Why don't my hops smell?

[W0rthog]

Veteran hops growers: This is my first year growing hops and they have come in good so far. But they have no smell. Some have been cones for awhile, but still no scent. I live in Oregon and have been watering them everyday. I wonder if I need to back off the watering to let them go to the next stage?

Any advice or reassurance is appreciated.


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[Cyclman]

RDWHAH. The lupulin takes time to present itself. I bet if you take a hop off the vine, there are yellow dots at the base / inside of it. It is truly Year 3 that you get overwhelmed with hops.

 

[wfowlks]

Yeah my first year (last year) it wasn't too strong, however once I put them in a bag and smelled them it was a bit more what I was expecting. Apparently the hop farmers also put special nutrients in the soil to get the Alpha acids up.

 

[W0rthog]

It is truly Year 3 that you get overwhelmed with hops.

Thanks for the feedback. When you say overwelmed, do you mean the smell of the hops?


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[W0rthog]

It is truly Year 3 that you get overwhelmed with hops.

Thanks for the feedback. When you say overwhelmed with hops, do you mean the smell of the hops?


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[MindenMan]

Hops don't have olfactory sensors, therefore they can't smell.

 

[GVH_Dan]

The oils and aromas are some of the last things to develop. Give it time or you'll end up harvesting too early.

Also first year don't develop as much.

 

[SnowcreekWI]

i was having the same concerns- see "Cascade" topic below, with maybe 3lbs of wet cones pending harvest I'd like to go hop insane on a recipe or two this fall.

 

[B-Hoppy]

Like Dan said, sometimes during the establishment year you end up with some pretty grassy hops no matter how long you wait. Looks like the location where they're grown can play a factor in how well they develop as the farmers in Yakima can sometimes have a half way decent harvest during their baby year. I've had quite a few first year plantings that really didn't develop any aroma and kind of think that the rhizome has to balance where the energy is used. Being that the first year a lot of energy is spent in developing a root system, it might be that not enough goes into cone production to allow the lupulin to fully develop? Year two is always a game changer though!

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

YES...Year two it all changes.