Homegrown hops 2020

Yes, cones will be produced on the side shoots. Cheers.

 

You don't want to prune those, except (maybe) near the ground where they won't be very productive.

ETA: I see @utahbeerdude beat me to it.

 

They will flower. I've been growing hops for 10-12 years now and I've never pruned. I just checked my side stems and there are burrs on them. Your call, Rip.

 

Ditto to join pruning,,,,, except when you lower leafs exhibit fungus issues. I often cut leafs up to 3 ft high off the bine to help keep fugues/ mold problems at bay. You may not have the same issues.

 

I have always been a pruner of the lower side arms and any late growth to try and prevent downy mildew... I need to get moving this year on that as I think it is affecting my growth some. No crazy mildews yet, but so much un-managed growth around the crowns.

 

Same here, too much other work keeping me from keeping a tidy hop yard. And I'm back to irrigating. Dry year here.

 

We had 50% more rain than average during june and the first week of July has been twice as wet as normal. Not had to water anything outside for well over a month at least and won't need to probably for the rest of the month

I do have an aphid infestation on my plants now unfortunately, have sprayed the plants with dilute detergent as I didn't have anything else better. I've found it works on my pepper plants if repeated a few times

 

Go ripper, looking real good. As long as u have plenty of water,, and I'd guess you have good soil health, let them grow.

Looks to b a very good crop

 

Yup, my hops woke up lately. Finally getting side arms and burrs on the bigger plants and others have started to take off. Sadly, looks like my thoughts on nugget are going to happen and I am going to pull them this fall...

 

Might as well call this the worst hop year here. So dam dry an so little time to water everything, something had to give. I figure I might get 25% if lucky.

Interesting point being even in very dry situation, willamette and cascade look like they will be at the 40% mark while Golding, fuggles are possible no shows. Very strange year.

Foundry hops will be Legindary so the Glenny mix, or cascade centenial Columbus chinook mix will be a mainstay this winter.

 

Window view. Contrast sucks, but you can see some cones.

 

Lookin good VikeMan. About the size I have at the top of one of my plants. Lower down, they're a bit smaller. My other two plants, cones are still quite small. I didn't water during a dry spell so, probably my fault.

 

The greenfly infestation on my centennial is unreal.Can't shift them. Must be billions of the little fuckers. They don't seem particularly interested in the hallertau mittelfruh though...craft aphids?

 

I have some "greenish" beetles chewing holes in my leaves, they all look like Swiss cheese. Fortunately, they seem to leave the hop cones alone. Also, a bit of spider mites near the top of one plant. I hate problems I can't solve with my shotgun!

 

Imidachloprid will take care of them, but it cannot be used less than 60 days before harvest, so it may too late. I’ve used it in the past with great success. Neem oil has been reasonably effective for me this year. I’ve sprayed 3 times this year with a 2% solution. Cheers!

 

Probably Japanese beetles. They went after my Nugget bines, but did much less damage to my Cascades.