Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[An Ankoù]

View attachment 53978
I have cascade, about 1.8kg of extra pale MO and 5kg of Vienna. Yeast I have safale 05 and 04, safelager S-23 and some wilko gervin

Perfect, and a lovely crop. I'd use all the MO and make up the rest of the grain bill with Vienna, use a neutral bittering hop to about 40 ibus and pitch the S-05.

 

[Libigage]

Perfect, and a lovely crop. I'd use all the MO and make up the rest of the grain bill with Vienna, use a neutral bittering hop to about 40 ibus and pitch the S-05.

Let's say I get 170g how would you split that? Only asking as you suggested a big charge at 80

 

[An Ankoù]

Let's say I get 170g how would you split that? Only asking as you suggested a big charge at 80

I've never had 170g from a single bine, and apart from the Goldings, I only have one of each. I tend to do 30g last 5 minutes, 30g at flameout and 50-60g for a 30 minute steep when the temperature has dropped to <80C. If I've got a shortfall, I reduce the 5 minute charge or replace it 10g dried hops. I think if I had 170g. I'd increase the last three additions proportionally. Don't be tempted to save any for dry hopping

And those figures are for a 25 litre brew.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Is that right, it's my first year so I might not have enough for a green hop this year. How much would you put in a 20 litre brew?

All that you have - the whole point of a harvest brew is that it depends on what nature gives you. You get the most benefit from the green hops from flameout onwards, so don't be afraid to top them up with commercial dried hops in the boil.

@AA That's interesting that you can now get African Queen, it was one of a family of day-neutral varieties bred by SAB as they could only get European hops to grow on the very tip of the Cape, and they were very tightly controlled. Then there was a bit of a fuss soon after the ABInBev takeover when they got a bit too controlling - there were some good articles about them came out at the time, a few years ago.

 

[An Ankoù]

All that you have - the whole point of a harvest brew is that it depends on what nature gives you. You get the most benefit from the green hops from flameout onwards, so don't be afraid to top them up with commercial dried hops in the boil.

@AA That's interesting that you can now get African Queen, it was one of a family of day-neutral varieties bred by SAB as they could only get European hops to grow on the very tip of the Cape, and they were very tightly controlled. Then there was a bit of a fuss soon after the ABInBev takeover when they got a bit too controlling - there were some good articles about them came out at the time, a few years ago.

There seems to be one or two slipping out. Here's another one- not sure if this one is grown in SA or if it just originated there. T90 Southern Passion hops g 30

 

[sifty]

Too far south? They are proper temperate plants, you're closer to the tropics than most of the classic hopgrowing areas of Europe, which are all around 50°N. Daylength is the critical factor

Really interesting, cheers. You're dead right looking at hop growing latitude maps.

Don't have the same sort of land mass around me here though, pretty much surrounded by ocean. Will see how we go.

 

[AXW123]

Year two crop from two bines. One cascade one centennial.I don’t think I need this many!

 

[An Ankoù]

Really interesting, cheers. You're dead right looking at hop growing latitude maps.View attachment 54002
Don't have the same sort of land mass around me here though, pretty much surrounded by ocean. Will see how we go.

That's a great map. I don't recall ever coming across South American hops, though. Does anyone know what varieties they produce?

 

[Cwrw666]

That's a great map. I don't recall ever coming across South American hops, though. Does anyone know what varieties they produce?

Must be a map of where hops are commercially grown, rather than where they can actually grow. They definitely grow in Norway.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

That's a great map. I don't recall ever coming across South American hops, though. Does anyone know what varieties they produce?

They're like the US 30+years ago, a lot of Nugget for bittering and Cascade for aroma. They're starting to breed their own varieties but the real problem is a lack of investment in drying/pelleting kit, so the quality isn't as good as the best northern hemisphere stuff, and it's grown to supply domestic breweries.

There's definitely potential there though - but you could say that of so many aspects of South America, huge potential if they weren't being systematically robbed by the ruling classes.

 

[An Ankoù]

There's definitely potential there though - but you could say that of so many aspects of South America, huge potential if they weren't being systematically robbed by the ruling classes.

Pretty much following in the footsteps of the UK, in that respect, then.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Pretty much following in the footsteps of the UK, in that respect, then.

Oh, we're way behind them. People forget that Argentina was one of the top-10 richest countries in the world a century ago, and it's been systematically robbed. A friend was visting regularly during the crisis twenty years ago, the people he was working for had could afford to move their savings into dollar accounts in the US, whereas the people he was working with were the kind of ordinary middle class who lost everything. And it's those kind of people who eg own the small businesses buying better hop-drying equipment for their farm. It's really sad.

 

[Hanglow]

Can anyone identify what wilt/ mildew is causing this? Thats my entire crop bolloxed. At least there will be space in my freezer this year for other things. Going to dig up the crowns, burn them and the bines and plant more resistant varieties somewhere else in my garden.

 

[An Ankoù]

Can anyone identify what wilt/ mildew is causing this? Thats my entire crop bolloxed. At least there will be space in my freezer this year for other things. Going to dig up the crowns, burn them and the bines and plant more resistant varieties somewhere else in my garden.

Sorry to hear about your hops. It's hard to tell from the photos: the leaves look ok while the cones are knackered. It might be worth looking through this and comparing with google images.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/hops/hops-plant-diseases.htmI think you're right to start again elsewhere.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Always hard to tell once they're that far gone, but my first instinct would be powdery mildew, especially given the weather we've had lately which has been just about ideal for it. The big 3 we have to worry about in the UK are verticilium, powdery mildew and downy mildew. Verticilium tends to just collapse the whole plant before it gets to the cone stage, and you can see brown if you cut the stems; powdery mildew tends to go for the young cones in particular but you can see powdery white colonies anywhere on the plant, downy mildew tends to go more for young shoots - infected leaves turn pale green from the centre and later the undersides go dark purple-black with spores.

So powdery would be my guess, but it looks like you've also got some insect/mite/aphid feeding damage as well on the leaves.

 

[531Man]

Always hard to tell once they're that far gone, but my first instinct would be powdery mildew, especially given the weather we've had lately which has been just about ideal for it. The big 3 we have to worry about in the UK are verticilium, powdery mildew and downy mildew. Verticilium tends to just collapse the whole plant before it gets to the cone stage, and you can see brown if you cut the stems; powdery mildew tends to go for the young cones in particular but you can see powdery white colonies anywhere on the plant, downy mildew tends to go more for young shoots - infected leaves turn pale green from the centre and later the undersides go dark purple-black with spores.

So powdery would be my guess, but it looks like you've also got some insect/mite/aphid feeding damage as well on the leaves.

Hi @Northern_Brewer (or anyone else who is knowledgeable about these things ).
Do you know if this mildew is now systemic in the plant and if @Hanglow really needs to go so far as to totally destroy the whole plant as he is threatening?
Or is it only a temporary infection encouraged by this year's weather that can hopefully be eliminated by cutting back the bine and treating with a 'mildewicide"?
It's return then being dictated by future season's conditions rather than a permanent problem within the hop plant itself.

I am not a gardener nor horticulturalist but thought / had an idea mildew was treatable.

 

[Hanglow]

cheers

Most of the leaves are in pretty good nick. Last year I had an awful aphid infestation, and got no harvest either with similar problems with the cones but I'm wondering if the plants succumbed to mildew and the aphids were just enjoying feasting on a weak plant. This year I sprayed against aphids and looked for them, no aphid infestation at least this time.

googling the various hop diseases doesn't seem to help an amateur like me much, a lot of the pictures of the cones are similar!

@531Man hops are bred for disease resistance and both of mine, hallertau mittelfruh and centennial, are prone to powdery mildew in particular, which is why I want to maximise my chances of getting a good harvest in the future! Also I have a better spot to grow them, so would be moving them anyway. And if I can identify what disease it is, I can buy a variety that has most resistance possible

 

[An Ankoù]

Might be an idea to start another plantation somewhere else, but leave the others to see if they recover. And use a fungicide against the mildew.

 

[user 18729]

The challenger (right hand bucket) did well again this year, with my Goldings about the same yield as last year

 

[user 18729]

Re mildew and botrytis etc- the spores can overwinter in the soil. You can spray wettable sulphur on the plant throughout the year to prevent mildew. I hope this helps