New Hop Garden 2014 (pic heavy)

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Thaymond, yes most of mine are growing on small Trellises, except for the Multihead, which grows up a 13ft line on an old telephone pole from back before they ran the wires underground.

The Cascade was a rhizome from a family friend in WI and it was planted in Feb 2016. I got the most oz from that one.
The Multihead and Neo1 were planted in May 2016, Multihead grew huge but didn't have much oz, Neo1 died by Aug

The Willow Creek, Saaz and NB were planted in August, and I got cones from the Saaz on the small homemade bamboo trellis.

The sun in various parts of the yard seemed to have biggest effect on what did well. Saaz and Multihead were along fence on South side of backyard, seemed to grow the quickest.

Willow Creek and Neo1 were on Northwest corner of yard, but probably got too much shade from Crepe Myltres and Banana trees. I'm glad to say the bananas are now gone, so that should help. Left one Willow Creek in that spot and put the other along fence by Multihead in hopes it will thrive more.
 
Yes, those are Great Lakes tags, and I continue to be impressed with how well the Euro varieties Saaz and Northern Brewer are doing. Gave both some Bone Meal in addition to the 10-10-10 that all the varieties got last week, and all seem to be quite happy, except for my Friend's Neo1 and the Willow Creek in the shady area from last season, neither of which are showing any leaves yet. They might be getting replaced soon if they don't come up.
 
I had to pitch my 2 potted sunbeam plants and a potted Chinook plant over the winter. Somehow they developed a root rot. I haven't had the weather to get into the main beds yet this year, so I'm hoping that doesn't translate to the main crowns.

I also have to replace a fence post that is touching my Nugget bed. Which means I have to dig up the Nugget plant to get to the concrete on the post. Which means I have to dismantle most of the trellis. I am less than thrilled. This will be a big spring break undertaking.
 
I replaced both fence posts and disassembled and reassembled the trellis. I figured that rhizome trimming is in order for the Nugget plant. I have 6 large rhizomes, 20 medium rhizomes, and 12 small rhizomes. All have little white buds on them. I'll be getting into all the other beds sometime tomorrow.

View attachment 1490746400331.jpg

Here's the Nugget bed before all the rhizome hunting began. You can see all of the little white and purple sprouts poking through. April 1 will be my total cut down date on the crown, and we will begin bull shoot removal and training of smaller bines by tax day. It is about time! Let the growing season begin!
 
thaymond said:
I uncovered the rest of the beds today before the rain. I'll have rhizomes from all plants.
Nugget
View attachment 394524
Zeus
View attachment 394525
Cascade
View attachment 394526
Chinook
View attachment 394527

I'll cut the rhizomes later. I can divide them and sell them, if anyone here would be interested...
Click to expand...

I might be interested in taking some of the rhizomes off your hands. Can you PM me and say how much you'd want for a chinook, nugget, and cascade? Thanks! :mug:
 
OK finally got into the garden. I have the following rhizomes:

Nugget 25
Cascade 32
Zeus 42
Chinook 9

I have already had some interest, so pm me if you'd like to get in on some rhizomes.

I can do 6 for $20 or $4 each. Shipping is in flatrate mailers.
 
Things are starting to take shape and I will have to string line up sometime soon. I have all 4 plants climbing out of the ground after the rhizome harvest and culling over a week ago. I still have a lot of rhizomes left.

I did a soil sample and fount out that my ph is 7.0, my P and K levels are normal, and my N level is trace. I amended my soil with 12-0-0 bloodmeal, about 2 cups tilled into the surrounding soil per 4x4 box. I wanted to make sure the plants had plenty of nitrogen source for the growing season. I also changed my fertilizer to a 20-20-20 since I had a hard time regulating the nitrogen last year. I also have some Rhododendron fertilizer that has a N content of 32, but I dont want to overkill it. Since those soil amendments, they've all sprouted several bines from the crown. I will probably go with a bi-weekly fertilizing schedule until they bud as I have done over the years.

We also have had a lot of rain in IL so far. It has been countered in the last week with good sun and warm temps. I hope that trend continues.

Here are the pictures. There were definite bull shoots in the first culling, and I think I have more in this round. I'll pinch the tall bines off and use some of the smaller ones to train in the next few weeks.

Nugget
View attachment 1492864952205.jpg
View attachment 1492864967092.jpg
Zeus
View attachment 1492865046538.jpg
View attachment 1492865059875.jpg
Cascade
View attachment 1492865071193.jpg
View attachment 1492865082337.jpg
Chinook
View attachment 1492865102332.jpg
View attachment 1492865118212.jpg

No sure why Chinook is taking the time in recovery, but I'm sure she will come back vigorous as always.

Cascade has been the surprise of the 4 years. After having the root rot early and low output in year 1, output on cones was great last few years. The flavor was astounding in my last Pale ale with them. Tons of flavor and very 'clean' crisp bite. Definitely a recipe to perfect and get consistent on, it will be a lawnmower pale for spring and summer. This year, I even got a good amount of rhizomes off of them.

Nugget and Zeus are no surprises. They are still formulating plans on world domination. My rhizome hunting on them keeps them at bay. I had several that found their way under the raised beds and into the yard or in other enclosures. They're definitely super healthy and putting out great growth early. I'm hoping the fertilizer will boost their growth and make the bines strong and healthy.

PM me if anyone is still interested in rhizomes. It's a little late, but they will still grow.
 
Finally got the lines up and trained the healthiest 4 bines. Some are 2 to 3 feet long already. I am really happy that we've had some warm weather over the last few days. They have grown several inches. With all the rain the last few weeks, growth has been stunted. Several lower level leaves were wilted and crusty, while new growth was vigorous and green. I will submit pics when it's light out. I didn't think of taking a round of photos until just now.
 
thaymond said:
Finally got the lines up and trained the healthiest 4 bines. Some are 2 to 3 feet long already. I am really happy that we've had some warm weather over the last few days. They have grown several inches. With all the rain the last few weeks, growth has been stunted. Several lower level leaves were wilted and crusty, while new growth was vigorous and green. I will submit pics when it's light out. I didn't think of taking a round of photos until just now.
Click to expand...


Sunbeam is coming back, I haven't done lot with it yet but the Aureus sure is gangbusters this year! Both are yellow-leaved types and have noble-type profiles in my opinion. In place of Comet on the open market, someone should try either of these on a commercial scale.
 
Crazy to think that you are just a few hours north of me and some of mine are over 7' tall now. And that's after cutting them back to the crown and training the second growth on April 15th
 
BaylessBrewer said:
Crazy to think that you are just a few hours north of me and some of mine are over 7' tall now. And that's after cutting them back to the crown and training the second growth on April 15th
Click to expand...

I'm not worried, they will rebound. It is just annoying that they were stunted by all the rain. In looking at last year's progress pics, I'm about 3 to 4 weeks behind. Now that they're trained, they should start going nuts. Time to get into the AM water routine and the bi monthly fertilizer schedule.
 
PapaBearJay said:
Sunbeam is coming back, I haven't done lot with it yet but the Aureus sure is gangbusters this year! Both are yellow-leaved types and have noble-type profiles in my opinion. In place of Comet on the open market, someone should try either of these on a commercial scale.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear they are doing well, PBJ. I started 2 new rhizomes to plant next year for an archway. Sunbeam is beautiful and it's a saazer relative. I'll have to try them again in a farmhouse style ale. They are earthy and slightly spicy. Low AA. They'd be great for a dry style with low hop presence and funky flavors.
 
thaymond said:
Glad to hear they are doing well, PBJ. I started 2 new rhizomes to plant next year for an archway. Sunbeam is beautiful and it's a saazer relative. I'll have to try them again in a farmhouse style ale. They are earthy and slightly spicy. Low AA. They'd be great for a dry style with low hop presence and funky flavors.
Click to expand...


I'm thinking a saison, farmhouse ale, or sour ale would work well with Sunbeam or Aureus.
 
PapaBearJay said:
I'm thinking a saison, farmhouse ale, or sour ale would work well with Sunbeam or Aureus.
Click to expand...

I did a blonde with them, and they were just okay. I remember an earthiness to them that put me off, but I also like a hoppy, fruity blonde. It wasn't aggressive, and it wasn't bad, just not the right hop for a blonde. The cones are square too.

Back to the garden, I have trained 4 bines per line. I opted to forego to vertical line to give more open space in the middle of the cage. I really didn't have any dramatic difference in harvest with multiple bines vs. 4 bines. At this point, I'm looking to simplify the process more.

The fertilizer I'm going to switch to is a Rhododendron fertilizer that is high Nitrogen, and lower P and K. It also lowers pH a bit, so I have to be careful not to acidification the soil too much. My pH was higher within the growing range, so I'll just keep testing the soil this season to make sure it doesn't get out of control. I'm interested to see if the high Nitrogen content helps the plants in the grow cycle dramatically.

Pics to come. Work is crazy.
 
thaymond said:
Finally some sun. I fertilized with the 32-10-10 azalea and rhodedendron mix yesterday and got more rain overnight. I hope that we start to warm up and dry out. My growth is way way behind this year.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they will be fine by the end of the season. Q though. Don't you worry about your hops varieties mixing as they grow ? By harvest time it seems like it would be hard to separate them.

Cool photos and nice set up btw :mug:
 
Senormac said:
I'm sure they will be fine by the end of the season. Q though. Don't you worry about your hops varieties mixing as they grow ? By harvest time it seems like it would be hard to separate them.

Cool photos and nice set up btw :mug:
Click to expand...

Thanks, @Senormac! Over the last 4 years, this has been the wettest. I'm glad it's this year and not the first year. They'd probably be dead. They'll catch up by July, so I'm not worried. They're happy today, I trained them this morning before church, and already I have another inch or two of growth on all plants. They're going nuts when the suns out.

@Senormac, I do my best to separate varieties during harvest by taking down one plant at a time. I'll unwind tangled bines and sort them. I have the 4 varieties smells down now, so I can tell my Cascade cones from my Zeus and Chinook cones. I'm sure a few get mixed into the bags when I dry them, but I'm not particularly picky with them. If they mix, they mix.

If I were to do it all again, I would add a 2 to 3 foot spacing between each cage, for that reason. Plus winding bines in the back of the cage is a major pain in the rear. Next season, I may need to replace sections of the cage due to some rot, so that may be the opportunity to update my cage spacing and plant placements. For now, it works for me. I don't have to buy hops for the majority of my brews, which was the point to begin with. :-D
 
Thanks, @Senormac! Over the last 4 years, this has been the wettest. I'm glad it's this year and not the first year. They'd probably be dead.
Click to expand...

Ever since I planted the Nugget and Cascade rhizomes on Saturday afternoon that you sent me, it's done nothing but rain here in the Upper Peninsula where I'm at. Just stopped raining a little while ago.

Planted them out in half barrels (55 gallon) with a bunch of holes in them, some small rocks at the bottom with about 3/4 to 1 inch of sand on top of the rocks, and a little sand mixed into the potting mix. Fortunately, they have drained extremely well. Praying that they'll start out OK...
 
My Centennial is just under 5 feet with 6 vines going and my Cascade is just under 4 feet with 5 vines.Giving them a litre of water a day mixed with a couple teaspoons of miracle grow when we dont get rain.Speaking of which it is the nicest Victoria Day long weekend I have ever experienced.Nothing but blue sky and sunshine.

I think the biggest difference will be the tree I had cut back that was over my property line.It is collectively owned by 4 people none of which would take responsibility for it.

Before and after pics of the tree and one of my new truck.

IMG_20160729_172300.jpg


IMG_20160806_110041.jpg


IMG_20170429_123731.jpg
 
Just went out today to water and fertilize before solstice. I added my azalea fert along with about 1 lb of old coffee grounds to each plant. This will probably be the last hi nitro fertilizer of the season before they start to flower. Growth has been slowed by hot dry temps. Regular watering has been a must. I've been adding a gallon or two a day during the hot dry weather.

Nugget
View attachment 1497635155429.jpg
One main nine broke off during a storm, now I'm training the stronger sidearm as the bypass. I still have 3 good main bines growing.

Zeus
View attachment 1497635163466.jpg
This one has a failure on a main nine also. Growth has been very weak this season. Zeus was usually behind my Chinook in aggressive growth, now it has lagged behind all others. I blame a very wet spring, and a very dry start to summer.

Cascade
View attachment 1497635177225.jpg
Surprise! It took 3 seasons, but now cascade is growing like everyone says it does on the forum. Lots of aggressive growth.

Chinook
View attachment 1497635187673.jpg
Bent on world domination, this plant is by far the strongest of the 4. This one has over 20 feet of growth, and always has a broken bine. This year so far, there is only one. But those sidearms are killer.
Profile
View attachment 1497635202996.jpg
Not bad for this time in the season, given the wide swings in weather. Now that I can attend to the plants more regularly, they should recover, especially the Zeus.
 
How do you control the side arm growth from going around a different hop house?

Also, WOW! Impressive growth from just two bines per plant.
 
DurtyChemist said:
How do you control the side arm growth from going around a different hop house?

Also, WOW! Impressive growth from just two bines per plant.
Click to expand...

Lots of time spent separating them. Like a bunch of 4 year olds in close proximity to each other, they constantly are in each other's business. The flaw I the design became evident in year 1, and I haven't made the change to the cage yet. Maybe one year...until then, the PITA that is untangling sidearms continues.

This year I have 4 bines per crown. I'm pretty sure that there are some runners that crept up the sides on Chinook (I mean just LOOK at that thing...) and Cascade. What I need to do for next year is skip the bottom eyelets in all the cages and start everything up a foot. This would give me the canopy at 6 feet still, but also allow me space to get into the base of the plants for weeding. I have so much undergrowth of clover this year I can't see the bottom. Every year is something...

And now, the pic updates.

Nugget - no burr formation yet, par for the plant. Late bloomer, like always. It still is expressing green growth. 2 to 3 weeks and it will end up looking like Chinook.
View attachment 1499334865584.jpg
Zeus - surprisingly small this year, Zeus is usually like my Chinook plant. Burrs are just beginning to form. Another week or two and this plant will top out and become a bush.
View attachment 1499334879629.jpg
Cascade - burrs formng everywhere. This one will have a fairly good yield this year at this rate.
View attachment 1499334894449.jpg
Chinook - what can I say. This thing is a monster. Feed me, Seymour!
View attachment 1499334905091.jpg
Profile
View attachment 1499334922523.jpg

Now it is the waiting game. Only 2 months until harvest time!
 
Looks great, I would think you would get some sort of infection with them betting on top either and little air flow, but alas, they look great!
 
Update! Everything is going berserk. Lots of cones, lots of burrs, lots of hops and hop matter. Everything is everywhere. Harvest is about a month away, and it can't come soon enough. Very excited to begin picking and drying out this year's harvest. That means I have to make my annual killer DIPA to help make some room in the freezer. I'm thinking a couple of pounds in a 10 gallon batch, all late additions, save the bitter charge. I love this time of year!

Nugget
View attachment 1501545367276.jpg
Zeus
View attachment 1501545378869.jpg
Cascade
View attachment 1501545392387.jpg
Chinook
View attachment 1501545406692.jpg
Profile
View attachment 1501545418155.jpg

And some fun pics of hop cones and hermaphrodite flowers for good measure.

View attachment 1501545467552.jpg
View attachment 1501545483847.jpg
View attachment 1501545499815.jpg
View attachment 1501545521788.jpg
 
I love all the pics and info.... but I can't figure out why this thread is even on the first page since it title is 3 years old. Shouldn't all this be posted in the 2017 Hop thread ? :confused:
 
It could be, but it's a thread I started in 2014 and have been using to track the progress longitudinally. Wasn't intended as a catch all for everyone's pics, but they are welcome. Btw, dig the progress in your yard on your thread!
 
Harvest day was yesterday. Here are some pictures.

View attachment 1505081470467.jpggetting the past ready.
View attachment 1505081486157.jpg pre harvest nugget.
View attachment 1505081496814.jpgZeus
View attachment 1505081506292.jpgcascade
View attachment 1505081517257.jpgChinook
View attachment 1505081537372.jpgpanorama (sorry for the Australian picture)
View attachment 1505081550850.jpgharvest tray Panorama
View attachment 1505081569833.jpgharvest tray close ups.
View attachment 1505081583804.jpg

Here are my totals in wet weights.
Nugget - 36.2 oz
Zeus - 88 oz
Cascade - 36 oz
Chinook - 119.2 oz

They should be dry by Wednesday. Then I will add to the running total and package these puppies.
 
thaymond said:
Harvest day was yesterday. Here are some pictures.

View attachment 413586getting the past ready.
View attachment 413587 pre harvest nugget.
View attachment 413588Zeus
View attachment 413589cascade
View attachment 413590Chinook
View attachment 413591panorama (sorry for the Australian picture)
View attachment 413592harvest tray Panorama
View attachment 413593harvest tray close ups.
View attachment 413594

Here are my totals in wet weights.
Nugget - 36.2 oz
Zeus - 88 oz
Cascade - 36 oz
Chinook - 119.2 oz

They should be dry by Wednesday. Then I will add to the running total and package these puppies.
Click to expand...
Love the trays! Do you use a fan for drying or just let them dry in there on their own?
 
It only took an extra full month to finally break the 60s, but they are starting to find their way out of the dirt. I already removed the leaf mulch back in March. I cut down all the initial shoots a week and a half ago. Added some initial ferilizers, mostly Nitrogen. We are a 'go' for hops.

Before I get the "Hey, friend, it says 2014 in the title..." posts; you're right. It does. If I could change the title of the thread, I would. But I can't. It's longitudinal growth data on my cage and plants. Enjoy.

I have some snaps of the garden, but it won't let me upload pictures... So there's also that.

Here's hoping for a bountiful for all growers on the forum.
 
thaymond said:
It only took an extra full month to finally break the 60s, but they are starting to find their way out of the dirt. I already removed the leaf mulch back in March. I cut down all the initial shoots a week and a half ago. Added some initial ferilizers, mostly Nitrogen. We are a 'go' for hops.

Before I get the "Hey, friend, it says 2014 in the title..." posts; you're right. It does. If I could change the title of the thread, I would. But I can't. It's longitudinal growth data on my cage and plants. Enjoy.

I have some snaps of the garden, but it won't let me upload pictures... So there's also that.

Here's hoping for a bountiful for all growers on the forum.
Click to expand...

Not going to read the whole thread, maybe tomorrow. But, I looked at some of the pictures of your original 2014 design. I like it. I am pretty height constrained so this looks cool. would love to see some new pics. I'm going to look for older pre-harvest pics not.
 
Hacked mine back as well. Hopefully I pick a good 8 per box (all cascade) and finally get hops this year. Forgetting to water them has been a problem annually so I installed drip irrigation last Labor Day.
 
jerbrew said:
Not going to read the whole thread, maybe tomorrow. But, I looked at some of the pictures of your original 2014 design. I like it. I am pretty height constrained so this looks cool. would love to see some new pics. I'm going to look for older pre-harvest pics not.
Click to expand...
It is actually getting to the point where I will need to replace parts of the original box, which is fine. 4 years or illinois weather and winters are starting to catch up with the cage. I'm considering using gardening cloth to prevent weeds this year. If you do the design, or something like it, post it here.[emoji3] I have been blessed with good harvests over the last few years. I still have over 8 lbs of dry hops to go through before harvest this year. It's a great problem to have.
 

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