Growing Cascade hops, some hops seem to be "popping"?

I would look for any type of insects that might be causing them to dry up. Aphids might be the first cause, did you see any ants or lady bugs on your plants? First year growth hops will not always do well, usually need to wait to the second or third growth for them to really develop. I am in Mass so the climates are drastically different, hops actually prefer my longitude as opposed to yours, so temperature and sun exposure might be the cause as well. How much sun do they get?

 

"The first year of a hop seedling's life is spent developing a deep root system. It can take up to two years for a hop seed to produce a harvest."

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/hops-annual-perennial-can-plant-seed-66375.html

Coincidentally, I was also reading about planting hops.

 

I would not take that article as information from an expert. You can plant seeds, sure. They will be nothing like the plant they came from. Breeders have thousands of crosses in their program, and then cull them down until maybe one in 10000 make it into production. A random seed may not grow well, may be susceptible to pests or blights, may not yield well, or may not make good beer.

You buy rhizomes and plant them if you want to have hops of the same flavor and aroma. Hops of a certain variety are all of the same DNA. Apples are the same way, they do not come from the seeds, but from scions grafted on a tree, so a given apple variety is all the same DNA.

In the Yakima Valley they can get up to 80% of yield on a first year hop. Soil, sun, irrigation, and know how of the growers. For the rest of the country, yeah we get better yields in later years.

 

Two possibilities:
1) Rot
No need to water every day.
You're killing them with kindness.
Water deeply once a week.

2) Downy mildew
Prognosis: Poor
Treatment: GreenCure® fungicide

 

Some browning of the cone tips (bracts) may mean they're ready to harvest

 

They aren't going to go from spongy to dry overnight. It takes a few weeks.

My 3rd year Cascades here in Southeastern PA are probably only a week or two away from being ready to harvest. They are starting to get crunchy. Just like last year, my Nuggets are way behind them, the cones are barely formed.

 

I'm not seeing anything wrong with the cones.

 

If you peel apart the cone, are they full of the yellow sticky powder that is the lupulin? If so, and the cones are papery, I would go ahead and harvest them. After all, any harvest from a first year plant is gravy. More important is just that it did well establishing it's roots.

 

check out the picture of the inside of a mature cone on this page:
http://www.holidaytorent.com/about_hops/index.php

 

In the 2nd pix, u can see an immature burr above the more fully formed cone. Even the more mature one looks a few weeks from harvest...patience, grasshopper : )