Hop Growing Thread 2013!

In my opinion and experience, if you have to decide between too soon and too late, I would err on the late side.
I think cones hold their goodness for quite a while, and I avoid the green and underdeveloped cones.
For me, I think over ripe is better that under ripe.

Shucks on not being able to have a staggered harvest. As you have noted, all cones are not at peak ripeness at the same time; how about a ladder?

In the end, don’t sweat it too much. Commercial growers harvest everthing at the same time. Cheers to the early harvest!

Here is some of what I have. The wicked prolific CTZeus. They flower at waist height.

Hello FT,
I also share your concerns with when to harvest. Also share your headaches over Jap. beatles and weather (i live in Helenville & grew up in Sussex BTW!). This is my first hop crop & the sizes vary. I’ll probably leave them up until the majority are large or starting to brown out. I’ve got the same issue with having to remove the pole on my shed to completely harvest :cheers:

If you only have one shot to harvest them, I would think you definitely do not want to go too early.

If they smell great and have beautiful lupulin, pick those suckers… But I’d err on the side of late if you are doubtful. And what I find to be the best description of what they feel like when they’re ready to pick is this: Amost like what a wadded up piece of tissue paper would feel like between your fingers. Dry, and sort of springy and crunchy feeling and sounding. If some of your hops aren’t to that point yet, but most are, I wouldn’t worry about it and just pick them. They’ll be fine sir.

Picked for two hours last night, got over half of the crop in. This is the second harvest, first one came in at 1lb. What I have so far should be close to 2lb, with more to pick. These are a combination of Columbus and Centennial. I brewed a pale ale with the first crop, its in secondary now and smells pretty darned good.

Do the hops dry just fine like that?

I put a fan blowing air over them, and stir them around frequently. Doing that, yes they seem to dry just fine this way. I really need to make an oast though, I picked the rest of the crop and the pile is about 6" deep on the table now. Should be upwards of 3lb dry.

I so badly want to pick mine but i don’t think they are ready yet. They are starting to brown on the tips and they are starting to sound papery, but they got no funk.

If they’re starting to brown they are definitely ready. Mine weren’t overly aromatic either but they made a good smelling beer. I think the moisture probably keeps the aroma low.

That was my thought too. I put mine on a screen door and blow a fan over them.

A screen would definitely work better. I have to turn these a couple of times a day, as the ones on the bottom are a bit moist.

Damn, I was fearing that would be the case. FWIW, the centennial smells a lot better than the cascade. I guess i was hoping for a little bit more funk out the girls. Looks like i’ll be picking them this week.

I managed to stuff my entire second crop in a 7gal fermenting bucket, it took multiple times of mashing them down with a plate to get them to fit but they are in now and full to the brim. I’m guessing theres at least 2lb based on the size of the first pound I got earlier this year. Now I have to package them or brew a giant batch of really hoppy beer.

Damn, I thought my two pound bag of green hops was large… You’ve been humoring me all along you sneaky Pete! I found that after I dried out my two pounds, it came out to about 5 ounces, and I was shattered…

I was proud of my first attempt at hop growing, but this hobby is a LOT of work! I hope that next season when my first year Cascades are all rooted in and comfortable, I will get a harvest of those proportions… HOLY CRAP!!!

BTW, I find it odd that my Kent Goldings have dime sized bine bottoms with no viable hops produced, and my Cascade bine bottoms are half the size and won’t quit spitting out hops. I finally met a guy in person that grows hops in Florida, and he said his Cascades grow for about four years here with great results, then start petering out and die, and he has to start over with new rhizomes about every fifth year.

Is this common or is he just not amending his soil properly to keep them going?

New Grower with a question on timing and best practices. Basically, I missed the cutoff for ordering Rhyzomes so I picked up some Hop Seeds instead. With this knowledge, what are my best options or practices for getting these seeds going, Pre-Plant prep, plant time, etc.,. Any help would be awesome.

Problem with seeds is that half of them will be males as hops are dioecious. You’d need to germinate plant and wait until they flower to find out then kill off all the males and hope the roots don’t survive. You’d be much better off planting rhizomes next spring. You wouldn’t get a crop this late in the season anyway, especially not from seeds.

Thanks Tom. Fortunately I didnt spend a lot on them. Thought I would give them a try. I have an order for Rhyzomes in so I hope that works out. Question though, At what point should i make the trellis, After they have started to grow or before?

If you have a buddy that grows hops, just get a side shoot from him. Put it in water for a couple weeks and it will root. My experience is that the rooted cuttings grow as good or better than rhizomes.

ipa,

To be honest I really can’t give an educated observation on this… This is my first attempt at growing hops in Florida, and my Cascades have done spectacularly. My first year Kent Goldings have monster dime sized stems, and look quite happy, but have produced no hops at all. The Cascades have given me four harvests and made a very fine tasting green hopped IPA.

This being my first attempt at growing hops in the sunny south, I can definitely not claim to be an expert on such matters, other than Cascades seem to be quite happy here grown from rhizomes, and spit out a rather nice quantity of hops suitable for brewing if you like this variety of hops. First year Goldings don’t seem to enjoy this climate as much. Next year will tell the tale.

My buddy who has grown them for years here swears that they just die after 4 years of quality production. As if they just grew tired of trying and threw up the white flag. I will have to see for myself, as I care for mine as if they were children, and dote over their soil quality and what not.

I wish I could give you a better answer, but I can not at this point in my short Florida hop growing trist.

All I can tell you is that first year Cascades don’t mind it here, and are confused as to when they should spit out hops, then die away as they do on the west coast. I’ve got four harvests so far, and they seem quite content.