homegrown hops 2016

some are up, but most are still dormant in my yard. mostly the brewers gold and Willamette are starting.

 

Of my 11 plants all but 2 are up, Hersbrucker and Cascade and Chinook are already fairly long. Need to burn them back this weekend and get my compost on there. Should also trim the rhizomes this year since I am on my 3rd year now.

 

Propane torch to the bines and new sprouts as well as all the weeds and grasses growing around them. Then let the new stuff really take off in May.

 

Golding and Mt. Hood slow (6")...everything else at least 3' tall. Santiam, Chinook, and Cascade are beasts.

 

Mt. Hood, Nugget and Cascade are up. I applied a liquid, sea-weed based fertilizer two weeks ago (lots of boron).
I started winding bines to strings, but I'll read up and consider a do-over with later growth.

 

Yesterday I raked the winter mulch (leaves) from atop my hops. The bines have just started coming up here in northern Utah. Cheers!

 

Standard procedure on a hop farm.

The first shoot will have any disease concentrated in them, hence getting rid of them. The farms know the order to do the varieties in, so they all "hit the wire" on the solstice.

 

The 'mystery' hop plant in my back yard is about 3 feet tall right now.

Earlier today my wife drank one of my homebrewed Harvest Ales that I brewed last September using freshly picked wet hops from this plant.

Cheers!

 

I'd like to see some references on this one...other than the fact most first shoots have to endure the worst of environmental pitfalls anyway...cold, wind, hatch, and low photo period. Seems like most modern varieties have some resistance to disease. I may be wrong, but I thought things like wilt, mildew, and various viruses were go-no-go. This could be a case of the first shoot not being the most viable for a lot of reasons. Commercial growers may do a lot of things that may not make sense for backyard growers...maybe

 

I learned that from the pros out in Yakima.

 

all 4 of mine are popping up. Minimum 4 bines each so far. Of course, it snowed today, so I don't know how that's going to affect things. they're only an inch or 2 so far, but I was planning on checking my trellis and redoing the support ropes, along with putting in the line for the bines to climb.

 

OK, I've been to Yakima, too ...surely there has to be some firm scientific evidence...sounds intuitive, but so much that is intuitive turns out to be BS or watershed...help me out

 

This sounds like ole almanac speak..."knee high by 4th of July" (corn and hops are similar, right?)

 

I'd also like to see some documentation on disease being concentrated in the first shoots, as this makes no logical sense to me. I could see controlling quicker rising lower yielding one's or something but this sounds like hogwash, respectfully.

 

I haven't docs, but in my short experience with hops, it seems the first shoots, or bull shoots, do not yield as well the second coming. As far as disease concentration in the first shoots, we'll never heard of that nor ever experienced it in any crop I grew since 1980 but that don't mean it ain't so, just that I do not know.

Personally I cut down and remove all early shoots cause the secondary shoots yield better than the first. I also use pesticides both organic and chemical whenever it is called for. And like last year,had few problems so applied very little.
Hope all have a good harvest this year.

 

Yeah this is where I'm coming from with my statement. I'm sure cropping works wonders, but disease being concentrated in a first shoot for hops sounds off. I'm sure the practice is good, but sometimes good practices get misattribued.

Some of the best farmers I know do things a certain way, but the science is a little off, but it works the best for other reasons.

Good harvests to all.

 

I got that at YCH hop Scool last year. I am 1500 miles from my notes.

I highly recommend hop school for the interested, and it is a great time.

Once again, there are doubters.

 

My '3 Cs' – cascade, centennial and columbus are all about a foot high. They are all on their 3rd year.

I've never heard of cutting back the first shoots, but now I might have to try it. So waiting til early May to start training the bines is good practice?