Harvest or not to harvest?

[nexy_sm]

Hi all guys,

I have a few plants tettnanger cascade and magnum in my garden in Serbia. However I am not sure whether it is time or not to harvest. At the moment they look like this:





What do you think. To harvest or not to?

 

[B-Hoppy]

Let your sense of smell do most of the work here. Once you see the lupulin beginning to form, break one apart and rub it between the palms of your hands and smell. One week later, do the same thing and observe how much more potent the aroma has become. Repeat this until the aroma is very intense and the petals (bracts/bracteoles) nearly break away from the center strig (rather than tearing away from it). Over this time you will notice the aroma deepen and also be able to feel the cones going from a very soft pliable feel to a more firm and brittle feeling. There's no real exact way to describe how to do this from a sensory perspective, it all takes time and experience. The other less romantic but probably more reliable way is : http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/Hop_harvest_fact_sheet.pdf

 

[tjpfeister]

+1 to the "less romantic way"