Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[jMac]

Lots of papery sounds and a few browning so stripped the bines today. Will leave in the shed to dry
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Looking good! Any idea of the weight you’ve gathered there? Also what variety and from how many plants?

 

[jMac]

The 500g of ripe Prima Donna (First Gold) hops I picked two days ago have produced about 140g of dry hops, which is slightly more than I anticipated. I weigh the hops from time to time as I dry them, and when they get to the stage where the weight loss is more or less negligible that's when I call it a day as far as drying is concerned.

Hope you’re feeling a bit more enthusiastic on the home grown hops front now . That must be enough for a couple of brews surely? And the toil of your homegrown hops will make the finished product all the sweeter (or bitterer, I guess ).

 

[terrym]

Hope you’re feeling a bit more enthusiastic on the home grown hops front now . That must be enough for a couple of brews surely? And the toil of your homegrown hops will make the finished product all the sweeter (or bitterer, I guess ).

Following on from the previous years efforts I will have enough for about 60 litres of 'Garden First Gold' GFGs 7, 8 and 9 which are my single hop light pale ales and will be using CML First Gold as bittering hops and the garden hops as late hops, although in the past have used all garden hops and guessed the %AA as about 5% and was probably not far out. Hope this years crop is as good as previous years. Not sure about the enthusiasm though

 

[Bungling Brewer]

I decided to try hops from seed this year and see what came up ( pot luck ?). From a £2.25 packet I got over 40 plants of which I planted 30 or so in 8" pots. About 2/3 seem to be female, I've culled the males as soon as I could tell the difference and now have some small cones which I hope will grow over the next month. I'll need to be ready next year with some half barrels or some sort of raised bed to grow on the best ones.
I was surprised that even in the first year, some plants reached about 3m.
If you want to try it, I suggest mixing the seed with some damp sand and putting in the fridge for about 3 weeks before planting in a seed tray. Those I put 'straight in' germinated too but were erratic. The ones treated to the fridge, all germinated pretty much together after two or three weeks.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_696E_humulus_lupulus
Of course I've no way of knowing if any of them will make a nice brew but if I wanted certainty, I'd buy dried hops or even finished beer.

 

[Wezzle]

Pretty chuffed to see cones that are almost ready on my 1 year old. And my 3 off-cuts are doing really well too.
Waiting to get my hands on 4 obelisks cheaply to put in my barrel planters for next year

 

[jMac]

Pretty chuffed to see cones that are almost ready on my 1 year old. And my 3 off-cuts are doing really well too.
Waiting to get my hands on 4 obelisks cheaply to put in my barrel planters for next year

Hope the aroma isn't too 'catty'.

What are you growing there? I think you're going to need a bigger obelisk...

 

[SamBrewster]

Looking good! Any idea of the weight you’ve gathered there? Also what variety and from how many plants?

It's a cutting from a garden hop I was given several years ago so most likely Prima Donna. Now grows up each year in my hedge. Got about 200g dry weight last year, looks about the same.

 

[Edison]

Just picked my Prima Donna today, about 500g wet, now in the food dehydrator at 50c. They're a bit cramped so I'll be rotating and mixing them up as we go. Quite pleased with the yeald considering I neglected them a bit and quite a few ends had dried up. That and a naughty bird nibbled of one of the growing tips! Still, not bad for three bines from the one plant.
Also, the elderberries had come good, so I've just picked those and have about 250g going into the freezer.
Thinking a sweet porter made from both of these could work, don't have a recipe yet though...

 

[terrym]

Just picked my Prima Donna today, about 500g wet, now in the food dehydrator at 50c. They're a bit cramped so I'll be rotating and mixing them up as we go. Quite pleased with the yeald considering I neglected them a bit and quite a few ends had dried up. That and a naughty bird nibbled of one of the growing tips! Still, not bad for three bines from the one plant.
Also, the elderberries had come good, so I've just picked those and have about 250g going into the freezer.
Thinking a sweet porter made from both of these could work, don't have a recipe yet though...
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Is your Prima Donna potted or in the ground?

 

[Edison]

Its in a big ass pot. 20l I think, the biggest cheap plastic one B&Q did at least 5 years ago.

 

[terrym]

Its in a big ass pot. 20l I think, the biggest cheap plastic one B&Q did at least 5 years ago.

My two are also in 20 litre pots
If it's one plant you have done well, as above I only got 500g combined, and was expecting more. I tried four bines per plant this year and on each plant two were strong growing to early 4m but two fairly weak. I will have another go next year and will go back to three bines per plant to see if it makes any difference. But I reckon they both have wilt which may not be helping. And it will be their 4th year and I already think the plants are pot bound.

 

[Edison]

I usually try and keep them well, but not over, watered, if it’s hot I’ll give the pot a full watering can of water every other day. Every fortnight I give everything a liquid feed of miracle grow but guess I’ve just been lucky. They are in a south facing spot and get sun most of the day, as they get taller I remove all the foliage from the bottom foot or so and try and keep on top of removing the dead leaves from the bottom and any other shoots from the soil level as they appear. They get the odd pest on them but they seem pretty tough and keep coming back for more!

 

[terrym]

I usually try and keep them well, but not over, watered, if it’s hot I’ll give the pot a full watering can of water every other day. Every fortnight I give everything a liquid feed of miracle grow but guess I’ve just been lucky. They are in a south facing spot and get sun most of the day, as they get taller I remove all the foliage from the bottom foot or so and try and keep on top of removing the dead leaves from the bottom and any other shoots from the soil level as they appear. They get the odd pest on them but they seem pretty tough and keep coming back for more!

Mine were
- well watered throughout the summer (having dried out one day last year, lesson learned)
- fed with Miracle Grow every 10 days
- all the brown stuff pruned out and new shoots cut out at soil level
- pruned the bottom foot out
So the only difference is that mine did not get as much sun as yours although they are in the same position as last year when they did better . And the dreaded wilt perhaps
Perhaps I should stick to tomato plants in pots. This year I had a bumper crop, probably the best in 20 years since Ive been growing them

 

[Edison]

Yeah, sounds like sunlight has a massive influence on the size of the plant. I donated my other identical four year old hop plant to my dad last year and it was like a different beast, hardly any hops at all, but he has a NE facing garden. I reckon these things need lots of sunlight!

 

[Henders]

Yeah I wonder if sun is my issue, but the wild ones I picked were everywhere and both North and south west facing. Although I suppose many plants and unlimited root space.

Mine are in a northfacing garden but gets direct sun from late morning till late afternoon. Since next door completed their extension it's reduced the sun by an hour or so!

I'm thinking of moving from the 20L pot to the base of my huge oak tree. Perhaps similar or less sun but free space to roam.

 

[jMac]

That’s the final 350g of this year’s Mid Beds Goldings crop picked. Luckily I had help:

(girl twin wasn’t in the least interested. At least I’m bringing the lad up proper - must be the Kentish in him)

So I cropped 650g wet in all - so a bumper crop from a single plant. Should get me about 130g-ish dried.

 

[jMac]

And there’s the first 300g (now 69g) of MBG now packaged up and ready for the freezer . My hands smell a-maz-ing after packing them into the bag!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

So the only difference is that mine did not get as much sun as yours

You also have to factor in just how dry it's been in the SE this year - and hops are very thirsty plants, farmers reckon on each full-size plant using 50-80 litres per week. If it's not raining, you have to supply all that (although dwarf varieties like Primadonna will obviously need less). And also you can have issues in pots with the roots overheating etc.

The other thing that's become more of a concern recently is them not getting enough cold in winter - people with pots can be tempted to keep them inside over winter "to protect them from frost" but that's exactly what they need to set a full crop.

 

[terrym]

You also have to factor in just how dry it's been in the SE this year - and hops are very thirsty plants, farmers reckon on each full-size plant using 50-80 litres per week. If it's not raining, you have to supply all that (although dwarf varieties like Primadonna will obviously need less). And also you can have issues in pots with the roots overheating etc.

The other thing that's become more of a concern recently is them not getting enough cold in winter - people with pots can be tempted to keep them inside over winter "to protect them from frost" but that's exactly what they need to set a full crop.

You are right about watering, I though I had lost my plants after I let them go dry last year on a very hot day in June, and they wilted and I lost a lot of leaves. Lesson learned. So this year my hops were well watered nearly every day irrespective of the weather. And I keep my pots outside throughout the year. Plus the pots were not exposed to direct sunlight. Summats not right

 

[An Ankoù]

Mine look ready to pick, too, and nearly a month early. The cones are not as big as in previous years and the cascade's leaves are much yellower than in previous years. Not sure whether the leaves are turning for autumn or whether there's a nutrient deficiency. Will look into asking Boris for a couple of bags of horseshit as he's got plenty to spare. The apples, too are early and pretty much ready for the cider-making. Busy times ahead.