Pictures of hop plants

[superiorsat]

I guess only the tops of the 3 Comet were ripe and ready. I picked 2-5 gallon buckets full and dried and vacuum sealed one bucket, the other went into a wet hop beer. What a PITA that was with 45 oz wet hops. Decided to use the 50 gallon kettle with a huge mesh screen. The screen is almost as big as the kettle so I figured it would work great, but it clogged by the end because the screen is so fine . Literally took hours to get 12 gallons post boil transferred. Started with 20 gallons ended up with 12 useable gallons of wort.

 

[Sylvain]

I guess only the tops of the 3 Comet were ripe and ready.

How would you describe his aromatic profile?

 

[Sylvain]

Damn that's beautiful

Yeah, it’s a beautiful plant, but at my place we didn’t have a summer, too cool and wet.

What you see is the most beautiful.

I have some plants and seedlings sick by late blight

 

[Sylvain]

Personal variety, I have raised it since 2019, and the last two years have been hot and dry.
it didn’t make me realize she was susceptible to mildew

Amalia :

 

[Sylvain]

Seeds for 2022

 

[superiorsat]

How would you describe his aromatic profile?

Dank Lemon Grass.

 

[Jako]

Some of the coolestook

View attachment 737082View attachment 737083View attachment 737084View attachment 737085View attachment 737086View attachment 737087View attachment 737088View attachment 737089View attachment 737090View attachment 737091View attachment 737092View attachment 737093View attachment 737094View attachment 737095View attachment 737096View attachment 737097

Some of the coolest looking hop flowers.

 

[Jako]

Personal variety, I have raised it since 2019, and the last two years have been hot and dry.
it didn’t make me realize she was susceptible to mildew





View attachment 737126
View attachment 737127



Amalia :

View attachment 737128View attachment 737129

I will take pictures of my cascade. Took a major major hit by something. It's first year it did the same thing. I depending on what you guys thing I might pull it from my greenhouse and invest in a better variety for my location

 

[NitrogenWidget]

i'm not sure my hops are going to make it.
the flowers are shriveling on me and the plants have started throwing out new shoots like crazy.
i'm cutting the new shoots down hoping the energy will go to the existing bines (which are thick as my thumb) but the plant may of decided to write those off.

not sure if I should fertilize or not.

my cuttings in buckets are struggling also due to all the rain.
if they survive they will be transplanted into a raised planter next yr.

Edit: I was was actually wrong.
both plants have hops on them in not easily seen areas from my patio.
I had to walk around to the sides where i don't normally go and saw some.
nothing even close to last yr though.

 

[Sylvain]

here also in the west of France the rain is doing some damage: my Neo1 is beautiful but it starts to suffer the powdery mildew

 

[JAReeves]

i'm not sure my hops are going to make it.
the flowers are shriveling on me and the plants have started throwing out new shoots like crazy.
i'm cutting the new shoots down hoping the energy will go to the existing bines (which are thick as my thumb) but the plant may of decided to write those off.

not sure if I should fertilize or not.

my cuttings in buckets are struggling also due to all the rain.
if they survive they will be transplanted into a raised planter next yr.

Edit: I was was actually wrong.
both plants have hops on them in not easily seen areas from my patio.
I had to walk around to the sides where i don't normally go and saw some.
nothing even close to last yr though.

Last year my hops made it to the 2nd story roof, this year, not so much. I think it is the wind, which has been excessive compared to previous years. The top of the hops basically stopped growing, and they have been throwing off new bines, not sidearms, from about 10' off the ground and up. They have some cones, but apparently are still struggling to reach full size. Additionally, it has been a cold summer for Los Angeles, I don't think it's gone above 90 and then only a couple of days. My hops do not grow well when it is too cold in the summer.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Last year my hops made it to the 2nd story roof, this year, not so much. I think it is the wind, which has been excessive compared to previous years. The top of the hops basically stopped growing, and they have been throwing off new bines, not sidearms, from about 10' off the ground and up. They have some cones, but apparently are still struggling to reach full size. Additionally, it has been a cold summer for Los Angeles, I don't think it's gone above 90 and then only a couple of days. My hops do not grow well when it is too cold in the summer.

interesting.
average temp here in the Buffalo area is 85 ish and majority of height was achieved in the high 70's low 80's.

 

[Jako]

Adding pictures... finally

 

[Sylvain]

Neo1

 

[JAReeves]

As I see how my hops react to the environment here in Southern California, I am looking more and more at the Neomexicanus as a viable alternative to some of the varieties that struggle with the dry (always) and the heat in late summer (now). On a related side-note, I am also learning which grapes love our weather and which ones are not fans; Italian varieties like the area more than French.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

so i have a few bunches of hops on my Arcadian's because they jumped the trellis and attached to some pine branches and were protected by the hail.
hartwhicks are doing worse hop wise. there are a few spots with maturing hops and new hops just starting.

over at my mom's house I have 4 cascade plants with just a few bines on one string loaded with hops.
fuggle did not produce hops.
sorachi ace are just a tangled mess but there are some hops forming. These plants apparently needed my attention almost daily to ensure it keeps climbing up the string. Didn't get it so they are just bushes now on tomato cages. lol!

i'll get some pics soon.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Sylvain - now that's what I call a hop garden in the literal sense! How long until the banana goes?

Additionally, it has been a cold summer for Los Angeles, I don't think it's gone above 90 and then only a couple of days. My hops do not grow well when it is too cold in the summer.

I find that hard to believe - remember they are temperate plants, somewhere like Kent will rarely see summer temperatures above 80°F, and this year has struggled to get much above 70°F. It may be something like getting too warm in winter? They really like to have at least 42 days below 37°F/3°C in winter to flower properly. And being temperate plants, they like short nights in summer - the UK can see daylengths of over 16 hours at the height of summer, it doesn't get dark til 9-10pm. And rainfall of course - somewhere around 24-28" (600-700mm) is probably about the ideal, they are thirsty plants, particularly in the main growing stage in May, and around flower set in July.

 

[JAReeves]

So, it may not be cold enough in the winter, and I may need to water them more. Interesting conundrum.

Thank you!

Reevesie

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Heh, I'd not seen this recent paper from Bill Bauerle at CSU Fort Collins, which suggests the traditional wisdom in Ray Neve's book is wrong about hops needing vernalisation. Growing Cascade, Cashmere, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Galena and Willamette in artificial growth chambers that allow 4 growth cycles per year, he suggests that vernalisation has little to no effect, it's all about daylength. (see the classic paper from Thomas & Schwabe at Wye for more on that, if you have access).

It could be a cultivar-specific thing, Neve was working at Wye with European varieties, and it seems Bauerle did see a bit of an effect with Cashmere (or at least, he didn't see a statistically-significant null effect). My impression from this forum is that European varieties don't do as well in the more southern parts of the US as the US varieties, and so that could be part of it. Or they could just have a "harder" daylength requirement - certainly the fact that the South African varieties have broken the daylength requirement altogether suggests it can be manipulated.

But broadly - you need to ensure you have enough growth early on to sustain the burden of flowering, and then keep that growth happy through the flowering season. And yeah, neomex genetics will probably work better for you.

 

[B-Hoppy]

Heh, I'd not seen this recent paper from Bill Bauerle at CSU Fort Collins, which suggests the traditional wisdom in Ray Neve's book is wrong about hops needing vernalisation. Growing Cascade, Cashmere, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Galena and Willamette in artificial growth chambers that allow 4 growth cycles per year, he suggests that vernalisation has little to no effect, it's all about daylength. (see the classic paper from Thomas & Schwabe at Wye for more on that, if you have access).

It could be a cultivar-specific thing, Neve was working at Wye with European varieties, and it seems Bauerle did see a bit of an effect with Cashmere (or at least, he didn't see a statistically-significant null effect). My impression from this forum is that European varieties don't do as well in the more southern parts of the US as the US varieties, and so that could be part of it. Or they could just have a "harder" daylength requirement - certainly the fact that the South African varieties have broken the daylength requirement altogether suggests it can be manipulated.

But broadly - you need to ensure you have enough growth early on to sustain the burden of flowering, and then keep that growth happy through the flowering season. And yeah, neomex genetics will probably work better for you.

I've been following this work for a while and haven't seen any follow up data. Being that there has been no long term testing, do we know if the plants will produce efficiently in the years to come? Knowing that hops grown in a conventional manner (producing one harvest per year) tend to accumulate carbohydrate reserves in their rootstock makes me think that long term vigor is at risk?

 

[JAReeves]

Heh, I'd not seen this recent paper from Bill Bauerle at CSU Fort Collins, which suggests the traditional wisdom in Ray Neve's book is wrong about hops needing vernalisation. Growing Cascade, Cashmere, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Galena and Willamette in artificial growth chambers that allow 4 growth cycles per year, he suggests that vernalisation has little to no effect, it's all about daylength. (see the classic paper from Thomas & Schwabe at Wye for more on that, if you have access).

It could be a cultivar-specific thing, Neve was working at Wye with European varieties, and it seems Bauerle did see a bit of an effect with Cashmere (or at least, he didn't see a statistically-significant null effect). My impression from this forum is that European varieties don't do as well in the more southern parts of the US as the US varieties, and so that could be part of it. Or they could just have a "harder" daylength requirement - certainly the fact that the South African varieties have broken the daylength requirement altogether suggests it can be manipulated.

But broadly - you need to ensure you have enough growth early on to sustain the burden of flowering, and then keep that growth happy through the flowering season. And yeah, neomex genetics will probably work better for you.

The Bauerle paper was accessible, I look forward to reading it tonight. I couldn't get the Thomas & Schwabe article, though. I don't have academic access anymore.

Thank you!

Reevesie

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I've been following this work for a while and haven't seen any follow up data. Being that there has been no long term testing, do we know if the plants will produce efficiently in the years to come? Knowing that hops grown in a conventional manner (producing one harvest per year) tend to accumulate carbohydrate reserves in their rootstock makes me think that long term vigor is at risk?

But they only need those reserves to protect against bad years, and in a controlled environment, they won't experience the bad years so don't need the reserves. Bear in mind that these are really happy hops - they produce 23.7–72.9% more per land area in this system than in normal farming, so if they want to divert some production to their roots, it's not like they're short of it.

The whole indoor farming thing is really interesting, you can see why the likes of Philips are supporting this kind of work because potentially it's a huge market for their LED lightbulbs. And something like hops might be an interesting crop to try, being fairly high value, with the strong daylength requirement and heavy labour requirement, so would be useful to bring to tropical areas with lots of cheap labour. But at the moment they're not really pushing this for production, the real value is in doing experimental stuff like this (being able to eg completely separate temperature from day length to understand the biology better) and being able to accelerate the breeding process - doing genetics is so much easier with a 3-month lifecycle, ditto doing brew tests if you can get enough cones to brew with in 3/6/9 months.

 

[JAReeves]

But they only need those reserves to protect against bad years, and in a controlled environment, they won't experience the bad years so don't need the reserves. Bear in mind that these are really happy hops - they produce 23.7–72.9% more per land area in this system than in normal farming, so if they want to divert some production to their roots, it's not like they're short of it.

The whole indoor farming thing is really interesting, you can see why the likes of Philips are supporting this kind of work because potentially it's a huge market for their LED lightbulbs. And something like hops might be an interesting crop to try, being fairly high value, with the strong daylength requirement and heavy labour requirement, so would be useful to bring to tropical areas with lots of cheap labour. But at the moment they're not really pushing this for production, the real value is in doing experimental stuff like this (being able to eg completely separate temperature from day length to understand the biology better) and being able to accelerate the breeding process - doing genetics is so much easier with a 3-month lifecycle, ditto doing brew tests if you can get enough cones to brew with in 3/6/9 months.

Even if not indoors, setting up a full-spectrum bulb above the hop area might not be a bad electricity investment. Some people who grow other crops hydroponically and indoors have used such systems with great success. Not that I know anything about any of that, mind.

 

[zabu182]

Hello Folks, Im from Colombia and right now Im doing experiments with hops. As you know there is not winter here because I live near Ecuatorial line. Regarding to the winter, from the experiments that Ive done I conclude that Winter is not necessary, the most important thing is the daylenght as the paper says. As you know, we have a daylenght of 12 hours around of all year, so what happens with hops plants is that they have a short grow period, thus we have not a good harvest... I am planning to start my own breeding project in order to get a neutral daylenght hop variety.

Pdt: Im growing: Tettnanger, Crystal, Newport, Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Multihead and Amalia (Neomex).

 

[B-Hoppy]

But they only need those reserves to protect against bad years, and in a controlled environment, they won't experience the bad years so don't need the reserves. Bear in mind that these are really happy hops - they produce 23.7–72.9% more per land area in this system than in normal farming, so if they want to divert some production to their roots, it's not like they're short of it.

The whole indoor farming thing is really interesting, you can see why the likes of Philips are supporting this kind of work because potentially it's a huge market for their LED lightbulbs. And something like hops might be an interesting crop to try, being fairly high value, with the strong daylength requirement and heavy labour requirement, so would be useful to bring to tropical areas with lots of cheap labour. But at the moment they're not really pushing this for production, the real value is in doing experimental stuff like this (being able to eg completely separate temperature from day length to understand the biology better) and being able to accelerate the breeding process - doing genetics is so much easier with a 3-month lifecycle, ditto doing brew tests if you can get enough cones to brew with in 3/6/9 months.

It would be nice to see some long term data on how the plants perform or will the situation arise that replacing them with fresh germplasm periodically just be another cost to factor into the equation?

The cost of production is something else that will have to be looked at, is it economical?

One other concern that comes to mind is the concept of terroir or just the general quality of the crop. To me, a single factor like the role the soil microbiome plays on the final quality of the crop may be huge? Again, in the end, it would come down to customer preference as to what will be accepted or rejected and would the cost be comparable?

Never having tasted any beers brewed with hops produced this way leaves the whole thing up for discussion. To my knowledge, the cooperator who Bauerle was working with abandoned the concept and moved back to the standard method of production. Is this a definitive answer to the question of whether it will work or not, no - but it makes me wonder why more research hasn't been done concerning this concept?

 

[Sylvain]

Sylvain - now that's what I call a hop garden in the literal sense! How long until the banana goes?

the banana?

 

[NitrogenWidget]

My 3 cascade's 2nd yr. I have a fuggle to the left which produced no hops and two sorachi-ace which also didn't produce hops. funnily enough the hartwhick bine i snipped back in june with a lot of root on it I planted grew quite a bit and has one hop on it.

My Arcadians.
some parts of the plant attached itself to a pine tree and i think that protected it from the hail because it's the only part of the plant loaded with hops. I need to get up there with a ladder and pick them i think because they are getting whisps of brown and starting to open up plus they get more sun than the lower hops that don't smell ready to me.

here is what my hartwhcks are doing. those mature late like mid september usually. the cones smell like nothing to me so i know those are not ready.

 

[GoeHaarden]

some parts of the plant attached itself to a pine tree

So I have a 1st Tahoma that attached itself to a neighboring tree as well. However, it also started to grow along side the poison ivy vine that popped up this year. Killed the ivy vine and re-routed the Tahoma. It's got some cones on it, but I'm a little scared that they have urushoil on them so I think I'm not going to use anything from that plant this year. Anyone have thoughts on this?

 

[Sylvain]

 

[bobeer]

My 5th year centennial plant. I didn't do much past trim the bull shoots... I sort of let them go this year but still wound up with a bunch of hops.