2016 Hop Growing Thread

CornyKegs 728
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Kozwald said:
Has anyone in the mid-west started to harvest?? I live in Michigan and my Centennial plant seems ready to harvest. The cones are nice, big and papery. Going to start trimming tonight.
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Wow, that's interesting. Around here (about 80 miles south of Rockford) we don't usually pick until late August or early September. I'm just getting some nice sidearms now with some burrs developing, but I'm no where close to picking.
 
HarborTownBrewing. Here are a couple of pictures of my Chinook and Centennial. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the cones are already spreading apart. My Cascade plant still has another couple of weeks.

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I decided just to fertilize the two plants that were not showing burrs, the stunted cascade and the nugget.

It worked and they are now burring nicely.

Two cascades are over 10ft and one has a burr on its very tip.

Better then I expected for the first year.
 
No cones for me this year. Not sure what happened other than I fertilized with plant food a month ago.
 
Just harvested my first year cascade. Got 7.25oz wet. Currently using the air filter/box fan drying technique now.

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My neomexicanus are starting to turn from burrs into hops now so hopefully in another month i'll be harvesting a good amount of those :)
 
As anyone in the east knows, we've been have some really hot weather so far this summer, but my hops seem to be loving it. In the last 2 weeks they have sprouted another set of side shoots all the way almost to the dirt, and even they are getting side shoots. New burs are popping out everywhere on them, including down low on the bines. I've never had cones below the 6 foot point before, nor shoots this low. They are crazy growing, maybe as much as a foot a day. Most of the cones on top are nearly ready, and some are probably ready now. I did recently give them a good drink of the best fertilizer with a high K value that I could get locally, so that could be part of it.
Last year's crop was a bust, lots of cones and virtually no aroma, but things are looking up this year. My sniffer is on the fritz, but my wife confirms they are quite aromatic. But then, she hates beer so I'm a little pessimistic. Even my sons friends that were by over the weekend said they smelled really good, but there was not a single craft beer in sight that night, other than mine!

Is anyone else seeing crazy side shoot activity?
 
jleiii said:
Is anyone else seeing crazy side shoot activity?
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I can't really comment to your question b/c my hops are first year hops. But I would say they are doing really good here in Western, NY (Canandaigua). My lone Chinook (rabbits killed the other two earlier this spring) is almost 6 feet tall and starting to show it's burs. My three Centennials are doing well, but not nearly as tall and not showing any burs yet. Plenty of side arms are appearing on all of them too.

Now since it is the first year, I have not trimmed any of the bines back so the rhizome could get established (per the hop farmer's instructions which I bought them from). But I think with how well they did this year, next year should be great! I'll just have to plant two new Chinooks in the spring.

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mine have tons of side shoots. once they reach the top of your trellises, they will start the side shoots. Mine are only 15 feet tall. I would like 25 footers, but this is what i have to work with

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Oh my god yea. I have crazy side arm action going on and the centennial is now popping off like crazy. I can't really reach mine to smell them, tried smelling my.fingers after lite squeeze tests and not smelling much.
 
BrandonMH said:
Oh my god yea. I have crazy side arm action going on and the centennial is now popping off like crazy. I can't really reach mine to smell them, tried smelling my.fingers after lite squeeze tests and not smelling much.
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Yeah, I'm talking a second set of side shoots that are crazy insane. The first set was a month ago. The cones on top are basically done and these new shoots are setting new burs. Almost like a second round of crazy growth. Mostly the 4th year plants.
 
RockyMountainCraftBrewing said:
This is a pic of my Cascade which is 2nd year of growing.The trellis elevates via a pulley and it is 15 feet high.Lots of burrs starting to bush out.The other plant is a Centennial which died off suddenly and then started a new bine.

I plan on harvesting when the cones are wet to make a wet hopped IPA.

RMCB
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A word of warning. By next year when they really take off, the will grow to the top and then sprawl out. With more than one type on that cross arm, they will all mix together and you will have a hard time picking such that you keep the varieties separate.
 
It's already the beginning of August and I'm worried I will not get any cones this year.

I am at the 44th parallel (Minnesota) and this is what I got as of August 3rd this year.

What does everybody think will these mature in time? Thanks

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1st year Chinook. Considering I didn't get it into the ground until June, I'm surprised it's reached 20 feet. Some of the leaves are as big as my hand. I also planted Cascade, Centennial, Columbus & Nugget, but non of them has reach that high.

Chinook from Bottom.jpg


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cas3439 said:
1st year Chinook. Considering I didn't get it into the ground until June, I'm surprised it's reached 20 feet. Some of the leaves are as big as my hand. I also planted Cascade, Centennial, Columbus & Nugget, but non of them has reach that high.
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Holy cow!! What are you fertilizing with and how often? Where are you located? Did you trim it back at all this year? I just let mine grow wild and vertical, so the root system could get established this year. So my rhizomes have anywhere from 2-5 shoots.

This is my first year too and my chinook is just shy of six feet tall.
 
pshankstar said:
Holy cow!! What are you fertilizing with and how often? Where are you located? Did you trim it back at all this year? I just let mine grow wild and vertical, so the root system could get established this year. So my rhizomes have anywhere from 2-5 shoots.

This is my first year too and my chinook is just shy of six feet tall.
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I hit them twice (maybe 3 times) with some Miracle Grow, and also twice with Blood meal and Bone meal. I did the Blood & Bone meal at the same time but not with the Miracle Grow. Every couple of weeks or so when I thought about it. Starting out, if it didn't rain, I watered all 5 plants with only one watering can. Now when it hasn't rained, I get the hose on them and soak them. That's usually good for 3 days or so.
I didn't cut anything either for this first year, wanting to get maximum root growth also. I think the Chinook has 3 main shoots on it, the Cascade and Nugget have more than 5 and my Centennial only one. The Columbus I can't remember. By the way, I live in Pittsburgh PA.
 
The_Greenist said:
It's already the beginning of August and I'm worried I will not get any cones this year.

I am at the 44th parallel (Minnesota) and this is what I got as of August 3rd this year.

What does everybody think will these mature in time? Thanks
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Looks like they will be fine.
 
cas3439 said:
I hit them twice (maybe 3 times) with some Miracle Grow, and also twice with Blood meal and Bone meal. I did the Blood & Bone meal at the same time but not with the Miracle Grow. Every couple of weeks or so when I thought about it. Starting out, if it didn't rain, I watered all 5 plants with only one watering can. Now when it hasn't rained, I get the hose on them and soak them. That's usually good for 3 days or so.

I didn't cut anything either for this first year, wanting to get maximum root growth also. I think the Chinook has 3 main shoots on it, the Cascade and Nugget have more than 5 and my Centennial only one. The Columbus I can't remember. By the way, I live in Pittsburgh PA.
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Wow that's crazy. I've placed some Blood Meal on top of the soil with my hops twice this summer. I've used Miracle Grow every couple of weeks. Water them all with a watering can since we haven't received much rain this summer in Canandaigua, NY.

I just can't believe how much yours have grown this year, that's amazing. When you say you hit them with miracle grow 2-3 times, is that since you planted them? Maybe I'm using too much fertilizer???

Thanks for your feedback!
 
pshankstar said:
Wow that's crazy. I've placed some Blood Meal on top of the soil with my hops twice this summer. I've used Miracle Grow every couple of weeks. Water them all with a watering can since we haven't received much rain this summer in Canandaigua, NY.

I just can't believe how much yours have grown this year, that's amazing. When you say you hit them with miracle grow 2-3 times, is that since you planted them? Maybe I'm using too much fertilizer???

Thanks for your feedback!
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Yeah, the Miracle Grow was since I planted them, but that's with me alternating between the Bone/Blood meal and Miracle Grow. Remember I only started in June.
I looked up where you are located and it's not that much farther north than the Burgh, so I doubt overall weather has much to do with it. I do have mine planted in raised boxes since when it rains I have a lot of water coming off the hillside and it tends to stay wet where I planted, but wanted to plant there for the space and sunshine. The hops get sun starting around noon until sunset. Those are the only differences I can think of. I'm sure you can give too much MG but at every 2 weeks I doubt it.

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bboykin87 said:
I just started seeing burrs maybe a week ago is it still ok to use some fertilizer?
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No. Fertilizer won't help anymore for developing hops. If you add some now you'll encourage plant growth not hop growth.

I still haven't seen burrs and I stopped fertilizing because it started getting 100 degrees here. I also had a few bines dry up ends but they're still going strong with bine growth. I probably need to monitor watering and fertilizing more net year. Three Cascade plants going strong, one I thought died, and just waiting on some cones to start forming.
 
cas3439 said:
Yeah, the Miracle Grow was since I planted them, but that's with me alternating between the Bone/Blood meal and Miracle Grow. Remember I only started in June.
I looked up where you are located and it's not that much farther north than the Burgh, so I doubt overall weather has much to do with it. I do have mine planted in raised boxes since when it rains I have a lot of water coming off the hillside and it tends to stay wet where I planted, but wanted to plant there for the space and sunshine. The hops get sun starting around noon until sunset. Those are the only differences I can think of. I'm sure you can give too much MG but at every 2 weeks I doubt it.
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Thanks for the info. My hops get full sun from morning to night. I didn't do raised beds since they are on a small hill so the water drains well. I just dug out spots for them and filled it with Miracle Grow soil. Who knows???

Either way, 1 of 3 Chinooks survived and 3 of 3 of the Centennials survived too and they always say don't count on any hops the first year. So next year, they should be ready to go and I will replace the two Chinooks the critters took out this early spring.

Congrats on a successful year of growing! Cheers!
 
bboykin87 said:
I just started seeing burrs maybe a week ago is it still ok to use some fertilizer?
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A fertilizer application probably would be ok if the burrs have just formed. The concern is too much nitrogen when cones are forming. I put some bone meal down last week to give a P boost.
 
All 8 that I initially planted from rhizomes in May are well above 15' and are burring like crazy. Even some baby hops are popping up. The 4 that I planted last month are about 6' tall and progressing nicely.

I added some bonemeal and ceased any Nitrogen ferts last week.

Here's a cascade and a couple chinooks:

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Some updates pictures of my first year Cascades and Centennial plants.
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Centennial didn't put on cones like the Cascade did but I should get a couple oz dry off of it.
Here's some deformed and angel winged cones that I found. Only found a small handful of funny looking cones. Lots nor new burrs forming too!
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Chinook, about ready to harvest.. getting close. Thinking them cicada were drilling holes in the main stalks.. altho i got a decent amount this year,, i think they had something to do with why i have less. A few of them never reached full height and browned off about two or three feet from the tops down. oh well,, always next year.

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I will have to pick the few cascades that were the first hop cones to form. It will only be like 10 at the most, the others are growing nicely as well as the centennial going nuts now as well. I will have to get some pics up.
 

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