Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

Northern_Brewer · Sep 19, 2024

prog99 said:
It’s behind where it was last year. I’m in the north of Scotland for reference.

Yep, as a regular visitor to Sutherland I'm familiar with southerly places like Ross & Cromarty!

That's why I was careful to frame my comments in terms of England, but just generally I wouldn't use weird years like 2022/3 as any kind of benchmark - last year was weird in being one of the hottest June/Julys of all time (even if August was pants) but with average-to-above-average rainfall rather than the drought that usually goes with high temperatures. So it had great growing conditions for the bines, even if the weather wasn't so great at the critical time for flavour development, particularly of the early varieties. This year has been a bit more normal but still a bit on the early side compared to the long-term averages (in England).

Baldylocks Brewery · Sep 19, 2024

Northern_Brewer said:
It's not been the easiest of years, particularly in Kent, between the warm winter which led to spring dormancy (something the Goldings family are particularly prone to), and the summer drought. Digging it up will only disrupt the root system which protects it against drought, so I wouldn't move it unless there's something obviously wrong with the location. You might want to think about how to give it more water though, so your winter job could be installing some kind of irrigation system, or a better trellis system to support it.

Good tips cheers NB
I’ll keep EKG where it is and give it more love

ChrisD123 · Sep 19, 2024

prog99 said:
It’s behind where it was last year. I’m in the north of Scotland for reference.

Really interested in starting growing hops myself and in the same area...ross-shire....are they difficult to grow up here?...i have a an area in the garden earmarked with a fencing etc in place for them to grow up. just looking for somewhere to source rhizomes now.

Northern_Brewer · Sep 20, 2024

ChrisD123 said:
Really interested in starting growing hops myself and in the same area...ross-shire....are they difficult to grow up here?...i have a an area in the garden earmarked with a fencing etc in place for them to grow up. just looking for somewhere to source rhizomes now.

One of your problems is that "full-size" hop plants grow to 20' or more, which isn't ideal anywhere with strong winds. But the only dwarf variety (ie 10-14') available to the public is First Gold, which for ...reasons... is known as Prima Donna when sold as rhizomes to the retail trade. But that's OK, it's a great "starter" variety even aside from the dwarfness, it's tasty and is fairly disease resistant.

Of the tall hops Challenger is a very forgiving plant to grow and is normally another good place to start, but is quite late-maturing. Same is true of many of the "citrusy" varieties with Cascade heritage, and eg Ernest. So it depends a bit on how much risk you want to take with the mid/late-September weather. If you wanted something earlier then Bullion might be a shout, it's more on the blackcurranty end of the spectrum.

For buying your best bet is A-Plus, who also have a bunch of information on planting etc. They like a bit of frost and plenty of water, but they are quite prone to fungal diseases. Traditionally they were planted on a small "hill" to ensure water didn't settle around the base of the stem.

https://www.aplus-hops.co.uk/products/prima-donna-bare-root-hop-plant-pre-order

Neale · Sep 20, 2024

1st year growing advise needed.

I planted centennial and cascade this year having never grown hops before. Both plants were doing ok until the slugs and snails moved in. The cascade didnt make it but the centennial did manage to grow. It currently looks like this

So its not very big and unlikely to produce any cones. I know that the first year doesnt necessarily produce anything so thats fine.

My question is what do I do regarding cutting back etc. I see that a lot of you with established plants are harvesting them. But should I be chopping it back as if I where harvesting, or just let it keep growing?

The Cascade plant withered back to what looks like a small brown stick poking out of the ground, is this likely to start growing again next year?

ChrisD123 · Sep 20, 2024

Northern_Brewer said:
One of your problems is that "full-size" hop plants grow to 20' or more, which isn't ideal anywhere with strong winds. But the only dwarf variety (ie 10-14') available to the public is First Gold, which for ...reasons... is known as Prima Donna when sold as rhizomes to the retail trade. But that's OK, it's a great "starter" variety even aside from the dwarfness, it's tasty and is fairly disease resistant.

Of the tall hops Challenger is a very forgiving plant to grow and is normally another good place to start, but is quite late-maturing. Same is true of many of the "citrusy" varieties with Cascade heritage, and eg Ernest. So it depends a bit on how much risk you want to take with the mid/late-September weather. If you wanted something earlier then Bullion might be a shout, it's more on the blackcurranty end of the spectrum.

For buying your best bet is A-Plus, who also have a bunch of information on planting etc. They like a bit of frost and plenty of water, but they are quite prone to fungal diseases. Traditionally they were planted on a small "hill" to ensure water didn't settle around the base of the stem.

https://www.aplus-hops.co.uk/products/prima-donna-bare-root-hop-plant-pre-order

Thank you for this...the area i have is unlimited, i have an old chicken enclosure thats around ten feet high with roof which is all made of chicken wire so am sure everything could be trained to grow up and over so to speak, failing that i have a further 25 acres or so to make something lol ..the area gets sun all day long (when it shines) and obviously we get frost and plenty of water...i will certainly look into things..thanks again

Northern_Brewer · Sep 20, 2024

Neale said:
So its not very big and unlikely to produce any cones. I know that the first year doesnt necessarily produce anything so thats fine.

No "unlikely" about it - if you can't see any signs of burrs by the end of July or so, then that's it for the year. That plant is a long way from producing cones, I've seen happier seedlings! It doesn't help being so close to a shrub, which will dry out the soil and shade the hop.

Neale said:
My question is what do I do regarding cutting back etc. I see that a lot of you with established plants are harvesting them. But should I be chopping it back as if I where harvesting, or just let it keep growing?

They're only cut at harvest out of convenience for harvesting, but when you have such weak plants you want to make sure the leaves return all their nutrients to the root before they die off for the winter. So leave them until the leaves drop off naturally, then cut off any stems etc so that you don't leave material that could host disease spores over the winter.

Neale said:
The Cascade plant withered back to what looks like a small brown stick poking out of the ground, is this likely to start growing again next year?

Realistically, it's unlikely, but give it a chance to recover. If there's not sign of leaves by June or so then it can be binned.

jof · Sep 20, 2024

Not a good year for our museum hops.
When they were ready it was too wet to harvest, and when the rain finally stopped, it was too late & they've gone brown and past it.
So we haven't even bothered to cut them down

Stu · Sep 20, 2024

Neale said:
1st year growing advise needed.

I planted centennial and cascade this year having never grown hops before. Both plants were doing ok until the slugs and snails moved in. The cascade didnt make it but the centennial did manage to grow. It currently looks like this

There are 3 things you can do.

#1 is have a hedgehog. We have one. Not a single slug or snail ever makes it. When we see them, they're gone the next night!
#2 is used coffee grinds. Spread them around the base. They hate coffee.
#3 is broken egg shells. I eat a fair amount of eggs and I rinse the egg shells and put them in a box.
Dry them out, break them up into fine pieces. Lay them near the bottom of plants. They genuinely can't get across them.

Neale · Sep 20, 2024

Northern_Brewer said:
I've seen happier seedlings!

I think it looked happier before the slugs got to it TBH. I havent got many places in my garden that get sun for most of the day so this was my only option really. I'll do as you say and hopefully next year I'll get a bit more success. Thanks for the advice.

Neale · Sep 20, 2024

Stu said:
#2 is used coffee grinds. Spread them around the base. They hate coffee.
#3 is broken egg shells. I eat a fair amount of eggs and I rinse the egg shells and put them in a box.

I did try coffee grinds and egg shells but they seemed quite happy to just trop across both. I didnt dry out the egg shells or crush them very small maybe that makes a difference?

The ring that you can see in the picture is copper that did seem to help although every now and then there seemed to be one that got in. I tended to put coffee and egg shells around the outside of the copper ring, you'd think they would just go and find something easier to eat. I also removed a lot of other vegetation from around the area that also helped. Its all a learning curve, I'll be more prepared next year.

Stu · Sep 21, 2024

If it makes you feel any better, I collected all my hops yesterday and this afternoon.
Where they're planted, there are clearly a load of fleas and or bitey things.

My legs are an absolute mess.

I collected 3 boxes full. Dried them in the oven (with the door open). I have a whole 90 grams

I have a vacuum sealer. They're now in the freezer. I also have all kinds of other hops in there too.
I feel a "let's use everything up" brew coming on. Loads of Azacca and Liberty. Some mosaic and the centennial as above.

prog99 · Sep 23, 2024

ChrisD123 said:
Really interested in starting growing hops myself and in the same area...ross-shire....are they difficult to grow up here?...i have a an area in the garden earmarked with a fencing etc in place for them to grow up. just looking for somewhere to source rhizomes now.

I train mine horizontally along a fence. Needs care with the younger more fragile shoots but with a bit of patience it works.

Tommo 2 · Sep 23, 2024

Stu said:
If it makes you feel any better, I collected all my hops yesterday and this afternoon.
Where they're planted, there are clearly a load of fleas and or bitey things.

My legs are an absolute mess.

I collected 3 boxes full. Dried them in the oven (with the door open). I have a whole 90 grams
I have a vacuum sealer. They're now in the freezer. I also have all kinds of other hops in there too.
I feel a "let's use everything up" brew coming on. Loads of Azacca and Liberty. Some mosaic and the centennial as above.

Have never picked any hops before but have now gained access to a really big crop and have been wondering how to dry them, could you give me your method of drying in an open oven , sounds interesting and doable.. cheers

Stu · Sep 23, 2024

Tommo 2 said:
Have never picked any hops before but have now gained access to a really big crop and have been wondering how to dry them, could you give me your method of drying in an open oven , sounds interesting and doable.. cheers

I have some of these that I bought at Aldi - we use them for making roast vegetables.
It's called a chip mesh. Google suggests you can buy them in all sorts of places.

Put the hops on 2 of these and set the oven to its lowest setting with the door a few inches open.
I have a thermometer which can be set with an alarm. I set it to 60c, put it on the mesh (it never got this high anyway) and left it for a couple of hours.
The hops were perfectly dry (if you bend them in half, they break) but didn't brown or anything.

Makes for an interesting smell in the kitchen

Tommo 2 · Sep 23, 2024

Stu said:
I have some of these that I bought at Aldi - we use them for making roast vegetables.
It's called a chip mesh. Google suggests you can buy them in all sorts of places.
View attachment 104143
Put the hops on 2 of these and set the oven to its lowest setting with the door a few inches open.
I have a thermometer which can be set with an alarm. I set it to 60c, put it on the mesh (it never got this high anyway) and left it for a couple of hours.
The hops were perfectly dry (if you bend them in half, they break) but didn't brown or anything.

Makes for an interesting smell in the kitchen

Thanks for that mate will definitely give your method a go for sure

Northern_Brewer · Sep 23, 2024

60C should be the maximum temperature when drying, there's been some debate about what the best temperature is to preserve all the delicate flavours but 50C is a good target (except domestic ovens don't usually go that low....)

Hukins have a good article on harvesting and drying from a homebrew perspective :
https://www.hukins-hops.co.uk/our-s...-a-simple-step-by-step-guide-for-homebrewers/

It's worth emphasising that you can't hang around - hops go off really quickly when they aren't dry so you need to dry them asap.

Stu · Sep 23, 2024

Northern_Brewer said:
60C should be the maximum temperature when drying, there's been some debate about what the best temperature is to preserve all the delicate flavours but 50C is a good target (except domestic ovens don't usually go that low....)

Hukins have a good article on harvesting and drying from a homebrew perspective :
https://www.hukins-hops.co.uk/our-s...-a-simple-step-by-step-guide-for-homebrewers/

It's worth emphasising that you can't hang around - hops go off really quickly when they aren't dry so you need to dry them asap.

Hence why I set the thermometer with an alarm at 60c.

Normally, on its lowest setting, it's around 60c, but with the door open, it never really went over 45c.

oldchap · Sep 28, 2024

I have two cascade plants, one trained up the house wall, and the other (a cutting from the first) at the bottom end of the garden that's kind of gone wild among the various bushes there. Had a moderately good crop last year that led to a very tasty ale consumed in record time a few months back!

The house one was ready so I cut it down today and sadly it seems to be riddled with some kind of fly. All the leaves and cones are sticky with whatever residue the fly has left. It's got tantalisingly fragrant yellow bits coming out of the cones - but I suspect this is a write off due to possible infections. Does anyone thing it's worth drying the cones and giving them a try anyway? Pics below.

Fortunately the "gone wild" one seems fine and has a decent crop on it, though it has at least a week longer to go yet so hoping for some decent weather in October to pick it.

Northern_Brewer · Sep 28, 2024

oldchap said:
The house one was ready so I cut it down today and sadly it seems to be riddled with some kind of fly. All the leaves and cones are sticky with whatever residue the fly has left.

In general, if you suspect a pest, the underside of leaves are usually the best place to find them. It's kinda hard to tell from your photos, but if "bugs" are leaving a sticky residue then that is normally aphids - in this case the hop aphid. Have a Google on Phorodon humuli to see if the symptoms match.

Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

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