Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

531Man · May 14, 2024

Cwrw666 said:
Hop garden sorted out. Left to right, prima Donna and 2 cascades. A redsel eastwell (or something like that) plus challenger and progress. View attachment 99398
View attachment 99397

Interesting set of hop variety wigwams you have there.
Yesterday I did a single approximation of your sectional hop stick method for my Prima Donnas.

As to, 'redsel eastwell' - that sounded like a Goldings selection, and indeed it is.
This from Ed's beer site,
"
qq16 August 2017 at 18:19
Just passing by here again, I noticed the comment about Redsell's Eastwell. That refers to an Eastwell Golding clone selected by Wye when they were trying to get clean viroid-free propagation stock in the late 1980s. They took it from the farm of Tony Redsell, the doyen of Kent hopgrowers who was a major force behind getting the PDO for EKG."

Prior to that it was also known as Wye Eastwell Golding.
So that hopefully lets us know what hop you have there.

531Man · May 14, 2024

Northern_Brewer said:
https://essentiallyhops.co.uk/product/hops/grow-your-own-hops/redsells-eastwell/
Redsell's Eastwell is a Golding selection made at Tony Redsell’s (a local grower) farm in 1988 when Wye College was trying to find viroid free stock of all varieties.

Eastwell is one of the classic Golding clones. Tony Redsell is the doyen of East Kent hop growers, he was the main man behind getting East Kent Goldings recognised as a geographical indication like Parma ham or Champagne.

I was in a commercial garden at the weekend and it was really noticeable how the Fuggles were already ~5' up the strings but the Goldings had bushed out at the bottom but hadn't really got going up the string.

Ah, you got in first!
Sorry to butt in

531Man · May 14, 2024

531Man said:
Interesting set of hop variety wigwams you have there.
Yesterday I did a single approximation of your sectional hop stick method for my Prima Donnas.

As to, 'redsel eastwell' - that sounded like a Goldings selection, and indeed it is.
This from Ed's beer site,
"
qq16 August 2017 at 18:19
Just passing by here again, I noticed the comment about Redsell's Eastwell. That refers to an Eastwell Golding clone selected by Wye when they were trying to get clean viroid-free propagation stock in the late 1980s. They took it from the farm of Tony Redsell, the doyen of Kent hopgrowers who was a major force behind getting the PDO for EKG."

Prior to that it was also known as Wye Eastwell Golding.
So that hopefully lets us know what hop you have there.

My 3 Prima Donnas, showing combinations ofall those growth patterns @Northern_Brewer ;
20°S.of E. wall.
1. A triplet just got away from being 'checked' max. 2' (plus pole with a wigwam extension on top).
2. Other side of that same pole with highest bine at 6' 1", and a couple of 'checked' bines just starting to get away now.
20°S.of W. wall.
3. A healthy triplet, up to 4' 3"

Lastly for light relief, my 3 year old Phalenopsis orchid is at last in flower!

Cwrw666 · May 14, 2024

Northern_Brewer said:
https://essentiallyhops.co.uk/product/hops/grow-your-own-hops/redsells-eastwell/
Redsell's Eastwell is a Golding selection made at Tony Redsell’s (a local grower) farm in 1988 when Wye College was trying to find viroid free stock of all varieties.

Eastwell is one of the classic Golding clones. Tony Redsell is the doyen of East Kent hop growers, he was the main man behind getting East Kent Goldings recognised as a geographical indication like Parma ham or Champagne.

I was in a commercial garden at the weekend and it was really noticeable how the Fuggles were already ~5' up the strings but the Goldings had bushed out at the bottom but hadn't really got going up the string.

Yes, that's the one. I can never remember the name - maybe because in the 4 years I've had it I've never had a single hop cone off it. This is it's last chance - if it's pathetic again this year I'll be digging it out.
The Cascades are absolute beasts and very productive. The Challenger is quite good and the Progress very vigorous but a bit iffy in the productivity dept.
I start them off with a pyramid of canes and as they grow add a 12 foot plus pole attached with a rope to the pyramid. When harvesting I can lower the pole making picking easy.

Dazzelknight · May 14, 2024

After snapping off the access shoots on my Cascade vines I popped them in a jar of water, the cuttings started rooting after 2 weeks, I then popped them into pots and after another 2 weeks they’re thriving !.. The plan is next year I’m gonna plant them down the railway walk hopefully they’ll go wild

531Man · May 14, 2024

Dazzelknight said:
After snapping off the access shoots on my Cascade vines I popped them in a jar of water, the cuttings started rooting after 2 weeks, I then popped them into pots and after another 2 weeks they’re thriving !.. The plan is next year I’m gonna plant them down the railway walk hopefully they’ll go wild View attachment 99416

Guerilla hop planting, love it!
Good thing hops are an indigenous weed, or you would be prosecuted for wantonly propagating an introduced alien species!

Erik The Anglophile · May 16, 2024

I checked my crowns a few days ago, they were looking fine and will likely start shooting bines in a few days.
This spring has been really slow though and we only started to get some proper spring temperatures a few days ago, still have some small spots of snow on the ground, wich is late even for us close to the arctic circle...
I spread some chicken manure over them to get some nitrogen in the soil as soon as the snow started melting away.

Will post pics as they get going, the 24/7 daylight means stuff grows at rocket speed up here as summer properly starts, and they're all old Northern/Middle Swedish heritage varieties so they can handle the climate with some basic winter prep after harvest.

531Man · Jul 30, 2024

Hi all,
I went up a set of steps and got close and personal with my First Gold (Prima Donna) hops, their 2nd season.
Quite a lot of pairs of transverse shoots from the leaf nodes, with flower buds developing.

Now a Question for the experienced growers out there :
Last year I had only ever seen at most one pair of hop bearing shoots (lateral) per leaf node.
But this year in between each leaf to transverse shoot, around the node is an extra little hop bur bearing stalk. So 4 more little hop stalks as well as the 2 main lateral stalks and the original pair of leaves per node.
That's 8 outgrowths on a node!
Is this normal, and (hopefully) does it show a happy healthy growing hop plant?
These are only on the upper regions of all three bines from the same plant. I can find NO reference to this observation on t'Internet.

531Man · Jul 31, 2024

531Man said:
Hi all,
I went up a set of steps and got close and personal with my First Gold (Prima Donna) hops, their 2nd season.
Quite a lot of pairs of transverse shoots from the leaf nodes, with flower buds developing.

Now a Question for the experienced growers out there :
Last year I had only ever seen at most one pair of hop bearing shoots (lateral) per leaf node.
But this year in between each leaf to transverse shoot, around the node is an extra little hop bur bearing stalk. So 4 more little hop stalks as well as the 2 main lateral stalks and the original pair of leaves per node.
That's 8 outgrowths on a node!
Is this normal, and (hopefully) does it show a happy healthy growing hop plant?
These are only on the upper regions of all three bines from the same plant. I can find NO reference to this observation on t'Internet.

As there has been no notice seen to my question, I'll politely refer it directly to @Northern_Brewer.
No rush, just for plant growing interest.
Many thanks in anticipation.

531Man · Jul 31, 2024

Erik The Anglophile said:
I checked my crowns a few days ago, they were looking fine and will likely start shooting bines in a few days.
This spring has been really slow though and we only started to get some proper spring temperatures a few days ago, still have some small spots of snow on the ground, wich is late even for us close to the arctic circle...
I spread some chicken manure over them to get some nitrogen in the soil as soon as the snow started melting away.

Will post pics as they get going, the 24/7 daylight means stuff grows at rocket speed up here as summer properly starts, and they're all old Northern/Middle Swedish heritage varieties so they can handle the climate with some basic winter prep after harvest.

So Erik,
How have your hop bines progressed this year?
Mine (with the better plot and aspect) have sent out lateral, some very long, with burr buds on.
Our Spring was a cold wet one in England and hop growth stalled.
See postings above discussing it.
My hops are a dwarf variety, and should grow to 2 - 3 metres, but the tallest 2 bines have just stopped growing at 3.5m, with the others on the same base not far behind.
So they recovered well when conditions slightly improved later on.
Yours?

Northern_Brewer · Jul 31, 2024

531Man said:
As there has been no notice seen to my question, I'll politely refer it directly to @Northern_Brewer.
No rush, just for plant growing interest.

I'm away from home at the moment so don't have any hops to hand, and with the caveat that I've not grown FG so aren't familiar with all its peculiarities - this sounds like it may be doing the split bloom thing, I saw some of that with my Early Bird last year. Hops are fairly fluid in how they grow, and the weird weather earlier this year won't have helped.

Erik The Anglophile · Aug 2, 2024

@531Man
The two smaller ones are 2-year plants, Böle and Korsta, will probably give a small yield this year but enough for a batch of bitter hopped with each kind to taste test.
The larger one is a 3-year plant and will likely give a fairly good harvest. Called Gamla Källmon and is a heritage land race from the area around Sundsvall likely tracing back to the 1600's or even earlier when homesteads could pay part of their tax in ale for the armed forces.
They are all flowering now so come september or late august is probably harvest time.

531Man · Aug 2, 2024

Erik The Anglophile said:
@531Man
The two smaller ones are 2-year plants, Böle and Korsta, will probably give a small yield this year but enough for a batch of bitter hopped with each kind to taste test.
The larger one is a 3-year plant and will likely give a fairly good harvest. Called Gamla Källmon and is a heritage land race from the area around Sundsvall likely tracing back to the 1600's or even earlier when homesteads could pay part of their tax in ale for the armed forces.
They are all flowering now so come september or late august is probably harvest time.
View attachment 102369 View attachment 102370

They're looking good Erik.
My SWMBO'D and I did a multi city trip around Scandinavia a couple of years ago, visiting folk old style village museums. Can't remember if it was outside Stockholm or Oslo where in one of the gardens they were attempting to grow hops on canes.
Not anywhere as successfully as yours, I do remember that.
The supply of beer to the army story probably explains why.
And what with the known fondness of Scandinavians for beer I can't explain why I was surprised to see them there in the first place.

Erik The Anglophile · Aug 2, 2024

531Man said:
They're looking good Erik.
My SWMBO'D and I did a multi city trip around Scandinavia a couple of years ago, visiting folk old style village museums. Can't remember if it was outside Stockholm or Oslo where in one of the gardens they were attempting to grow hops on canes.
Not anywhere as successfully as yours, I do remember that.
The supply of beer to the army story probably explains why.
And what with the known fondness of Scandinavians for beer I can't explain why I was surprised to see them there in the first place.

Thank you! Both Stockholm and Oslo are about 1000km south of me so I'm pleasantly surprised it works this well.
I guess the constant daylight during summer plays a large role in why a lot of stuff is actually possible to grow up here, and why the lingonberries and blueberries up here get juicer and sweeter/tastier than down south.

All my hops are old domestic varieties just to be sure they can handle the climate, and because it's fun with a little living history.
I suppose stuff like EKG and Fuggle might die during our long and harsh winters.

531Man · Aug 29, 2024

Hops so nearly ready, watching and judiciosly squeezing daily, waiting for the rustle.
Meanwhile a couple of weeks ago I took my phone on a cycle ride to a pub lunch.
I had seen what were MALE HOPS for the first time in a local hedgerow.

Strangely, this whole hedgerow from one field corner to the next corner (with a footpath stile in it) had only male hops growing.

Philthebrewer · Aug 30, 2024

Erik The Anglophile said:
Thank you! Both Stockholm and Oslo are about 1000km south of me so I'm pleasantly surprised it works this well.
I guess the constant daylight during summer plays a large role in why a lot of stuff is actually possible to grow up here, and why the lingonberries and blueberries up here get juicer and sweeter/tastier than down south.

All my hops are old domestic varieties just to be sure they can handle the climate, and because it's fun with a little living history.
I suppose stuff like EKG and Fuggle might die during our long and harsh winters.

Hi Erik. Getting good crops from my german style hops (hallertauer clones) here in the suburbs of Stockholm. Bitterness is low but they give a pleasing flavour and a little aroma if used in large enough quantities.

Erik The Anglophile · Aug 31, 2024

The variety "Gamla Källmon" is harvested, dried and put in the freezer.
"Böle" is probably ready in a week.
Gonna treat them a little different next summer, instead of cutting down the first shoots I'll just let them grow up and when they start getting large cut down all except the largest/strongest 3 bines to keep.
I think with the shorter growing season cutting back the first growth does more harm than good and stresses the plants...

Stu · Monday at 10:25 AM

Erik The Anglophile said:
The variety "Gamla Källmon" is harvested, dried and put in the freezer.
"Böle" is probably ready in a week.
Gonna treat them a little different next summer, instead of cutting down the first shoots I'll just let them grow up and when they start getting large cut down all except the largest/strongest 3 bines to keep.
I think with the shorter growing season cutting back the first growth does more harm than good and stresses the plants...

Out of interest, how do you dry them out?

Sadfield · Monday at 10:56 AM

I've abandon all hope of a usable harvest this year. Bad weather and serious neglect on my part.

Cwrw666 · Monday at 4:48 PM

Sadfield said:
I've abandon all hope of a usable harvest this year. Bad weather and serious neglect on my part.

Mine were battered to bug***y last weekend in a gale. Hopefully I'll have some when I harvest...

Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

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