Growing Hops

[jonvi]

But it's not all bad. Some of the plants did very well for first year plants.

@Gatorchip I did some trimming at the base of the plants that are doing very well like you suggested.

 

[jonvi]

Some are loading up with hops nicely.....again for first year plants. I've seen some other growers plants that are straight up loaded from the bottom to the top with hops. I have high hopes for this row in the coming years.

 

[jonvi]

@Gatorchip But I just don't know what to do with messes like these. I did trim all the matted mess away on many of the plants, but man did they take a beating in the process. What I had left was very spindly and I'm not sure If I've killed the plant yet or will they suck up all the nutrients from the root base and take off.

Time will tell.

 

[Gatorchip]

View attachment 146529

@Gatorchip But I just don't know what to do with messes like these. I did trim all the matted mess away on many of the plants, but man did they take a beating in the process. What I had left was very spindly and I'm not sure If I've killed the plant yet or will they suck up all the nutrients from the root base and take off.

Time will tell.

In my homebrew club before I left Colorado, a hops farmer gave some tips to us. One of the things he said was to basically cut most of the shoots. only keep like 2 or 3, which means you're going to cut some very healthy plants. Maybe you should experiment with one and see if it works?

 

[jonvi]

In my homebrew club before I left Colorado, a hops farmer gave some tips to us. One of the things he said was to basically cut most of the shoots. only keep like 2 or 3, which means you're going to cut some very healthy plants. Maybe you should experiment with one and see if it works?

I did with the majority of them...but they sure are looking weak. I'll keep throwing the water at them and hope they recover. I also sent some pix to the local Cornell Agriculture extension to see if they have recommendations.

My main concern/question is why do I have plants looking like they do in post 63 and others like in post 62? All planted on the same day. It's gotta be the soil. I'm also going to get soil samples submitted to cornell for each row to test the nutrient levels. I'm guessing the results will illustrate different structures....even though they are only a car length apart. For me that's just mind boggling.

 

[jonvi]

Even the Canadians are getting in on the game. And I wondered if I had a long enough of a growing season.

Craft beer trend creates a new craving for Canadian hops

According to the Ontario Hop Growers' Association, hops haven't been grown commercially in Canada in great volumes since about the 1950s. As a result, Canadian craft brewers have been forced to import almost 99% of their hops, primarily from the U.S. northwest and Europe.

"Anything to do with farming is expensive. These trellis systems are 18 feet in the air, there's the cost of labour to install that, there's the cost of picking equipment, you need an oast house to dry out the hops," Pearson said in an interview with CBC News.

Now in his second year of growing, Pearson has six acres on the go, but hasn't sold any hops yet. It takes about three years for the plant to reach full maturity.

 

[Sleepy T]

Did you ever find out what was coloring your leaves jonvi? I've heard of people using neem oil on hops for a fungicide/insecticide. Have you thought about that organic option?

 

[jonvi]

Did you ever find out what was coloring your leaves jonvi?

Not positively. The folks at the Cornell extension didn't make the trip to my place. After looking at the photo's they said it wasn't powdery or downey mildew which are the big threat. They believe it to be a nutrient issue. So I'm to have the soil tested ... by row ... and go from there. There's leaf testing that can be done that is more accurate, but it's also expensive.

After culling back the poorer plants to a couple of runners, there was a period where they were struggling, but now seem to have recovered. Some of the plants still have some discoloration, but that seems to be improving. We didn't get a drop of rain in July so I've been hauling water from my home. The last couple of weeks, we've received some rain so I think the natural watering into the entire compost field has helped improve things. Where hand watering is directed at the root base only so there's not much leaching from the compost into the ground.

I've believed right along the soil in a couple of the rows was not where it needed to be so I think the soil testing will provide some helpful information.

I've heard of people using neem oil on hops for a fungicide/insecticide. Have you thought about that organic option?

I've not heard of the use of neem oil specifically but there are a couple organic products that are available. I need to get a sprayer attachment first though. Spend, spend and then spend some more.

Thank you for the info.....I'll look into it.

 

[jonvi]

I saw my first sign off hops popping up. I'll get some pix just for the record in the next couple of days.

One thing to note different from last year is I didn't get plants in the ground until early June and the roots were not developed. What I saw today was a fair size mat of roots with multiple shoots from each mat system. Everyone said the majority of the growing happens through Mid June. This years crop will have an important month and a half lead over last years crop.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

How tall are your posts? Thinking of growing some this summer.

 

[jonvi]

How tall are your posts? Thinking of growing some this summer.

18' above ground.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

18' above ground.

Damn! That is tall!

 

[jonvi]

Damn! That is tall!

Page two has some decent photo's of the poles, post 23 has my tractor in it as well to give you a comparison. 18' is pretty much standard for growing commercially. If you're doing just a few plants, I've seen pix of where people use about anything like lattus, roof eves, flag poles ... anything kind of tall and allows for plenty of light.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

Page two has some decent photo's of the poles, post 23 has my tractor in it as well to give you a comparison. 18' is pretty much standard for growing commercially. If you're doing just a few plants, I've seen pix of where people use about anything like lattus, roof eves, flag poles ... anything kind of tall and allows for plenty of light.

Well that would be a bit more doable. Thanks!

 

[jonvi]

This is a view of the hops yard this year. I took this pix this morning after a wicked storm came through. You can see I've done some clearing of the rows and still have some to do yet.

 

[jonvi]

This is what the rows look like after the winter with some weeds already trying to take over.

 

[jonvi]

The first step was to weed out between the hops coming up.

 

[jonvi]

And then till up the outside edges with the tiller. This particular section is booming.

 

[jonvi]

One note from last year. I decided to harvest some of my hops last year so I took down the largest plants shown on page 3. I incorrectly harvested the plant by cutting the plant at ground level. I read a couple of weeks later that I was supposed to leave 3' to 4' of plant. I guess once the plant is cut it uses the remaining vegetation to strengthen the root system and prepare for winter.

Sad but that mistake killed every plant I harvested....which wasn't many....say 10 of the 240 plants I have in the ground. Hops are seriously aggressive growing plants and repopulate too fast. So it's not the end of the world but live and learn I guess is the lesson of the day.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

One note from last year. I decided to harvest some of my hops last year so I took down the largest plants shown on page 3. I incorrectly harvested the plant by cutting the plant at ground level. I read a couple of weeks later that I was supposed to leave 3' to 4' of plant. I guess once the plant is cut it uses the remaining vegetation to strengthen the root system and prepare for winter.

Sad but that mistake killed every plant I harvested....which wasn't many....say 10 of the 240 plants I have in the ground. Hops are seriously aggressive growing plants and repopulate too fast. So it's not the end of the world but live and learn I guess is the lesson of the day.

This is good to know.

How do you know when to pick the hop cones?