Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[RoomWithABrew]

Thanks for that.
I'll try and keep my eyes peeled for the nasty little creatures.

Pre emptive spray might be appropriate.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Might be worth trimming the lower leaves off.

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

No pics but 3 out of my 4 plants planted last year died, I suspect due to crowns left too exposed during winter( it gets down to minus 30-35 here).
I moved the survivor to a better spot and let 4 bines grow, only to realise they were bull bines a few days ago, cut them down and gonna let some of the new shoots grow up.
Got 2 new plants inside I will likely plant this weekend.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Anyway, as to hops more generally, short laterals have been appearing of late and are starting to lengthen as we approach Midsummer's day. That sounds about right, yes?
The one pictured is only now 2 meters high, the others are shorter.

The classic saying is that they hit the top of the string at midsummer (ie tomorrow!) and then start to produce laterals, but in reality it's a bit messier than that and IME they can keep growing up for another couple of weeks but laterals may have already started. Plus dwarf ones will be a bit different anyway. So you look well on track.

Current conditions are pretty good for powdery mildew, so you might want to watch for that as well as spider mite.

 

[531Man]

The classic saying is that they hit the top of the string at midsummer (ie tomorrow!) and then start to produce laterals, but in reality it's a bit messier than that and IME they can keep growing up for another couple of weeks but laterals may have already started. Plus dwarf ones will be a bit different anyway. So you look well on track.

Current conditions are pretty good for powdery mildew, so you might want to watch for that as well as spider mite.

Thanks for the positive words, wondered and hoped they might be more of smear events, but
aaaaagggghhhh....!
Powdery mildew and RSM to look out for.
I'll not dare to leave their side. Night nor day.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Best to look up how to treat powdery mildew or spray to prevent it.

 

[531Man]

Here's a turn-up.
I was examining the most vigorous of my hop plants and saw some worrying little white hairy/bristled beasties.

After some searching, turns out they're the larvae of Scymnus frontalis, a type of ladybird, and I have seen a couple of the small adults too. (image below is from t'internet).
They are predators of aphids, and are ant resistant to boot.
I observed the larvae, and when hunting aphids, they are rapid movers!
So at least I don't have to worry about that pest for the moment.

 

[531Man]

I came back today from 18 days away expecting the worst at this crucial hop development time of the year.
To my great relief everything seems fine, and my Prima Donna (First Gold) still appears not quite ready for picking yet.
How about you others in the UK? With reference to the potential "various nasties" above, apart from a little bit of lower leaf browning which I pruned off, no big deal and no sign of the dreaded Red Spider Mite. Perhaps it turned too cool and rainy in August, but not so much that mildew set in. The weather looks set fair here for at least a week, so .

 

[sifty]

Spring has just sprung here, so finally cleared old foliage and weeded my hop patch. Noticed the Cascade is already sprouting. I'll be a bit more attentive this year, will trim early shoots and train bines, last year I neglected things and my varieties were all mixed up...

 

[Cwrw666]

Picked my Challenger hops today and half of my Cascade. Much less quantity than last year but I'm not too bothered as I still have quite a lot left from last year.
They were definitely ready to pick - finished picking with very sticky hands.
So now we've got a week of nice weather forecast I've got the wood burner on to dry them...

 

[Sandimas]

How about you others in the UK?

Terrible year, worst ever. Not sure how long I've been growing hops, 7 or 8 years. With that hot spell in June all the beasties came out early before the predators and ate the plants, I've never seen that before, nothing has attacked my hops in previous years. Thankfully they have recovered with new growth and plenty of cones have developed, still a little way off from picking. About 30% of last year's crop, which was a bumper year.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

How about you others in the UK?

From what I'm hearing from commercial growers, harvest is a few days late this year, so be patient everyone! I guess the iffy weather in August held them back a bit.

I got a touch of downy mildew on my Amos Early Bird (Golding) but nothing to worry about. Apart from that it's been a pretty easy growing season, yields look decent - my only decision is whether to brew today or next weekend, will go out after breakfast and make that call. On Friday it felt like they weren't quite ready. One slight complication is that the funny weather gave me a second flush of flowers in August, so I'll need to be careful to pick my way round those immature cones, leave them for a dry hop...

The heatwave promised for this week should be very helpful in "finishing" them off - great for just about everything at harvest in fact.

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

Got some I'll probably harvest later today.
Broke apart a cone and there was yellow dust inside and the fragrance of it came out.
I was a little worried because it is no really strong fragrance, but it's an old domestic heritage variety so I probably should not expect US levels of smell...

 

[Cwrw666]

Got to have a sort out this winter. I've got 2 cascades that always do well, a prima Donna that kind of dwindled and I think has been taken over by runners from the cascade, a challenger that's good plus a Progress that I don't really like and doesn't produce much anyway, and a Golding variant that has never done anything.

 

[531Man]

Got some I'll probably harvest later today.
Broke apart a cone and there was yellow dust inside and the fragrance of it came out.
I was a little worried because it is no really strong fragrance, but it's an old domestic heritage variety so I probably should not expect US levels of smell...

Those look more 'ripe' than my hops and the hedgerow ones here in Kent that started my 'picking my own' interest. How was your weather pattern this year?
And @Sandimas , 'my' hedgerow crop looks to be well down on the first 2 harvests, but peculiarly last year wasn't that great here either. Unfortunately bumper crops can't be expected every year, even weeds need to occasionally have a rest I suppose.
I'm looking forward to the effect of the late Summer sunshine and warmth forecast.

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

Those look more 'ripe' than my hops and the hedgerow ones here in Kent that started my 'picking my own' interest. How was your weather pattern this year?
And @Sandimas , 'my' hedgerow crop looks to be well down on the first 2 harvests, but peculiarly last year wasn't that great here either. Unfortunately bumper crops can't be expected every year, even weeds need to occasionally have a rest I suppose.
I'm looking forward to the effect of the late Summer sunshine and warmth forecast.

Well, really slow spring and colder than usual weather during May and early June. Followed by a 2-3 week heatwave that ended a little after the summer solstice, then it has been a little back and forth but no real heat to speak of.
We have unlimited daylight during summer though so I guess that's what saved it.
But definitely I would have gotten more if we had a normal spring...

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

We got rid of the last pockets of snow hiding in shady ditches etc in the first days of June this year, normally that has been melted away 2-3 weeks ago by that time...

 

[531Man]

We got rid of the last pockets of snow hiding in shady ditches etc in the first days of June this year, normally that has been melted away 2-3 weeks ago by that time...

You are obviously in Scandinavia, but I would have thought 66°N is well outside the hop growing Goldilocks zone (as in Kalix, yes I looked you up Erik!).
General global warming may be giving you a helping hand, but I'm not sure how snow pockets persisting that late fits in there.
Still, hops do seem to be late risers and then grow like the proverbial clappers, so that wall to wall sunshine would help there.
Have you ever measured how much your hops grow up in a 24 period?

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

Well there are actually a few heritage varieties who have been found on old abandoned homesteads etc in both Piteå and Umeå, so hops have been grown up here historically.
Many of these sorts have roots back to the 1400-1600's when many farmers paid tax in beer for the King's army.
Some of them likely from well before that.
I have not measured with a ruler but by ' eye measurement" the most I've seen has been about 10cm in a 24h period(morning to next morning)

 

[531Man]

Well there are actually a few heritage varieties who have been found on old abandoned homesteads etc in both Piteå and Umeå, so hops have been grown up here historically.
Many of these sorts have roots back to the 1400-1600's when many farmers paid tax in beer for the King's army.
Some of them likely from well before that.
I have not measured with a ruler but by ' eye measurement" the most I've seen has been about 10cm in a 24h period(morning to next morning)

That's some growth rate.
No wonder that before they were included in English ale (and even banned in some localities), they were dubbed "That wicked weed" long before tobacco or cannabis came along.