No new activity on this thread, so I will add some photos from this morning.
A few more
Lucky to have gotten my poles ready this year. Watching the hops grow from my window as I am laid up for the summer from sinal surgery. they have passed the 15 foot mark. this photo on june 22 13. No bugs that I can see yet, but they ar on their own for 3 weeks now.[attachment=0]hops jun 221.jpg[/attachment]
Hey man, good luck with the recovery! Don’t worry about the hops, they know what to do.
That is a beautiful build man!! I have an eyebolt at the peak of my shed about 15’ up. Cascades are there, waiving in the wind. The problem is i’m limited to 3 plants in that spot. The wife would like a gazebo some day. Maybe i could incorporate something like you have & let them grow on/around. That might be cool! :cheers:
I have a first year centennial that is doing well. It’s about 16 ft high and is putting out several horizontal vines. What should I do with these? Train them to go up the rope? Top of the rope from the ground is 24 feet. Thanks in advance!
You can just leave the horizontals be, they will find their own way. Usually when the plant starts horizontal gowth the vertical growth slows then stops and buds stat to form. :cheers:
;edited;
No the two verticals continue to go skyward. I was wondering about the horizontal shoots coming out of the main bines at the bottom.
If these are first year and you have room, let them grow.
My cascade is putting out HUGE cones this year.
Its been a great hop growing year here in MO. Modest temps and frequent rains.
My own hopyard is doing well. I have two or three varieties growing, one is ready for picking now. I picked a few ounces this morning, will finish that harvest tonight.
[attachment=0]hop2.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]cascade1.jpeg[/attachment]
First year cascade. The structure borders my back patio. I have these growing on 3 of the corners. One is as tall but not as full. The other is only about 6-8 feet tall. Tons of spurs between them and some are starting to become hops.
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Nice haul, but you know you can’t grow hops in FL.
I quit cutting back the extra shoots on mine after the big bines got 8’ and those are growing up now, will probably get a continuous crop for the rest of the summer.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]Nice haul, but you know you can’t grow hops in FL.
I quit cutting back the extra shoots on mine after the big bines got 8’ and those are growing up now, will probably get a continuous crop for the rest of the summer.[/quote]
Tom, Stop rubbing it in that I would really like to grow hops, but it is impossible in Florida.
I did the same exact thing, and just trained the new chutes up the existing bines… They took off like a shot, started spitting out sidearms, and are now the bines which have provided me a second harvest. It is, however, now a huge mass of entanglement, so this harvest isn’t going to be so easy. It’s too bad you can’t grow hops in Florida though…
My problem is going to be figuring out which hops are ready and which are still young. My first harvest was from some plants that all came ready at once, the other bines are straggling out.
I had the same issue, but most of the cones seemed to be in only two different stages of development. I did it more by sight after feeling the larger ones and determining they were ready. I just picked the big ones all at once, then picked the other ones a couple of weeks later when they got larger. They all had good amounts of lupulin and smelled great after crushing a few of them. I haven’t used them yet, but I suspect they will probably taste pretty damned good judging from the smell.
I brewed with some of the 2013 crop on Saturday. Used 8oz in the 5gal batch, 2oz for bittering and the rest as late additions. Didn’t want to come up short. The beer smelled a bit grassy but it had a firm bitterness.
I’ve picked a pound so far and have twice that coming on now, so I figured I could afford to go big.
Very nice, folks! I am looking forward to wet hopping some IPA here really soon. The cones are formed and some lupulin is present, but I’m holding out a week or two. I got just 6 Oz last year from my first year plants and I can tell this year will be pretty epic.
Does anybody else have harvest concerns. I’ve read all the articles I can find, and heck I can’t tell if a cone is dry or damp. My Northern brewers are starting to get tan edges on some of the petals, but some are still fully green. After fighting the weather, Japanese Beetles, and a poorly engineered trellis. Last year I harvested my BG in Sept. I hate to pick too soon/late. Is it better to er on the side of early or late? They have beautiful lupulin and smell great right now. Willamette, Brewers Gold, and Heritage are still3 to 4 weeks away. Thanks. PS. Due to the nature of my trellis the vine needs to come down to harvest so I can’t selectively pick individual cones.
