I thought last year’s hops were going to be early, but this year, the bines have far surpassed last year’s. After another warm winter and an incredibly wet spring, my hops have been taking off like rockets. They sure do like the rain! Out of 8 varieties, 5 are in flower as of today. My cascade plant has side bines over 2 feet long. How’s everyone else’s hops doing?
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Ditto… they are so far along, I thought we were about a month ahead.
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Mine are only about 5 feet tall but they are 1st year. Glad to hear yours are doing so well! How old are you all’s hops?
Mine are in their fourth year. Your hops will continue to grow most of the summer. The bines have to be more than 4 feet tall to produce any cones, so you might get a few this year. What varieties do you have?
Lotsa sun, some watering too. Keep it between 1-2" while the cones are growing… Harvest mid august… well, up here anyways… Fertilize this fall, as you need to feed the roots(rhizomes) for next years start! Sneezles61
That would be great if even a couple varieties produced cones. I assumed I wouldn’t get any this first year. I have Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Williamette. What do varieties do you have?
Those are the exact varieties I had. The first year, I got a couple of ounces dried out of my cascade. Every year, I get a ton of Cascade and Chinook. For some reason, the Willamette didn’t produce any last year… it keeps on trying to spread instead of growing cones. Centennial has been a weak producer for me, but seems pretty vigorous this year, so I have some hope for it (I’m in year 4).
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I have Chinook, Nugget, Mt. Hood, Goldings, Willamette, Tettnang, Amalia and Cascade. Chinook and Cascade will produce the first year. I have the same experience with Willamette that uberculture did. They spend more time spreading than growing bines and making cones. In it’s fourth year, I might finally get an ounce. I more than once felt like giving up on it, digging it out of the ground and replacing in with Centennial. My recommendation in a few years is to chop off some rhizomes on the periphery of the crown and get more plants to grow if you really like Willamette. I think the only way you’re going to get it to yield is make more plants.
That’s interesting about you and @uberculture’s Williamette plants. My Williamette was actually the first one that seemed to take off. I’m sure that doesn’t mean it will produce cones though. We’ll see how it turns out. I’d love to get some Cascade and Chinook. Thank you for the advice. What states are you and @uberculture in?
Twin Cities, MN here.
I remember you saying that you grow your hops on your fence. Is that an issue with neighbors in the city?
In my case, no. On one side, I put a screen on the chain link to block views. In their side of that fence, they have a line of trees, so no big deal. Perpendicular, its a wood slat fence, so nothing is visible. Some bines curl up over the fence line, but no complaints yet.
New York near Buffalo.
That’s good @uberculture. So we’re all relatively close when it comes to our latitude. I’m interested to know how some of the hops that we are all growing (Cascade, Chinook, WIlliamette) perform in different climates within the United States.
Forgot to mention I’m in Iowa near Des Moines.
I am growing them for the 1st time this year. Cascade and Centennial. I’m located in Green Cove Springs, FL (just south of Jacksonville). So they get lots of sun (and humidity). I planted the rhizomes in April, using planters. Have had cones for a couple of months. They are lush and green at first, but they are now showing some brown spots on the cones. It rains regularly and I water as needed.
This was taken on 05/01:
This was taken on 06/01:
I plan to use a different arrangement next season to extend the height. I honestly didn’t expect them to grow here (or for the local pests to devour them). I raise bees so I don’t spray.
Cheers!
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Nice man. How tall are your varieties now?
You inspired me to go take some pictures last night. These are my first year hops. Cascade, Centennial and Williamette are starting to produce cones. Chinook is still growing like crazy and not flowering yet. I planted them all at the same time but the Chinook has always been a little behind compared to the other varieties.
7/30
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The tallest is the Cascade at around 15-16 ft. the smallest is closer to 8.
I like that 4x4 arbor setup you built. I’ve been saying that next year I want to change mine around to a more vertical setup like you have. They are on an angle, up to the roof of a storage shed.
I’ll post more later - when I harvest them.
Cheer!
Cascade is my tallest variety too - probably 14 feet or so… The arbor is only 12 feet tall. I started training the varieties that exceeded the vertical space horizontal to the ground. Looking forward to your pictures @papabob !
Is it common to see lupulin when the hops aren’t ready to be harvested? I can already see the yellow powder in my Williamette plant.
Yes, but the oils won’t have been fully been produced yet. Hops need to be a little ugly looking before they are really ready to pick. They aren’t bright green anymore. Some of the bracheoles will have turned brown. When squeezed, the hops should be crispy sounding. The University of Vermont has a nice online calculator to figure out dry matter of your hops to see if they’re ready to pick. Also, some of the cones will be ready before others on the same bine. Picking them when they’re ready versus picking them all at once like they do commercially will get you better hop flavor and aroma. Also, I will scrape a little of the lupulin with my finger and smell it. There’s definitely a difference in smell when they are ripe.
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