So how is everyone's hops doing this year? Mine was growing great until the catapillars ate the shit out of them while I was away the last 3 days. I hope they'll recover.
I had to build an extra 20' line for the climbers to get on with - the combination of sun and blue water I've been feeding them every 2 weeks has had them go absolutely nuts. Probably up to about 12' at the moment.
I have one cascade and yeah been having some trouble with bugs eating them.. I basically go out everyday and pick bugs.. They seem to be slowing down.
Mine is right about 6 feet right now.. It seems to be speeding up the last week or so.
I have 6 all together, and two of them have taken off like crazy. I can't reach the top of them...I should have planned them out better as they are too tall for where they are at.
I noticed slugs around them so I made a slug trap...cut a beer can in half and fill it with beer...place in the middle of your hops and dump the slugs out every few days....they apparently like beer more than hop plants.
Anyone able to harvest any of their hops yet?
Any advice on when to harvest? The forums ive read say pick them when they feel really papery and when if you squeeze them, they don't rebound... haha
Any better advice out there? Ive been keep an eye on them making sure they dont dry out and turn brown...
I'm going with the papery thing for now - I think mostly it's a moisture thing, and my bines are clearly still living plant material.
Ill go with that too Richard. Cant wait to make a wet hopped pale ale with them.
So mine didn't make it at all. I think it was frost damage but not certain.
2 questions:
1. Is it too late to try and get some hops to take root before fall?
2. If so, does anyone have rhizomes that I could plant?
Just cropped mine (Cascade and EKG, but I'm pretty sure only the Cascade took hold)... hard to say how much I'll have by weight once they're stripped and dried, but I'm guessing about 6-8oz. Hops had taken on the advertised "papery" feel, although they still need to be dried considerably.
I'm planning on leaving them hanging in a dry shed with ample air flow for a week. Here's a pic :)
I've only harvested my Columbus so far and ended up with 3.5lbs. of wet cones. I figure I have nearly 4 times that much of Cascade. I'm going to try and jam them all in a massive fresh hop IIPA so I won't be drying any of them. Just vacuum sealing and freezing fresh for the time being.
(http://distilleryimage4.s3.amazonaws.com/7c96c082efb811e1a77f22000a1d0cd5_7.jpg)
Awesome Jeff!
Very nice guys! Were these first year plants?
Mine are second year.
Second year, about four rhizomes planted - two cascade and two EKG. EKG has been... disappointing. Cascade has pretty much taken over the nest.
So is it too late to plant rhizomes now?
Aye; we'll be getting frost soon-ish and that'll screw them up pretty bad.
So I checked with Scotts Nursury and they have some Nugget plants for sale whic I plan to buy. She also said that the frost won't hurt the rhizomes at all... as long as the ground isn't frozen (as in solid) I can plant them for next spring.
So.... does anyone have any rhizomes that they can share? :-)
Ach sorry... yeah looks like it's the vines that can't take a frost. I dunno if you'll get any benefit from planting now versus next spring, though.
Well finally got around to picking my hops and on one plant i waited to long the spider mites got it before me. Sucks too cause it had a lot of big cones on it.
What do the spider mites do? Just eat them?
I just picked all my hops, and it really didnt take too long unfortunately... got just over 7 oz wet hops from my first year cascades hahaha... Ive read the ratio of wet to dry is usually about 5... so that means I have just over 1 oz of dry hops? hahah ... Better luck next year hopefully!
http://www.freshops.com/hop-growing/hop ... -and-pests (http://www.freshops.com/hop-growing/hop-diseases-and-pests)
Click on "Spider Mites" at the top. Basically yeah - they eat it, and the end result is a mangled hop bine.
Just harvested and here are the results...
Cascade, 1 Bine 2nd year, 1 Bine 1st year, 12.5 oz all from 2nd year
Centennial 4 Bines 1st year, 0
Chinook 2 Bines 1st year, 7 Cones, less than 0.1 oz.
Fuggle 1 Bine 2nd year 3 Bines 1st year, 5.0 oz all from 2nd year
Galena 2 Bines 1st year, 0
Magnum, 2 Bines 2nd year, 2.5 oz, were ripped from ground during storm and early in the season and suffered. Had been ahead of everything else before then.
Nugget 2 Bines 2nd year, 2 Bines 1st year, 26 oz with a bit from 1st year
Willamette, 1 Bine 2nd year, 3 Bines 1st year 7 oz with 1 oz from 1st year.
Total 53 ounces.
All vac sealed and in the freezer.
JQ
My 20 plants were decimated by F__king eastern comma larvea......take home is don't leave you plants unattended for an entire summer. On the up side BT application is in line with organic practice so I'm going the BT the buggers into oblivion next season.
On a related note the 1/4 acre wild hop plant I found produced like a bugger :)
B