Growing Hops 2021

Hard to say from just this. It does seem odd, but not unheard of. How do you treat them? Water and fertilizer? If yes, how much, if no, than this might do it. Secondly where do you have them growing. Male plants will still "flower" but not cone. SO if they have flowers, then yes they are male, except when stressed and any hop plant can throw flowers that aren't cones.

 

Hey hop heads, having kind of a weird year for my hops here and wondering if anyone has the horticultural experience to tell me what might be up, because I've never seen this before.

Basically my Centennial cones are fully developed and looking really good. my Cascades are mostly still burrs - they've been burrs since mid July and don't seem to be forming cones more than a little bit. In past years, these two varietals have produced cones at the same rate and generally been ready to harvest at the same time. What gives?? I'm in the west and its been hotter than hell here since June, maybe Cascade doesn't like the intense heat / smoke ?

I have a photo with the Centennial on the right and if you squint you can see the Cascade right next to it on the left, just mostly looking like burrs still.



Anyone experience this before? are my cascades toasted?

cheers!

 

I would ask about watering and fertilizing? I have noticed that stressed plants that have burred tend to hold the burrs longer and develop smaller cones. My Galena did so this year when I realized that the valve near them was partially shut for some reason. They cones up but then are later than normal now.

 

@Granitebeard , yeah that’s a good call, I’ve been giving them same water / plant food as the centennial, but hey maybe they just need more.

I’m just gonna harvest centennial first I guess and hope that the cascade come through eventually. The lower leaves of the cascades look a bit scorched too, maybe they don’t like the crazy hot temps ... gonna keep watering like crazy

 

It's hard to say really. My 160 plants have never stopped making me feel mad in the last 5 years when they throw me a loop every now and then. Temperature and wind seems to be my hang ups.

 

Where I'm at there are spotted lantern flies that mess with hops. I'm noticing a smaller yield. The burrs took their time and there's been some bad heat. But cascades and centennial look ok.

 

My lone hop is doing its thing. I have it growing up a wear facing porch and the north half of it goes up a line between two houses where it gets good all day sun and is well into cone set now. The south half runs along the top of the west facing porch and only gets afternoon sun. Its barely setting burs. The difference is dramatic

 

Where is the wear for your wares?

I noticed something similar. There's a sizable hole in the canopy that the sun gets through to my hops. The first +/- 8' of the plants get the least sun, and there's few to no burrs/cones there. The cones in that area of less sun are forming on sidearms, are smaller and the petals are more opened. The last +/- 12' get more sun and are producing well. I'd say it's equally dramatic to what Spidey relayed.

Another observation that I'll try to keep an eye on. In addition to falling temps, does the annual decrease in sunlight impact time to harvest, and does it in some way coincide with the annual cycle of whitetail deer, bucks specifically?
I remember reading years ago that the amount of sunlight entering through their eyes is a trigger for hormone production that continues the cycle of antler growth, velvet development, eventual velvet loss and hardening of the antlers. Whitetail bucks are now in velvet in my area and traveling with their bachelor groups. It'd be pretty cool to note if hops ready for harvest at the same time velvet is hanging in shreds from antlers.
Anecdotal lore.....an old woman (passed) who owned the property I hunt used to say, "The bucks start to rut when the dog fennel is in bloom." Interesting interweaving of cycles.

I'm away from my hops for about a week. The Goldings were approaching being ready when I left, and the Cascades weren't far behind. It'll be a relief if the first picking window hasn't passed, and if the hops suffer minimal damage from the remnants of hurricane Fred.

 

@riptorn I'm not sure about the gradual decrease in sunlight, but I do know that the turn of the solstice is a trigger. The minute daylight duration gets shorter they are triggered to direct focus away from vertical growth and move to side arm development, I'd say from that point its just a matter of moisture / sunlight / heat conditions that dictate when cones are ready.

Its pretty cool to think about how the timing lines up with other plants / animals. Out in the mountains we watch the fireweed blooms - they bloom lowest flowers first, and work their way up to the top of the plant, when they reach the very top blooms, summer is over and you can expect freezing temps any minute, its like watching an hourglass to predict the impending fall temps.

 

Interesting, thanks for that.
I haven't noticed fireweed in WNC at 4000' elevation. We do have red hot pokers in the area that begin turning yellow from the bottom up. IIRC, there's a patch of them I pass by regularly and will make a mental note if their color change coincides so specifically with something else happening in the wild.

 

Well picked 6lbs wet of comet yesterday. Dried down and vacuum sealed now. Next weekend will be the other half of comet and maybe some gelena.

 

@Granitebeard , curious about how you go about drying that much hops in one day ?

 

@riptorn I'm not very knowledgeable about hops' relationship to day length. However I did read about someone using hydroponics and manipulated day length to produce multiple harvests from hop bines, so I'd wager there is some prominent relationship

 

@thebriansmaude Having a similar issue with my hops. My centennials are almost ready while my cashmere are just barely edging out of the burr stage. My cascades didn't even produce burrs. It's been a weird season, though, for lots of reasons.

 

@deadwolfbones , yeah man that sucks. We’re on the side of the continent that’s currently burning down, cascade doesn’t like it and centennial loves it. So weird. Mine are getting a little bigger everyday so I’m holding out hope I’ll still get some lupulin...

 

Do you fertilize much once they start flowering? If so, what formulation?

 

I was pretty casual about feeding them, I gave them some basic plant food once a week for all of July, but honestly I was doing it because i figured it couldn’t hurt - no idea what the K-N-P ratio is. Would love to more know about when and how much to fertilize actually.

 

They're on the east side of my property so they get full sun for a good 6-8 hours a day. Watering every other day and using fertilizer. All that I'm seeing right now are leaves, bines and not a single flower on it. The rhizomes I planted were from the same order I received 5 years ago, planted 6 of them at a buddy's house and his have been going strong year after year...and I know he doesn't water or fertilize at all. It's the strangest thing.

 

I believe if you fertilize with too much nitrogen after a certain point you can encourage leafy green growth to the detriment of flowers/cones.

 

Another twist to the nutrient balancing act