Autumn 2009 Hops cuttings WANTED

[jello]

I'm jealous. All I have to pick is tomatoes.

[Lachy]

I covet your hop garden, Doc.

[drsmurto]

Its on a drip irrigation system this year so is getting a lot more water than i have given then in the past.

In fact, everything in the vegie patch looks 10x better this year.

As for cuttings, i have been ripping out bines that are just appearing and feeding them to the chooks. I want the plants concentrating on cone formation now, not growing new bines! My attempts at growing cuttings have failed dismally, mainly due to doing so in the middle of a heatwave.

[Trough Lolly]

Lookin good Doc...
My Cascade's leaves were browned off in this heat. The Chinook is thriving but the rest are just hanging in there. Successive 33 plus degrees days are making life hard for the hop plants.
I've been away for a week or so and noticed that new leaf stems are appearing along the main Cascade bines - it's either about to flower or it's healthy enough to grow replacement leaves. Of course, I'd rather flowers at this time but if the leaves mean it survives another year, then I'll settle for that.

The planted Cascade cutting didn't survive but another Cascade cutting shooted and I'm leaving it in the nursery for another year before planting...That's only two out of 12 cuttings - Cascade is by far the hardest variety to cultivate so far...

Cheers,
TL

[billybushcook]

Took a few snaps of my PoR plant yesterday, the thing is going nuts AGAIN!!
It had already grown bigger than I expected & had a heap of flowers maturing,
We have had a fortnight of drizzle & flat out heat & humidity in between, coupled with the liquid from my worm farm & some Yates thrive so it is now shooting again & heaps more flowers coming on!

Ivé spoken to so many knockers, "Hops don't like 33Deg Lattitude" "you won't get any/many flowers on a first year plant"
Well POO to them!!

These pics don't do it justice, this first shot doesn't show how thick it is, the Ryzome & 5 main Bines are 2 feet on the other side of the fence. There are literaly 100's of flowers on it & more still coming every where!
every day I can see obvious new growth & flowers.



A shot from the opposite side

















A bit of difference between Nov & now!!



Mick

[drsmurto]

Looking good there Mick.

Just be aware that the cones lose ~80% by weight when dried.

I picked half a 9L plastic bucket full. Hundreds of cones. Weighed 250g wet. Once dried i had 45g.

So whilst it may look like you will get some this year it wont be a huge crop. Hopefully enough for 1 batch if you use them for flavour and aroma.

As for location, people grow them in just about every state of Australia. That urban myth was busted a long time ago!

[drsmurto]

Picked some hops on the weekend.

Despite my cascade only having 4 bines and being shaded by the nectarine tree i picked 375g. Very happy with that as i will have enough after drying for a full batch of just cascade.

And picked another 2kg off the chinook. Yes I said 2 kilograms!

The chinook is still covered in cones, a conservative estimate is i should get another 2 kg.

The goldings is coming along well. Plenty of burrs and cones. The POR is covered in tiny burrs and the Victoria is similar to the Cascade - only a few bines but covered in cones.

Here they are drying - the cascade is on the trays on either end.

[wrighty]

Awsome harvest there Doc.
Looks like the beer fridge even got a birthday

[warra48]

Looks impressive!

[drsmurto]

Smells impressive too Warra.

Yes, new fridge in the family so the one in picture is been retired. 4 brewing/conditioning/serving fridges is my limit