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Anyone Else Growing Hops This Year?


PhilboBaggins

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It's been pretty fun so far even just watching them climb up the mesh frame I have set up. They grow visibly each day once they get going properly. It will be interesting to see how many flowers I end up getting off them though given they are only first year plants. Probably only get enough to do some late additions with them and/or a dry hop. Will have a look around for some bigger pots once the season is over in preparation for next year.

 

Yeah, the Bunnings one is actually a small plant in a pot of its own rather than a rhizome. I've not seen any at my local store but that doesn't mean they don't have them when available I guess. According to the nursery that supplies them, the variety is US Cascade.

 

You might find some in a local nursery but I reckon eBay would be the place to go for a wide selection of rhizomes. I was too late this year and a lot sold out so I only got Hallertau and Fuggles, but next year I'll be looking for some Cascade.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Hopdate!

 

After 4 days of temps in the 40's, howling hot north winds from the interior of the continent and smoke from a 4600 hectare nearby bushfire my hops are still alive... somehow.

 

This is the best I could do with the lighting for the how high picture.

 

(first year, three bines from the one Cascade rhizome)

 

nuuS2xG.jpg

 

And these are the buds my mum was telling me about. I think they are just little off shoot leaf growing buds and not flowering buds. No clue? Never grown them before.

 

PjegNBz.jpg

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Those are certainly getting nice and high mate! One of my Hallertau bines has reached the top of the mesh on mine now... so I don't know where it intends on going from there. lol

 

Those little buds in that photo do look more like new shoots rather than burrs that turn into flowers. The plants will throw out lateral shoots like that though. I have a few burrs on that Hallertau bine that has reached the top of the mesh, they look like this:

 

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Cheers

 

Kelsey

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May as well post a photo of the whole things too.. Hallertau top, Fuggle bottom, as you can see one of the bines has grown past the top of the mesh; two weeks ago that bine was about 20cm high. Probably won't be much worth photographing for a while as I doubt they'll appear much different until the flowers start appearing on them apart from maybe bushing up a bit more. Nice to see them up like that after about a month and a half though. Fuggle obviously has more to do, but there are a couple more shoots coming up from it now as well. It has always grown slower than the Hallertau, maybe because it doesn't get quite as much sun where it is.

 

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Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Yep, although some of mine have put out leafy shoots from those points lower down on the bines as well. The flowering ones are higher up but you might find those shoots end up getting burrs on them at some point. I didn't expect to see burrs on mine this early... figured maybe towards February/March more so. Just gonna let the things do as they please now, keeping up the watering and fertilising as needed of course.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My Hallertau plant has really taken off, and is getting a number of burrs and flowers on it now. It has thrown out a number of lateral shoots that are also getting burrs on them. Some of the older flowers might be ready to harvest soon. They are a bit hard to see in the photos though. The Fuggle plant is catching up now and it also has a few flowers on it but not anywhere near as many as the Hallertau does.

 

12494798_10208843998765855_2147913146615816589_n.jpg?oh=0d77e8d20c125b4b667185ba9fad6e96&oe=56FF778F

 

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Cheers

 

Kelsey

 

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Wow yours are certainly looking good there Mr Blotto

 

Mine have been taking a beating with the horrid heat and wind, some of the foliage is a bit heat/wind damaged around the edges but they seem to be surviving and still sending out the lateral shoots. No sign of flowers that I can see yet. I would love to see rain again one day.

 

Pic from a week or so ago.

 

xC5WpkR.jpg

 

 

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Cheers mate. cool Luckily we haven't had any of those 40 odd degree days up here this year, so far anyway. lol

 

They're probably using a lot of their energy just staying alive given the weather conditions you've had down there, so not a great surprise that there aren't flowers yet. In the first year they're basically setting up their root system, so that's why you don't get many flowers. You should get some around Feb/March though I'd imagine. I was surprised to see mine flowering so soon, they weren't even two months in the ground when the first of the burrs appeared.

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I picked some of the flowers off my Hallertau plant earlier this morning. I don't know if they're totally ready to be picked but it's too late now anyway lol. They felt pretty dry and papery though which I've read is one sign to look for. Smell was similar to the pellets I normally use. Plenty of yellow powder around the tops of them too. Probably better to pick them a bit early than leave them too late anyway.

 

This mini harvest netted about 8g. After drying I expect this to be around 1-2g. Plenty for a big IPA, yeah? lollol

 

Over winter I'll be transferring the root systems into 2mx1m raised garden beds, which are 0.73m high. I'll also be constructing a proper trellis type thing, most likely two posts either end of the garden bed, a beam across the top and 5 or 6 wires from the beam down to the soil. Looking to build it 3.5-4m high this time. I also plan on buying a Cascade rhizome so I will keep the pots and use one to grow this one up in its first year before transferring again if I can find room for another one of those garden beds.

 

12508910_10208878249782109_5373514325851243336_n.jpg?oh=599fa682b5dafb6cf03cfe98b0da318e&oe=57348553&__gda__=1463205932_e9d718fba58876dfaa4f00cad8649f05

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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  • 3 weeks later...

Nice, plenty of cones coming!

 

Mine was unfortunately destroyed in a massive hailstorm on the night before Australia day. My whole street was covered in hail, it looked like a white Christmas. Crazy Canberra summers!

 

It hasn't given up though, there's new leaves shooting out, but it's too late for this year I'd say.

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Nice' date=' plenty of cones coming!

 

Mine was unfortunately destroyed in a massive hailstorm on the night before Australia day. My whole street was covered in hail, it looked like a white Christmas. Crazy Canberra summers!

 

It hasn't given up though, there's new leaves shooting out, but it's too late for this year I'd say.[/quote']

 

Oh bummer, that sucks.

 

My fruit trees usually cop a beating from hail most years it seems, I hope I don't get one of those over the next month or so.

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Dang, that's a bit crap John!

 

Yep plenty of burrs forming so you'll get some flowers soon Frosty. happy

My Hallertau has bushed up a bit, to the point now where it has caused the mesh to collapse at the top. lol Plenty of flowers forming on it (I hit it with Maxibloom to encourage this), but probably average/normal amount for a first year. I certainly don't have big groups of them all closely clumped together on the plants like you see in some photos.

 

There's also this really weird looking cone about half way up the plant....

 

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Cheers

 

Kelsey

 

 

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Yes it is a very strange looking cone, I'm not sure that I'll even bother picking that one. lol

 

Looking good mate. biggrin They should get a bit bigger before they start to brown off and feel dry and papery. Also you can snap them in half like a twig. This is about the time they're ready to harvest from everything I can gather. While they're still green like that and feel soft and moist they're not ripe yet.

 

I've had a bit of a guessing game with mine so far as to when to pick them, I've done two tiny harvests netting 2g of dried flowers. The second lot I left longer than the first, and I'm thinking with the third I might leave it longer again, just to see what happens. Probably not a bad experiment on a first year plant that isn't producing much compared to what it should in future years... not wasting as much for good practice methinks!

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Yep sounds like a plan.

 

Yes judging when to harvest is the next challenge. I'm guessing that they won't be all ready at the same time, not sure on that but we'll see what happens.

 

Then they're supposed to be dried some more for a few days to about 10% moisture content before storing from what I've gathered. I have some old window fly screens I am planning on setting up for that.

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That's the bugger of an issue I'm having at with mine - that they're not all ready at the same time. It wouldn't be a problem if it was a 2nd or 3rd year plant and producing craploads of cones, but for a first year plant and only harvesting a few grams at a time.. it seems almost pointless bothering. lol

 

That moisture content is what I have gathered as well. I've also gathered that to get to this, they should be dried to about 25% of their original weight. So, if you picked some and these weighed 8g, you'd be looking to get them down to 2g after drying.

 

I'm currently in the process of building a drying rack although I doubt its full capacity will be needed this year. tongue

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is my Pride if Ringwood plant, I really wanted Cascade too, but I couldn't get one in Perth.

I have several cones, when do you pick them and do I put in a sandwich bag and put in freezer?

Will more grow, its only flowered at the top?

 

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Those aren't ready to be picked yet by the look of them. They should be browning off slightly and feel quite dry and papery, that's pretty much when they're ready to pick. It may or may not produce more flowers this season. I'm guessing it's a first year plant?

 

From my limited experience of only growing this season, they don't seem to flower much at the bottom half of the plant. I've used this stuff called Maxibloom over the last month or so which seems to have had the effect of slightly bigger and healthier cones.

 

Next year (or this winter I should say) they're going in large raised garden beds and I'm gonna build a 3.5/4 metre high trellis for them. Hopefully get more off them next season.

 

As for packaging/storing them, they need to be dried first. I've got a drying rack under construction at the moment but the last two micro harvests I did I simply dried them on a small plate. They should weigh about a quarter of their original weight when sufficiently dried out, and then placed in a bag in the freezer. Vacuum sealing is the best option for this, but you should get away with sandwich bags if they aren't stored too long.

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Thanks really appreciate the advice. They are first season. So when its late Autumn or winter' date=' do they die off, or are they meant to be cut back?[/quote']

 

It's my first year growing them too.

 

They are perennial deciduous so they will lose their leaves later in the Autumn after we have harvested our cones. When they look like they are well and truly finished is when I plan to cut them down so the rhizomes can then take their winter nap in the ground, hopefully under some snow again this year smile

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