Hop Growing 2015

[scuppeteer]

What should I do with this challenger

Christ! What a mess!!!

Find the longest bines and train them up the string, no more than 2 or 3 per string, wind them round clockwise. Cut off anything that wont reach to the ground and tidy it up!

[YeastWhisperer]

I usually dig a trench around my hills before the third growing season, so that I can trim the rhizomes. I usually encircle the hill with roof flashing material before filling in the trench. I learned the trick from a friend who used it to contain a bamboo patch.

[seymour]

I'm well pleased with the progress of these few plants:

My Missouri-native, still in a bucket until I find an ideal long-term spot. That little container below is a beer trap for snails & slugs, I'm having a bit of a problem. Note how many of the juvenile leaves are non-lobed.



Two Northern Brewer plants

[Wonkydonkey]

I usually dig a trench around my hills before the third growing season, so that I can trim the rhizomes. I usually encircle the hill with roof flashing material before filling in the trench. I learned the trick from a friend who used it to contain a bamboo patch.

Thanks, it's a bit late to do that now, but I will do this come winter, in the mean time, i guess I'd better cut the weaker back.

I guess I'll have loads of cuttings next winter,

[Hugh Jampton]

My second year Nugget has two strong bines about 3 foot high. I got about 100 grams of dry hops last year and I'm hoping for more in 2015. I chose Nugget because they grow very well in a heavy clay soil.

[Stewb]

by Hugh Jampton

My second year Nugget has two strong bines about 3 foot high. I got about 100 grams of dry hops last year and I'm hoping for more in 2015. I chose Nugget because they grow very well in a heavy clay soil.

Do you know, have you a reference of the different soil types that each hop prefers?

Sadly I think my early bird is a lost cause and has died in the ground. nothing has appeared at all. I'll leave it and hope there is something happening below the soil but it seems a shame.

meanwhile I've finally managed to sort out something a bit more appropriate for the fuggle (that's now reached about 6ft/ 2m now) to climb


still only makes the whole thing about 12- 14ft high which is probably fine for this year as first season as I understand it, but I may replace the pole with a longer one next year

[seymour]

A couple new First Gold rhizomes! A little late in the season but better now than never, right?

One potted, one to go


Temporary spot, semi-sheltered and able to be moved about if needed, until they're a little more established


Thanks again, Fatcontro11er! I'm hoping for some good preliminary growth this season, so I can get a crop of hops next year.

[Stewb]

Seymour- do you grow all your hops in pots/ buckets (looking at the one on the right there as well)? Or is this just an establishing hop nursery before they are planted out when more robust?
How much/ what do you feed them while they live in their buckets?

[seymour]

Seymour- do you grow all your hops in pots/ buckets?

No, not for long, not on purpose anyway. I moved house three years ago. At the old house I had a big, full sun-lit backyard with several nice tall hop trellises. There's no suitable place to grow hops at the new house, so it's been tricky deciding where to replant them. Forum member Tim is growing a couple Cascade and Saaz plants from my old house. Another friend is growing several more Cascade plants, but I actually skipped harvesting those last year because I'm kinda sick of that flavour profile. Another friend is growing two Northern Brewer plants in his garden for me, and I'm hoping for a decent harvest this year. I've planted dozens of Flyer x O.P seedlings in public spaces, to see how well they naturalize amongst the invasive Japanese hops. The few pots left at my new house are the ones I wanna keep a closer eye on, until I find a really good permanent spot.

...How much/ what do you feed them while they live in their buckets?

Not much, honestly. I top up with fresh organic potting soil at the beginning of the season, water occasionally, and add a little manure or guano later in the season if I remember, but that's it.

[BenB]

How long do rhizomes take after potting before showing activity? I'm worried I might have killed mine by delaying planting. .... 2 weeks in the soil and not a sausage. ..

[seymour]

That is pretty slow, but I wouldn't totally despair yet. Do you remember if the rhizomes had any little white nodes or shoots? Did you plant them just below the surface? Keeping the area a little moist but not overly wet, which can lead to root rot?

[BenB]

Yup. They sure did. Fingers crossed. They were at room temperature for some time before planting......

[BenB]

LOL! Hops sure are stubborn little plants aren't they! I have now got six seperate merrily shooting upwards hop plants.... the amazing thing is that these are rooted rhizomes I got given for Christmas... I received them on the 25th itself, they were wrapped in newspaper and that was in a sealed carrier bag. We had Christmas away and when I got back I went to plant up my hops and couldn't find them. I searched everywhere. In the end I sadly assumed that someone had seen a carrier bag full of newspaper and decided it was the wrapping paper / refuwse bag and chucked it.... Just to be certain I checked with everyone who had been there (other than the person who gave them to me) and no-one had them...

So on the 1st of May (four and a bit months later) we came back off holiday and I went to put away something in a cupboard and guess what I found? Looked like I hadn't quite looked everywhere.... they didn't smell rotten (still a bit damp and "earthy") and had no signs of attempted growth. So I chucked them all into some soil in containers (three in each- only had two containers to use!!!) and crossed my fingers. I reasoned if I got one plant that was a bonus after that time. And eventually after quite a few weeks up shot six plants. So perhaps keeping them in the fridge and planting immediately isn't so important. 5 months at room temperature in a carrier bag works well it appears

So now I can send the person who gave them to me a photo of the hop plants (perhaps not associated with a link here showing how I was so appreciative of their kind gift I promptly lost them!). To be honest it was such a nice present I was gutted and felt very guilty so a happy ending is a relief to my conscience.

Now the real issue arises- how to fit six full size hop plants in a tiny garden. So far I've got 10 foot of vertical space for them, I think I'll need more!!!! We have rules round here on hedge cutting styles and door colours so I think a 20 foot hop garden might be disapproved of.

Really not sure Fuggles and Styrian Goldings are the same things though! They're growing at completely different rates and the two different type have different leaves- the Styrians are lighter green, the fuggles are dark green. I've always understood that they're the same plant which taste different because of the soil (IE a terroir type difference), obviously here the soil is the same for both so they should be identical and they're not.

Just setting up some automatic watering for the hops- they're in containers and they seem to be quite thirsty blighters.

[pottolom]

First Gold (Prima Donna), bought as a rhizome from Willingham Nurseries in March 2015 and then placed straight into my garden soil (together with a large amount of compost).

Now 12 foot tall (and counting) growing against my south-facing wall in Gateshead here in the sunny North East of England.

Photo

[jmc]

Any advice on feeding hops.

Mine have really suffered with aphids this year. I've not seen a single ladybird on them this year so greenfly are running amok.

I'm hoping feeding them / TLC will help reduce carnage by aphids.

When do you start & stop feeding?
Best form of feed? High Nitrogen / High Phosphorous?

TIA for any advice