How are your home grown hops doing?

I have some pretty big cones on my 3rd year Newport - and a ton more burrs coming out.
Looking forward to a good harvest. Doubt I'll get anything off the new growth Cascade - they're barely 6 feet high after being there all summer - though I guess they went in a bit late.
Down side, if there is one, is that I am moving this fall, so I'll have to pull everything up and replant in the new place. Fortunately, I'll keep these here till harvest.
Is it recommended to let them freeze in place and dig up in the spring (we'll be keeping our current place for the time as a rental) or to transplant this fall and let them do their thing in the spring?

 

Okay, so how many hops do you typically need for a standard 5 gallon brew?

 

If you're talking about fresh/wet hops, you need 6x the amount you'd use of pellet or dried leaf.

 

Good looking Cascade and Centennial cones but not much resin yet. They are growing out onto the barn roof. Willamette is lagging behind, as are wild transplants (probably ~cluster X something English). Our donkeys kicked my fence down and dragged two vines to the ground but there will still be a decent harvest. I'm really excited to pick two wild vines in the woods within a couple miles of the house... they are looking good. Those nasty 'wild American' flavors have been dissed for a long time but it seems that we are all looking for that taste in our IPA's now.

One strange note: a couple of Cascade bines grew through a space between boards and are flowering inside the barn, with just about zero sunlight. This happened on a much more limited basis a few years ago; the blossoms looked pale, maybe analogous to white asparagus, and were oversized and very floral. This year it looks like I will have 2-3 ounces to sniff and play with. Anyone have a similar experience?

 

I have some that are very white, where the bine makes a bend between the 2x6s theat make the trellis. Between the leaves and trellis they get no sun. Those get picked along with the others.

 

First year centennials were slow to start. I used some richlawn vegetable fertilizer, its a 5-10-5, and they came to life. I have been fertilizing everything once a month with that and it really brought them to life. They hung out @ 4ft, and have exploded up to over 10 feet now. Tons of burrs now, I expect to at least have enough to do a respectable APA this fall.

 

Wow, I would have thought the fresh/wet hops would have more bang for the buck!!!

 

Well, for the most part, lupulin levels are the same in each cone whether dried or wet/fresh. However, because wet hops contain water they weigh more. So an ounce of pellet, or dried leaf, started out as 6 oz wet.

 

After discovering this thread and seeing everyone's success, i cannot wait till next season to start growing my own! Im from massachusetts, so august is too late im guessing to try and start.

Ive read that it is possible to plant rhizomes up until the fall, but of course that wouldnt result in any harvest this year. They did say however it will give you more of a yield next season compared to if i planted them sometime next spring. Is this true? has anyone ever had success doing that.

-xICooRsYIx

 

Also figure on more wort loss, if you are used to using pellets.

 

Unless u already have the rhizomes planted, the only place u will find hop plants this time of year is a nursury or another hop grower. Never planted hops in the fall, but should work...just like a fruit tree.

 

I do not currently have any rhizomes planted and unfortunately they are really hard to find this time of year. Especially the popular strains that i would be looking for.

However, highhops has plenty of plants for sale. Not the rhizomes just baby plants. I feel as though these would be harder to start and grow this time of year? am i wrong?

-xICooRsYIx

 

Personally, I'd wait until Spring (Summer in Massachusetts ) for some rhizomes...they're cheaper and will usually Xplant well...but I really can't speak from experience with plants...rhizomes are all I've ever attempted (with good success). Cheers

 

Well its currently summer in MA and i cant find find the expensive rhizomes...nevermind the cheaper ones lol

I think my best bet is to wait till april/early may to plant some rhizomes.

-xICooRsYIx

 

Came home from 5 days in Cali and my plants are booming. Lots of cones, still tons of burrs, should have a decent harvest this year.

 

Third year Willamettes at my parents' home in Milwaukee. They're ready!

 

@jbakajust1 Can you give any more info on the Tardif & Cerara varieties? Never heard of em and I'm always interested in new varietals. Thanks!

 

Almost there...there is a small commercial grower near my work, and harvesting my cones a week later than his works very well, which makes sense given our elevation difference. I'll be watching. Some of my transplanted wild plants are bringing a lot of tropical fruit/cat piss already, though with less than optimal bitterness. Still excited to try them. One wild plant I've been watching has succumbed to aphids; watching the other one closely.

 

Between my benign neglect and a serious infestation of leaf hoppers my hops look really awful. But the hoppers are diminishing, I'm starting to get the weeds and extra bines under control, so by the time our best part of the season comes around they should be looking great. Even with all the problems I've gotten 14 ounces of dried Cascades already, and the bines are just now putting out new leaves and burrs

 

Cerera is a Savinja Golding mated with Yugoslav male in the 80s, USDA got it in the 90s, never went anywhere. It is Saazer like, spicy, cinnamon, earthy.

Tardif d' Bourgnone is believed to be a clone of a French land race hop. Grown as aroma hop on small acreages in the Alsace region of France. USDA bank received it in 1977, never went anywhere. It is supposed to have Strisselspalt in the lineage somewhere. Floral, lemon, & Saaz like.

Neither one is available commercially.