This is my hop garden - a bit of a mess! Front bed is 2 cascades and a prima donna. Back bed is a progress, a challenger and a redsells eastwell.
Last edited:
Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report
- Thread starter Pabloxprt
- Start date
Help Support The Homebrew Forum:
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2019
- Messages
- 2,492
- Reaction score
- 2,380
The March thing is about being able to send them as bare rhizomes before they start growing for the season, so I suspect even if people have them on their websites (try A-plus and Willingham as well, they probably have more stock than Essentially) they may be reluctant to sell them now they've sprouted. Which means you'll have to wait until their stock in pots is available - June in the case of A-plus - which also means higher postal charges.
But as far as growing them goes it's not such a problem - hops are vigorous plants so if you plant them at any time of spring or summer, they will grow. Just don't necessarily expect cones the first year.
Hard to tell without a better photo, maybe whitefly? (Aleyrodidae) Are they "in" the surface of the leaf, or on top of it?
Looks like it's on the surface
Attachments
@BradleyW
Hops seem to be quite resilient plants compared to some. As far as your marks I wouldn't worry about it unless the whole plant has mostly white leaves. Last year I failed to adequately water my hop plants in pots on one of the hottest days of the year at the end of June and they badly wilted and I lost a lot of leaves, and I thought I'd lost them. But within 2 weeks new growth was showing and i still had a good crop of cones. But the thing that can be a nuisance is greenfly which will appear later in the year, but the ladybird nymphs usually take care of them.
Hops seem to be quite resilient plants compared to some. As far as your marks I wouldn't worry about it unless the whole plant has mostly white leaves. Last year I failed to adequately water my hop plants in pots on one of the hottest days of the year at the end of June and they badly wilted and I lost a lot of leaves, and I thought I'd lost them. But within 2 weeks new growth was showing and i still had a good crop of cones. But the thing that can be a nuisance is greenfly which will appear later in the year, but the ladybird nymphs usually take care of them.
Cheers Terry! Yeah greenfly are a pain, I bought a sundew which I put next to my hops. it's absolutely caked in flys which is great coz they've left my hops and lemon tree alone!
jMac
Regular.
How has everyone found their hops doing during this rather mild (is that an understatement?) lockdown spring? My 3 year old CBGs (Central Beds Goldings) are going great guns! I have high hopes of a harvest that’ll do more than a four litre batch this year!
And yes,over the kids’ playhouse is an appropriate place to grow them.
And yes,over the kids’ playhouse is an appropriate place to grow them.
The wild hops i transplanted winter before last did extraordinarily well last year in their first season.
A friend who is an excellent brewer reckons they are most likely Goldings, three of us made beer with them last year & it was all good.
This year they have leapt out of the ground like Jacks beanstalk and are nearly 20ft long already, I have built a teepee of sorts over the driveway & they are rampant across it. Water isnt a problem as there are two large soakaways within range of their roots, lots of comment from neighbours!
A friend who is an excellent brewer reckons they are most likely Goldings, three of us made beer with them last year & it was all good.
This year they have leapt out of the ground like Jacks beanstalk and are nearly 20ft long already, I have built a teepee of sorts over the driveway & they are rampant across it. Water isnt a problem as there are two large soakaways within range of their roots, lots of comment from neighbours!
Edison
Regular.
I only have one First Gold plant at the moment but had it for maybe 5 years. Trained three bines up to the pergola and trying to coax them horizontally along wires/strings a the top.
A pesky bird has nipped one of the growing tips off though!
A pesky bird has nipped one of the growing tips off though!
jMac
Regular.
A pesky bird has nipped one of the growing tips off though!
Happens to me every year! Got a family of wood pigeons that like to sit on top of the trellis, and you can guarantee one of the clumsy buggers will sit on a tip and snap it. I also have a habit of snapping them myself while training them horizontally
.I always find the side shoots compensate for the breakage somewhat but they never grow to the same length.
jx
Last edited:
Edison
Regular.
Yeah last year they pecked off all three, they got to this one just before it was long enough to train across! Think it might have been a dopey fledgling magpie.
I’ll keep a look out for the extra shoots thanks!
I’ll keep a look out for the extra shoots thanks!
I have an arrangement similar to you only my bines are on parachute cord which is strung diagonally under and across the horizontal timber sections so that it is less likely that the birds can cause any damage.I only have one First Gold plant at the moment but had it for maybe 5 years. Trained three bines up to the pergola and trying to coax them horizontally along wires/strings a the top.
A pesky bird has nipped one of the growing tips off though!
View attachment 27332
Edison
Regular.
Sounds similar to my setup, it just seems if I were to leave any shoot pointing straight up (as they inevitably want to) it’s too much of a temptation for our feathered friends! Looks like i have a constant battle on my hands!
First picture is of my prima donna on the left and behind it 2 cascades at the top of their pole already. Second picture is Redsells Eastwell on left doing nothing at all, Challenger in front doing ok and Progress behind romping away.
jMac
Regular.
Wow! Those cascades are quite impressive! Are they usually so prolific? How many bines have you trained to the pole? And do you get a good crop off them? Sorry for all the questions. Thinking of putting some more hops on an allotment next year so am after some good varieties to try.
I just let everything romp away. Don't know why the cascades are going crazy this year - even the prima donna is doing pretty well and that's a dwarf variety. The other three are in their first year so I wouldn't expect much from them.
I only use home-grown hops as flame-out additions so even a smallish amount will last me a long time. Last year I had enough for 6 brews from my cascades at 56g per brew.
Any one else with burrs forming. I noticed some on one of the Prima Donna plants I have yesterday, and the other looks to be not far behind
Oneflewover
Landlord.
Not yet, but then it's the first year for the plant, and it was quite late in getting away
jMac
Regular.
I can see some (v small) buds forming on the laterals, but they’re not developing yet. My Goldings are actually looking a bit rangy and scratty now. Managed to fend off the majority of an aphid infestation (not many ladybirds this year, but have just seen a couple of nymphs, so that’s good), but still a little leaf damage here and there, mainly on the older foliage.
jx
jMac
Regular.
Lots of lovely burrs forming now! Provided nothing untoward happens, should be a bumper crop this year
.
Similar threads
