Hops, off to a flying start!

[billybushcook]

I Had a look in my Hop bed yesterday & came away very pleased with what I saw!,

Ivé got over a dozen, very healthy looking shoots coming up over about a 2 foot radius, they are much thicker stems than what I got last year (it's first year).
Time to get trellising again, Todays plan is to extend the height of my "May Pole" up to about 12 feet high.

Any one else getting shoots yet?

Cheers, Mick.

[billybushcook]

Well, got a Cracker trellis set up now,

This was the plant last year.



& antisapating extra growth this year, this is taken from the same angle.



Also planted some Rhyzomes in a pot today, which I harvested in Autumn.
Bring on the Summer!!!

Mick.

[rotten]

Crikey Mick, can ya pick that High?
I will have to make sure I can get a hydraplat from work to mine if I plant them by the look of that
Cheers

[SuperBroo]

Mine have shoots sitting there under the pea hay ready to go.
This is my first go at growing hops, i have 2 cascade and 1 hallerrteau (spell check required).

I cant wait to do a harvest ale.

Am going to start making up a trellis soon, am thinking about having it hinmged at the bottom so you can lay it down for harvesting, need to look at some other designs out there...

Cheers to All,
Chris

[matr]

I have 1 Cascade with about 8 shoots & leaves & I also have 1 Goldings which has a few shoots & leaves but is not as keen the cascade.

They're not in the most ideal position but ya get that.. At least the kids haven't pulled them out or stood on them yet.

[Tipsy]

My second year Tettnang and Saaz have shoots everywhere under the mulch.
I'll just have to decide how many I'm going to let grow.

[drsmurto]

Its easy to tell the difference between a new hop plant and one that has spent a year or 2 under the soil.

The shoots on new hops are thin and green.

The shoots on established hops are thick and purple.

Measured up my hop yard with plans to actually build a trellis this year. I have been through 3 seasons and every year i say the same but never get around to it. The plants are now too well established and too vigorous, last year i had to tend to them everyday, separating them, twisting them around twine training them horizontally.

I'd love to be able to simply attach them to some string and let them climb 3-4m which is what i am planning.

[billybushcook]

Does any body know what a plant's life expectancy is?
Does the Rhyzome only have so many seasons before it needs to be split up & replanted?

Mick.

[drsmurto]

The oldest one i have has been in the ground for 3 full seasons. No idea on how long they live but giving they are rhizomes i suspect a long time.

I don't dig them up i just trim of several of the side shoots at the end of the season to try and keep it from spreading too far.

[billybushcook]

I don't dig them up i just trim of several of the side shoots at the end of the season to try and keep it from spreading too far.

I did that at the end of last season & kept them in the fridge over winter, that was the ones I potted on the weekend & had already started to show rootlets when I took them out. (thanks to my old beer fridge's inability to hold a descent temp, bought a 40L Engel at Easter, What a great beer fridge That is!!!)

I figure that trimming the Rhyzome each year not only keeps it in check but is a good insurance policy for the future as well, tried palming a few off to a non brewing friend but forgot to give them to him when I had the oppertunity...Doh!

Mick.

[SuperBroo]

About how many Kg of dried hop flowers are you lads getting out of 1 plant, first year and then subsequent years ?

cheers,
Chris

[drsmurto]

About how many Kg of dried hop flowers are you lads getting out of 1 plant, first year and then subsequent years ?

cheers,
Chris

Think i got 5g of dried flowers out of the chinook in the first year, none from the others. In the second year i got enough for 1 beer from most (~60-70g) except the POR which gave me ~250g.

The chinook produced ~650g dried last year in its 3rd year.

I dont prune mine back to a set number of bines or do any real maintenance other than to train them up string. A small amount of seasol when they first pop early in spring and then its water only.

No doubt you could get more if you pout more effort it but with a total of nearly 1kg of dried hop flowers combined this year i dont see the need to put anymore effort in.

[billybushcook]

Last year (first year) I got about 0.2Kg dried flowers off my PoR, but they weren't much good, they smelt very grassy & not as Hoppy as store bought ones so I didn't use them.
Hopefully this year will be a goer, I live in the Hunter Valley, NSW. So not an Ideal location.

Mick.

[SuperBroo]

OK, I wont rush in and build 6M high trellis in the first year then

[drsmurto]

I have 'survived' without a trellis for the past 3 years but last year was a stretch.

This is what they looked like december last year



This is what they looked like a month later



They almost pulled the fence over. You can train them to grow horizontally but that requires daily work which i dont want to have to do again this year. The longest bines went up 2m then across 2-3m so a 6m high trellis isnt over the top. At the peak they grow 5-10cm per day. Thats not an exaggeration. You can see that despite planting them at least 2m apart they are growing in to each other so each day i had to untangle them. I am hoping with a trellis this year i can keep them separate.

[SuperBroo]

Does anyone have any trouble with 28's (Ringneck parrots) nipping the flowers off,
we have heaps of the bloody things here, and they get into everything...

we counted 51 of them one day on our back lawn pulling out grass shoots,
if they get into my hops, i will nuke the bastards...

[drsmurto]

Loads of parrots here, they love all the fruit trees.

They have never bothered my vegie patch or hops.

I doubt they would go for the hops, far too bitter. They prefer sweet and/or juicy foods. Hops are dry and harsh.

[SuperBroo]

ok then, i will put the yellowcake back in the freezer, was just starting to build something

must say, i cant wait to make a harvest ale,

I think you need to put about 4 times the hops in when they havent been dried ?

[drsmurto]

Never used wet hops, i dry mine then vacumm seal them and bung them in the freezer.

Used 100g of chinook flowers on Monday and I can still smell the hops. I didn't throw away the bag i stored the hops in and the aroma i am still getting from it is gorgeous.

[speedie]

Has any one noted that there is minimal difference between citra (usa) and good old aussie galaxy
Would be worth a side by side brew!
test! speedie