you this year.

 

[DurtyChemist]

What rhizomes did you cut? If this works out well I’m probably going to get some different hops for 2019. Growing only cascade is fine and dandy if I really loved cascade that’s much.

 

[universalfrost]

I'm considering using gardening cloth to prevent weeds this year. If you do the design, or something like it, post it here.

I use the gardening cloth and mulch on top (keeps the moisture levels up) to prevent weeds...

IMG_20180506_200620

• universalfrost
• May 6, 2018

Centennial may 5 2018

 

[Leezer]

@universalfrost, I’m looking for new trellis ideas and like what looks like the triangle shaped one you have. Is that for one plant, or more than one? Do you have a past picture of what it looked like later in the season?

 

[universalfrost]

@Leezer these are actually tomato / green bean cages (lowes) that fold up when not in use. https://www.lowes.com/pd/47-in-Powder-Coated-Galvanized-Steel-Wire-Triangular-Tomato-Cage/3653750 they are temp. until i get off my lazy rear and finish my new trellis(s) for all my hops.

Last year they were just on regular rope attached to the top of my house... didn't look that great since they were in the front yard.. So, this year I decided to get creative and build decorative lattice work trellis(s) for each.

Lowes and Home Depot have several metal versions of the trellis that would work for Hops ,but Im cheap and didnt feel like spending almost $140 each when I have a bunch of lattice and lumber laying around that I can make a "free" wooden copy of the metal ones that the big box stores sell.

Here's what I'm going for (but in brown)

 

[Leezer]

Love the look of that lattice work trellis. I’ve been growing my cascade on an obelisk in my backyard garden area. Was trying to come up with something for the goldings which doesn’t get very big. Tomato cage might work well for that. Good luck with your trellis build.

 

[wrongway]

That is so kool! Wish I had a green thumb!

 

[Senormac]

How's it goin over there Thaymond ? Any new pictures ?

 

[thaymond]

What rhizomes did you cut? If this works out well I’m probably going to get some different hops for 2019. Growing only cascade is fine and dandy if I really loved cascade that’s much.

I cut all four. I just threw them away because they started to mold. Let me know for next year. They are from super healthy stock.

 

[thaymond]

How's it goin over there Thaymond ? Any new pictures ?

It's been crazy here. I'll update more this afternoon. I have been undertaking refinishing the fence and trellis. I'm staining this afternoon. I haven't gotten lines up yet [emoji37] and everything is way overgrown. Once the stain is on and dry, all should be right in the world with the hops. I'm also setting up a lattice trellis for my Sunbeam as part of a fence structure, so that will be interesting. Dark fence stain with yellow hop leaves. I know I'll will take a hot on yield this year, but I still have over 5 lbs left from last year's harvest.

 

[thaymond]

@Leezer these are actually tomato / green bean cages (lowes) that fold up when not in use. https://www.lowes.com/pd/47-in-Powder-Coated-Galvanized-Steel-Wire-Triangular-Tomato-Cage/3653750 they are temp. until i get off my lazy rear and finish my new trellis(s) for all my hops.

Last year they were just on regular rope attached to the top of my house... didn't look that great since they were in the front yard.. So, this year I decided to get creative and build decorative lattice work trellis(s) for each.

Lowes and Home Depot have several metal versions of the trellis that would work for Hops ,but Im cheap and didnt feel like spending almost $140 each when I have a bunch of lattice and lumber laying around that I can make a "free" wooden copy of the metal ones that the big box stores sell.

Here's what I'm going for (but in brown)

Once I have my lattice setup going, I'll share too.

 

[thaymond]

Bad news bears... Staining the fence and trellis took a horrible toll on the plants. I let them overgrow in the hopes that I would be able to train some of the bones after staining. Everything got tangled and trampled and stained. The trellis look good, but the plants do not. I ended up cutting everything back to the ground. We will see how the year turns out. I'll be lucky to get 90 of the 120 needed growing days. Ugh.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I cut all four. I just threw them away because they started to mold. Let me know for next year. They are from super healthy stock.

You’re expecting me to remember.

I cut most of what I had growing back, again, for the second time. I then started digging in one hope bed and cut two perfectly good crowns to store and a third to plant in an empty hop bed. Seriously, four crowns grew in three years from one tiny rhizome that produced little to no hops. Hopefully this means I might buried in hops this year. I still need to run lines for the last (one with four crowns) hop bed but at least I only have 8 or 9 bines growing in there now.

 

[Texconsinite]

Mine are going bonkers. Harvesting almost every day last 3 weeks.

 

[thaymond]

Staining the fence and hacking them to the ground really messed them up this year. I got 0 harvest and basically resigned this year altogether. I'll see how they do next year. It will be interesting. I didnt tend to them at all, and let them grow wild, if at all.

Tex, yours look great!

 

[bonecitybrewco]

This is as far as things got for me sadly. Hey, at least the trellis is done now. The stupid dog dug up the one plant on the left so I’m down to one still in the ground right now. I’ll get another one in the spring, likely a different varietal. These were both Centennial. Still cross support beams at the top to add in the spring as well as string the whole trellis. Hoping that the plant root went deep enough to survive the winter what with being planted late. The mixture of potting soil, clay breaker and organic sea stuff plus additional fertilizer should make for a good spring growth. Hopeful. Can’t wait until spring.

 

[eldernut]

I have no idea why anyone would have a problem with these plants being seen from the street? They are a super attractive vine, very ornamental. I wasn't going to grow hops at all but seeing how pretty they are I'm changing my mind. We have an ugly fence that could do with some covering up. I'm thinking of the red earth variety which has red tipped flowers when they first come out and maybe a classic like cascade.

 

[thaymond]

I have no idea why anyone would have a problem with these plants being seen from the street? They are a super attractive vine, very ornamental. I wasn't going to grow hops at all but seeing how pretty they are I'm changing my mind. We have an ugly fence that could do with some covering up. I'm thinking of the red earth variety which has red tipped flowers when they first come out and maybe a classic like cascade.

It was an HOA issue. I merely solved the problem. [emoji16] I have Sunbeam now growing to cover up some of the interior fence that I have. Sunbeam has a beautiful big yellow-green leaf and large rectangular flowers in the summer. This year I'll be re updating with pictures after my one-year hiatus.

 

[Soulshine2]

Last year, my HOA poo pooed on my hop plants, citing that in had a structure that exceeds the HOA requirement. So in problem solving my dilemma of a bine plant that can grow 30+feet, and an HOA that doesn't want structures visible from the street, I went to the HBT forums for advice.

I found a neat design that allowed for 20+ feet of growth, but limiting the height to 8 feet. I ran with it and came up with my design.

My raised beds are 4' x 4'. The height on the fence is 6'. Problem solving that issue of "viewable from the street" limited the total vertical height I could work with. So, with a circular saw, a design and several hundred feet of jute, I present the 2014 hop cage. It allows up to 8 bines growing in different directions (2 per line), and over 30 feet in diagonal growth.

Any advice, suggestions, knowledge is welcome on how to continually improve and provide the best yields for my new plants. This project was finished on Sunday, and I wanted to snap a few pics before the coming storms.

View attachment 198214
View attachment 198215
View attachment 198216

What do you think?

You live in Joliet...Illinois?? I was born and raised there, moved to Alabama in 2017. where are you ? PM me .

 

[thaymond]

So, I finally got into the yard for year 5. After last year's fence stain debacle, I was eager to get into the beds and get these plants rolling. Only Chinook produced flowers last year, and I left all of it on the bine over winter. Cleaning the beds out today was fun, the leaves and flower petals still had that fruity hop smell. I mulched in the leaves when I tossed the soil in the beds today. I cut back all but 4 bines on each plant and ran all the lines. We are all set for another growing season.

And now, the pictures.

 

[thaymond]

I was able to get into the garden yesterday to manage the plants. They have really taken off. On Memorial Day, soil tested for nutrients and pH to find out that my pH is too high, and my N levels were extremely low. The residual P and K levels were normal. I used an Azalea and Rhodedendron fertilizer, 32-10-10, to super charge the nitro levels. The results were nearly instantaneous. Each plant grew about a foot, and tossed out some 2 foot sidearms. They each grew about 4 feet since Mondays feeding.

So I am going to keep on a weekly regimen of feeding with this fertilizer. It will be interesting to see the growth results with weekly feedings, since I typically set into a bi-weekly schedule. Last year's hiatus really stripped the N levels in the soil. I'll have to retest to see how the adjustment in fertilizer helps.

The weather is now cooperating. We have had a few weeks of steady rains. This helps with keeping a watering schedule, but I was worrying they weren't getting the sun they need. Based on the recent growth rates and total growth overall, I don't have anything to worry about. It's the start of June, there's 20 days until Solstice. Once July rolls around, I'll add potash to cone development. I am going to try to max out the harvest this year.

I'll post updates throughout, time permitting. Here are the pics.

 

[thaymond]

12 days later, and things got wildly out of control. I'm still able to maintain the main bones, but the sidearms that are being tossed out are massive. In hindsight, I should have been on this fertilizer schedule since April (oh well) but the three treatments since the end of May have made a big growth difference. Unfortunately, now some are throwing some burrs, so the high N feet has to cease or I'll have piles of angel wings, especially with the Chinook. Every terminal cone will produce an angel wings, even when it is not fertilized heavily.

I'm hoping I don't end up with lots of male flowers on Zeus. They have had plenty of sun, warm weather, lots of water, and enough soil food to keep them from being too "stressed." It seems every year, Zeus likes to be a hermaphrodite. We will see this year.

My nugget plant has some black spots on the leaves, which worries me. But they are some of the older leaves, and it doesn't appear to be downy. I think it's just some bug issues, because there are also bug holes in the more established leaves.

Cascade has really taken off this year. The initial rooting issues from year one have finally been resolved. I'm hoping it produces a lot more this year than it has in the past.

Overall, I'm hoping this type of growth can continue until the end of June, and then it can go nuts flowering. I was hoping to get another 2 or 3 weeks of growth first, but these plants have their own agendas. Here are this week's updates.

 

[thaymond]

Here is an update for the end of July. Hopefully harvest will be early September. All have Spurs, and everyone but Nugget has some developed cones. Nugget seems to be a late bloomer. Chinook has clearly taken over much of the cage for Cascade. I'll probably harvest all of it as a NZCC annual blend. Should be interesting.

Pictures are below. Same usual order.im also noticing that Nugget is losing size. This is now an 8 year old plant. I'm wondering if I dig it up and try something new

I just made an Amber ale today with a previous harvest. A little Zeus and Chinook at 60, 5, and hopstand. About an oz. Of each at each time, 15 gallons. Should give me some balance to a malty amber. I carmelized 2 gallons to give it the malt character and Carmel flavor. 99% 2 row and I snuck in 2 oz of chocolate and carafa III for some color. 1.051 measured SG and 30 to 40 ish IBUs. I'm trying Notty, S04, and S23 for yeasts. Now I play the waiting game...

 

[Soulshine2]

they look good but kinda cramped. Too bad about your HOA issue. Your plants are 8 yrs old? Might want to think about digging them up and thin out the rhizomes , maybe its just a little foot bound where it is. Sometimes plants just need a little rejuvenation like that to get them back to health. My hops are doing great , I post pics once a week too.

Where in Joliet do you live. As I mentioned before, I was born and raised there until we moved 2 yrs ago. I grew up just south of the Joliet Mall,went to Plainfield H.S.(grad 1985) but just before we moved down here to Bama we lived in Pinecrest just north of the mall.

 

[JAReeves]

Here is an update for the end of July. Hopefully harvest will be early September. All have Spurs, and everyone but Nugget has some developed cones. Nugget seems to be a late bloomer. Chinook has clearly taken over much of the cage for Cascade. I'll probably harvest all of it as a NZCC annual blend. Should be interesting.

Pictures are below. Same usual order.im also noticing that Nugget is losing size. This is now an 8 year old plant. I'm wondering if I dig it up and try something new

This is a beautiful garden! I had to dig up four/six of my plants to get some work done on the house. They will probably produce better next year anyway, but still sad to see them stunned halfway through the growing season. Keep up the good work!

 

[thaymond]

I thin out rhizomes annually, but the crowns are enormous. I just need to get into the ground and eliminate all of the excess.

Which thread do you post your garden? I'd be interested to see it.

I'm just south of the mall, off of Essington, by the police station. Small world!

they look good but kinda cramped. Too bad about your HOA issue. Your plants are 8 yrs old? Might want to think about digging them up and thin out the rhizomes , maybe its just a little foot bound where it is. Sometimes plants just need a little rejuvenation like that to get them back to health. My hops are doing great , I post pics once a week too.

Where in Joliet do you live. As I mentioned before, I was born and raised there until we moved 2 yrs ago. I grew up just south of the Joliet Mall,went to Plainfield H.S.(grad 1985) but just before we moved down here to Bama we lived in Pinecrest just north of the mall.

 

[thaymond]

Thank you for the kind words. This garden is a lot of work, and after mid June, I have to let the bed do their own thing. It gets too bushy and thick to get in to them.

I think they look smaller because they're contained inside of those cages. Each have grown almost 30 linear feet. Since it isn't vertical, I'll lose a little bit of harvest, but I have some space constraints. They are looking a little thin this year also because we have had extremes in rain; June was a washout, and July has been very dry. I haven't been around to water in July like I do normally.

I had to scrap all of last year because I stained the fence at the end of May. The plants got trampled in the process, and never fully recovered. The joy of home ownership, Am I right?....

Side note, I just had to scrap over a lb of hops from the freezer on Sunday. In the process of brewing, I noticed I still had a few bags from 2015 in the fridge, which was weird since all my 16 crop was all used up, and I was working my way through the rest of '17. It was hidden on the bottom of the pile. I figured to be safe rather than sorry, and scrapped them. They still smelled okay, and they would have made a beer, but why take the chance.

This is a beautiful garden! I had to dig up four/six of my plants to get some work done on the house. They will probably produce better next year anyway, but still sad to see them stunned halfway through the growing season. Keep up the good work!

 

[Soulshine2]

I thin out rhizomes annually, but the crowns are enormous. I just need to get into the ground and eliminate all of the excess.

Which thread do you post your garden? I'd be interested to see it.

I'm just south of the mall, off of Essington, by the police station. Small world!

what police station?...I know where the fire house is just south of the Essington/Caton Farm intersection...I was the first 1st grade class to go through Grand Prairie elementary right there. My best friend of 47 yrs since then lives over by St Joes hospital on Caddy. Hes the guy who gave me my beer kit.
your house looks like its in or near the Leach subdivision.
Yes, very small world.

I have my hop pics here .
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/basic-hops-growing-advice-needed-ne-alabama.665225/

 

[thaymond]

Sorry fire station, not police.