Cascade and Chinook Showing Purple

Spring is just around the corner. (Is purple normal?)

 

Mine are under a foot of snow so no color.

 

I still have a month to pick up my cascade rhizomes.

 

I have read you can harvest them and eat just like asparagus as well.

 

Yeah, read that, tried that, fuckin nasty

 

I've got three Neo Mexicanus plants growing in Phoenix: Multihead, Neo1, and Amalia. All are sprouted and leafy. I'll post some pictures later if I remember.

 

Chinooks are coming up, two months ahead of schedule. Better get transplanting them. I want to put ctz in the barrels this year, get chinook planted next to the centennials, and build a nice arbor for them to climb.

 

This is my first year growing, but they are crowns from Great Lakes Hops, so I think they're at least 6 months to a year old.

Fingers crossed they don't fry in the summer. I've got them in a spot that gets afternoon shade, so we'll see.

 

That alone is why I am happy to be in Maine. Now I just need a few pallets from work, and my hops will be happy.

 

Here's my Neo 1. Growing taller than the other two. These were taken yesterday.

The Multihead has a lot more bines, and I'll probably have to prune some back when its time to train them to a trellis.


The Amalia is shorter and less leafy, but still doing well, so I didn't post a picture of it.

 

Did you eat the white or the purple/green? You can eat them like asparagus, yes, but unlike asparagus you are supposed to only eat the white ones. If you are planning to eat the hop tips it is best to cover them with something (compost, leaves, bucket) to keep the sun from getting them. Once the sun hits them they turn green/purple/red and they don't taste the same.

 

My new centennial rhizome and one year old mittelfruh have both started sprouting. We've had a rubbish winter this year, almost no snow and very few days below freezing. Hopefully there won't be a late freeze

 

I've done this several times. They are good with butter and salt.

By the way, a touch of purple is indeed normal (at least until they're cooked!).

 

Two years ago my centennials came up quick, and we had a late frost. I was able to protect one plant, but the other died back. The one that died back shot new bines up quickly, and wound up being the better producing bine that year.

 

Hey j ,long time not seeing u.

Thanks for the tip,errr, white tip I'll give it a go.

 

You were right. Even being in shade from late morning through late evening (they basically got direct sunlight for a few hours in the morning and a couple toward sunset), they completely fried to the ground. We did have quite the heat wave in June, though. Highs 115°+ for a week or more probably didn't do them any favors.

I got some decent growth up the twine for the Amalia and Neo1, but the Multihead didn't want to climb. Maybe next year they'll do better since they've established roots? I'll try to give them more shade and water next year.

Probably about time for you guys to start harvesting, no?