Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[531Man]

Was that essentially hops?

"essentially hops" are the hop part of "Hops & Flowers".
See my post #948 in this thread.

I was tempted to do something like that but free time is scarce over the next few weeks so I've just got one of these. Probably another week or two before harvest here in Stirling - still looking earlier than last year though. I was a bit concerned about last week's rain but we seem to have some nice weather for a few days to add some of that nice fruity scent to this Cascade.

View attachment 74775

A bit disappointed that this year 2 crop doesn't look much bigger than my year 1 though.

That image shows that hops truly are climbers!

 

[ecirpian]

I harvested my first batch today and they are drying now. To be honest I probably should have waited a bit longer, it was 18th Sept last year.

These are chinook, cascade tomorrow I think.

 

[531Man]

Yesterday I cycled back past the farm entrance/hedgerow where I picked 1725g Kent hops last week.
Saw more that I hadn't noticed before.
Went back with ladder and secateurs.
Didn't expect much, but turned out there were another 275g, making it a round 2Kg (wet).
600g more than the first year, and nearly twice last year's, which was a rather cold windy year.

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

I was tempted to do something like that but free time is scarce over the next few weeks so I've just got one of these. Probably another week or two before harvest here in Stirling - still looking earlier than last year though. I was a bit concerned about last week's rain but we seem to have some nice weather for a few days to add some of that nice fruity scent to this Cascade.

View attachment 74775

A bit disappointed that this year 2 crop doesn't look much bigger than my year 1 though.

My Fuggles was the same as in better the first year?
EKG was a higher crop though

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

Yes, "essentially hops" , at Bekesbourne, Kent.

I used same grower for Fuggles and EKG and all doing well.
Took cuttings using the unwanted bines early this year and potted them so have 3 more to plant shortly

 

[oldchap]

My Fuggles was the same as in better the first year?
EKG was a higher crop though

Maybe something about the wet spells over the past month or so? I had four strong bines this year (would have been five but a windy day in June snapped one) compared with two last year, but it looks like a similar number of cones. I guess the proof will be when they're picked which hopefully won't be much longer.

That image shows that hops truly are climbers!

Yes! They would go about another 1-2m but the strings are as high as I was willing to go with them.

The window is my home office and it was most satisfying when the bines passed the window sill and I could watch them developing. I should be able to achieve the same trick as last year; pulling the tops of the bines in the window to pick them then leaving them up for a bit longer to let the last few cones develop.

 

[531Man]

So from 4 little bits of roots, nearly there now!! think i might be a few weeks away as none are anywhere near as big as the prev pictures.

Question for all you growers, do cascade have red stalks?

Got cascade and target mixed up, one plan says cascade first the other says target first!! one has red stalks and the other doesn't. so any help would be great!







View attachment 10020

Hi @sdt7618, reviving an old topic here I know.
Regarding your Red hop bines question.
Did you get a definitive answer, was it variety type?
Or maybe it could have been this I came across whilst looking at hop training, talking about Bull bines (I have just planted some rhizomes as a novice grower, and one plant's shoot is definitely red/purple whilst the others are white going green) :

"Choose healthy, vigorous shoots for training that are 2-3’ in length, but avoid training bull shoots. Bull shoots are characterized by having greater internode spacing, hollow stems, and are often purple in color. These shoots will be less productive and more brittle in the wind. The bull shoots do not yield well and should not be trained. Think about leaving some shoots as backups during training.

Regular shoot (top) compared to a bull shoot (bottom)."

Can you remember if they did have a large internodal gap with hollow stems? Looking at your photo, the gap does possibly appear large.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Has anybody made something like this - Hop Oast - Brew Your Own - to dry hops?

Ps - my harvest was very poor this year so vines for the compost heap. I have hops growing in half barrels - I think I need to lift and split them.

Your problem will have been the drought - they are thirsty plants, and they will have suffered because of the heatwave. You're not alone, even commercial growers with plants in the ground will be down on yield this year.

And they're not vines (which have tendrils), but bines (which climb by wrapping their stems around other things, like honeysuckle aka woodbine).

A question : Should these newly planted rhizome shoots be left to grow and naturally die back over winter, or cut back sometime?
It would be good to know.

+1 to leaving them to wither, to maximise the nutrients that end up back in the rhizome. But you want to cut back the dead foliage once it's withered, so that it doesn't host a reservoir of disease over winter.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Is anyone doing a wet hop brew?

Nobody in the UK will be doing a wet hop brew - here we call it green hop beer, you're been spending too much time with USians...

See eg Home - Kent Green Hop Beer - and I can thoroughly recommend the Canterbury green hop festival next weekend, and there's a lot of them at the Spa Valley festival in Tunbridge Wells 7-9 October.

I use a 5:1 ratio by weight for ease (wet:dry).

FWIW commercial brewers here generally work on a ratio of 7x the dry weight, although USians tend to use 5 or 6x. But don't leave them to dry hop for too long, it's easy to extract too much chlorphyll and other "greenness" - I've had US wet hop beers with major salad notes.

 

[Sandimas]

My Challenger and Styrian Goldings are almost dry now after 6 days in trays on the garage floor.

Still holding out harvesting the Cascade, they're getting better and better each day and still no sign of browning. Anyone else still waiting to harvest?

 

[ecirpian]

My Challenger and Styrian Goldings are almost dry now after 6 days in trays on the garage floor.

Still holding out harvesting the Cascade, they're getting better and better each day and still no sign of browning. Anyone else still waiting to harvest?

I collected some chinook last week but decided to leave them longer. My cascade are absolutely covered, been a fantastic year here in NW, still waiting for them to dry out more though

 

[Sadfield]

Is anyone doing a wet hop brew? I have a very successful Chinook and fuggles I might try it with.

Hopefully. Probably just a Bitter using Prima Donna. Just trying to decide whether to wait another week or so.

 

[Polcho]

My Challenger and Styrian Goldings are almost dry now after 6 days in trays on the garage floor.

Still holding out harvesting the Cascade, they're getting better and better each day and still no sign of browning. Anyone else still waiting to harvest?

I am, first year though. Just starting to get the yellow inside.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Just found some wild hops! Obviously I don't know what they are but they smell nice. Just messaged the owner but I don't think he'll mind if I get them tomorrow.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I've never seen a wild hop! I assume they're more abundant in places known for hop growing?

 

[SMP Brewery]

Just seen mine for the first time in 10 days, my they have grown. I think I read somewhere to use spent grain as a fertiliser, is this correct?

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

I've never seen a wild hop! I assume they're more abundant in places known for hop growing?

Not sure but this little lump of granite certainly isn't!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I've never seen a wild hop! I assume they're more abundant in places known for hop growing?

Actually in hop growing areas they tend to get "tidied up" as brewers and hence farmers prefer their hops not to be fertilised -> seeds, so hops get weeded on the assumption that there's a 50:50 chance they are male and so can fertilise the female hops grown commercially. There are some, but actually the best place seems to be places where hops used to be grown, as there's plenty of seeds/pollen around, but nobody cares enough about them to weed them out.

 

[Druncan]

This is amazing first ever Cascade cones on Tiree! Latitude: 56° 29' 50.7012". Longitude: -6° 54' 43.9812" Anyone got more northerly cones?

 

[Sandimas]

I've never seen a wild hop! I assume they're more abundant in places known for hop growing?

Where roughly do you live Jim? Any nearby rivers? Most of the wild hops I've seen have been close to the riverbank.