Side arms and burrs, why does no one talk about it?

[WilliamSlayer]

I have been trying to find out some information about when to anticipate the burrs that appear. I have many side arms growing out to a foot or more in length now that it is the end of June. Is this normal? When should I begin to see burrs? Will the burrs come off of these long side arms? I can't seem to find anyone talking about this.

 

[beernutz]

If you talk about this expect to see black helicopters hovering over your hop garden unless you break out the tin foil.

I know the topic has been discussed a few times in various threads which I've found via search. I think this is a topic that most first year growers are curious about but it probably wanes in interest for most growers after a season or two.

Basically what I've read is don't cut the side arms--they are the primary source for burrs/cones. Some of my first year Magnum's side arms are over 4 feet long and covered with burrs. The side arms on mine which I planted in March started popping out two or three weeks ago and are right now growing as if I'd been feeding them plant steroids.

 

[day_trippr]

"Remain Calm And Keep Growing"

I grow Centennial, Chinook, Cascade and Fuggles.
The Centennial are always the earliest to spike and cone up, followed by the Chinook and finally the Cascade and Fuggles.

While there are folks with full blown cone-festooned hops somewhere other than Central Massachusetts, right now my Centennials are in full flower, the Chinooks are just barely into setting spurs, and the Cascade are at least a week or so away. Historically, harvest here begins the end of August/beginning of September, so everything is going to schedule.

On all four strains, nearly all of the cones emerge from side-arm nodes, so it'd be obviously counter-productive to trim any of those (except, perhaps, side-arms emerging within a few feet of the ground).

I know the importance of leaving side-arms to grow has been expressed numerous times in this forum (by me, among lots of others).

Anyway, in all things brewing, patience will be rewarded.
Hops will set flowers when they're good and ready...

Cheers!

 

[WilliamSlayer]

Yes, as a first time grower I am curious! It was just a bit confusing that I can find a million pieces of advice on STARTING to grow hops, and HARVESTING them, but almost no one talks about the months of maintaining them in between except to talk about mites.

Are these plants really THAT low maintenance? ?

 

[AndytheBeave]

Subscribing to this as I too, have been looking for this exact info.

 

[B-Hoppy]

Every variety is unique. Some are early, some are late and some are mid-season. This fact and many others (growing location, soil conditions, cultural practices etc) will determine when they begin to produce sidearms and actually flower. Here's a good presentation that may help some of the newer growers understand a little more in depth about how they grow: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/jason-perrault-transcript.pdf

 

[day_trippr]

Yes, as a first time grower I am curious! It was just a bit confusing that I can find a million pieces of advice on STARTING to grow hops, and HARVESTING them, but almost no one talks about the months of maintaining them in between except to talk about mites.

Are these plants really THAT low maintenance? ?

If you're lucky, yes. Hops are pretty hardy given favorable conditions and don't really need a lot of attending - no more than your typical garden tomato plants, imo. A little staking, a little pruning, water and food - and pest control.

It's the pest thing that can make the difference between a smooth sail and a summer of protracted war. I'm in my fifth year and I've seen both: had years where I only had to pick a hornworm or two off the whole summer, and others where after battling those little black caterpillars early in the summer, the spider mites showed up and nearly had their way...

Cheers!

 

[WilliamSlayer]

Every variety is unique. Some are early, some are late and some are mid-season. This fact and many others (growing location, soil conditions, cultural practices etc) will determine when they begin to produce sidearms and actually flower. Here's a good presentation that may help some of the newer growers understand a little more in depth about how they grow: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/jason-perrault-transcript.pdf

THAT was extremely helpful! Thank you VERY much.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

If you're lucky, yes. Hops are pretty hardy given favorable conditions and don't really need a lot of attending - no more than your typical garden tomato plants, imo. A little staking, a little pruning, water and food - and pest control.

It's the pest thing that can make the difference between a smooth sail and a summer of protracted war. I'm in my fifth year and I've seen both: had years where I only had to pick a hornworm or two off the whole summer, and others where after battling those little black caterpillars early in the summer, the spider mites showed up and nearly had their way...

Cheers!

Thanks for the encouragement sir! Hoping to read a bit about everyone's pest woes and be prepared for anything that might crop up next year.

 

[Yooper]

Are these plants really THAT low maintenance? ?

Yes. They grow like weeds, and can be very invasive. I can't get rid of them, even the ones I WANT to get rid of!

There are some low yield varieties (like hallertauer) and higher yield (like cascade), but they will grow like crazy without any interference from growers who live in a climate they like. My climate is pretty cool/cold, and the willamette just will not grow here, but hallertauer, cascade, chinook, centennial, CTZ, EKG, and northern brewer grow like invasive weeds and out of control. I can't even begin to harvest them all.

 

[brewguyver]

+1 on the growing situations and varieties being unique.

Either I haven't seen a lot of side-arms on my Cascade and Centennial, or they decide to climb the trellis and act like new hop vines. They burred out really quickly this year and seem to be hitting picking time already.

This is atypical for me (last year i picked Centennial in late July and Cascade in August), but I've also had a lot of garden changes (trained hops early, put down a bunch of "garden soil" in addition to the moo-nure brand compost, planted vegetables and herbs in the vicinity, and did major pruning of rhyzomes).

I've also had first year hops that didn't do much (or any in case of my EKG) burring / coning in the first year.

So yea - variety, garden setup, and environmental factors can have a big impact.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

Sigh, so no simple easy quick solutions? Lol. Whatever is this "I demand everything RIGHT NOW" world going to do?? (Answer: wait..... and be patient. ) ;-)