Hop Growing 2015

[Stewb]

Just popped into the garden and saw the first sprout from my fuggles after this nice patch of weather over the last week. Definitely going to have to fleece it up at night though as with clar skies the frost was in the main garden this morning.

Still no signs of life from the Early bird or the Primma donna yet

(West Yorkshire)

[snakepie@hotmail.com]

Northern brewer, cascade and wild hop all sprouting. No sign from Perle yet.

BRING ON SPRING!!!

[Stewb]

Was out doing a bit of preparation for the veg patch this weekend with the three year old


veg patch clearance


should be ready to start sowing early carrots etc over the next couple of weeks, but was delighted to see that the fuggle is putting out a second bine as well



2015 Hops on the way
no matter how much I stare at them I still can't see any growth on the Early Bird and the Prima Donna though, as you say roll on spring!


EDIT: well, I have to say image linking from Flickr was a dog of an exercise and the thumbnails are tiny- what image hosting would people on here recommend?

EDIT 2: well that resolved things somewhat. still not impressed by the user unfriendliness of flickr!

[Rookie]

I've got 5 shoots from my sterlings (longest is 3 inches) and nothing yet from the goldings.

[YeastWhisperer]

I need to check my hop yard. The weather has been brutal this winter; therefore, I have not felt the need to take a peek.

I reworked my hop yard last fall. I dug out lack luster hills and replaced them with hills containing cultivars that are mostly more conducive to my latitude and climate. This year I am growing Early Cluster (first season), Cascade (second season in this yard), another hop cultivar that is allegedly Wye Challenger (first season), Southern Brewer (first season in this hop yard), Southern Cross (first season), Spalt Select (second season), The Hop Formerly Known as Wye Challenger (second season), and a hop that is allegedly Wye Yeoman (first season). If the Wye Challenger and Wye Yeoman hills that I planted last fall are true to form, I expect to have to dig them out in the fall because British hop cultivars do not grow very well were I live. The climate is too hot. The soil is too acidic, and the peak photoperiod is too short.

[seymour]

Hey YeastWhisperer, speaking of Cluster:
I've been brewing with Legacy hops, recently registered by Puterbaugh Farms but grown there since 1963 which leads many of us to suspect it's a Cluster variant. My early aroma and flavour impressions would support that. Do you know anything about it?

[YeastWhisperer]

Hey YeastWhisperer, speaking of Cluster:
I've been brewing with Legacy hops, recently registered by Puterbaugh Farms but grown there since 1963 which leads many of us to suspect it's a Cluster variant. My early aroma and flavour impressions would support that. Do you know anything about it?

Legacy is more than likely an Early Cluster variant because Early Cluster used to be dominant in the Yakima Valley.

I made an all Cluster IPA with Puterbaugh Farms Cluster that was outstanding. I have used Cluster as a kettle hop and as part of finishing blends for over two decades. However, I had never made a single-hop IPA with Cluster until I made this beer. Cluster is a way underrated hop. It was used world-wide for a long time. E.C. Horst made a small fortune exporting Cluster to the UK and Europe.

[Jambo]

My (allegedly useless) golden tassles is a few inches tall now, I think part of my problem last year leading to the plant's demise was planting the poor thing too deep, I see to recall it first emerged at the very end of April.

[YeastWhisperer]

My established hops have all emerged. The hop cultivar that was sold to me as Yeoman last fall was the first first-year hop to emerge this year. The cultivar can clearly handle the cold because it was wicked cold this past winter. However, can it handle the hot and hazy 35C+ degree summer days that we experience in July and August? Fuggle, it's triploid love child Willamette, and Goldings have all given up the ghost in July. Another first-year hop, Southern Brewer, has emerged as well, but that was no surprised because I grew the cultivar in a previous hop yard. Southern Brewer is a South African hop that is (Fuggle x Open Pollinated) x (Fuggle x Open Pollinated). The New Zealand cultivar Southern Cross, which is Tetraploid Smooth Cone (California Cluster x Open Pollinated) x Calicross (California Cluster x Fuggle)), has yet to emerge, but it should grow and produce well considering that the California Cluster hop yards where located between the 38th and 39th parallels. There was no sign of Early Cluster emerging when I checked on Sunday.

[tourer]

My Perle and East kent are up and running about 4" growth. I was at a boot sale the weekend and bought a couple of square chrome baskets (£2) to put over the hops as the neighbours cats keep crapping in the garden and trying to bury it.

[YeastWhisperer]

That adds a new dimension to the term "catty."

[robbarwell]

I grubbed out a Bramlin cross... (never had a decent brew withit)..replaced with a Chinook and Cascade..We have lift off, about 4" on the Chinook and the cascaxe is poking through

[Beer O'Clock]

Challenger now 3 shoots of 18" each and climbing nicely. Northern Brewer only 2 shoots and is a couple of inches shorter but doing really well.

Well chuffed

[Monkeybrew]

I put my Cascade and Prima Donna in the ground in December as soon as they had arrived from Aplus Hops.

The Cascade has now got 4 shoots, with one about 6 inches tall and the Prima Donna has 3 shoots, but they are all about half an inch at the moment.

How many shoots should I let grow from each plant?

Cheers

MB

[scuppeteer]

I put my Cascade and Prima Donna in the ground in December as soon as they had arrived from Aplus Hops.

The Cascade has now got 4 shoots, with one about 6 inches tall and the Prima Donna has 3 shoots, but they are all about half an inch at the moment.

How many shoots should I let grow from each plant?

Cheers

MB

You're better off to let them all grow in the first year. Then next year only half a dozen.