HOPS! 2012!

The first hops of the year…well sprouts!  I decided to check this morning if any of the hop plants had sprouted and boy was I surprised.  It is apparent that all three of my hop plants have survived our mild winter and are ready to rock and roll.  The Cascade was growing everywhere, almost to the point of being a bush.  The Hallertau had sprouted but to a much lesser extent than the Cascade.  The in-ground Centennial had several sprouts popping up but again not to the extent of the Cascade.  This mirrors the activity I experienced last year, Cascade growing like a weed, Hallertau being finicky, and Centennial somewhere in between.  I failed at trimming back the old vines from last year so I was trying to hurry to accomplish this before work.  The Cascades were the only ones long enough to kink their vines and that I did…DOHHHH!  I’ve come to the conclusion I’m much too lazy to be a good gardener.  I trimmed back the hop plants to all but two sprouts to each plant.  Hopefully this will build a couple strong vines as opposed to growing a bush like I did last year (the lazy thing again).  This year is off to a roaring start but Vegas has it 20 to 1 that this summer is going to be a bitch and kill my plants.  Until further adieu.     

Cascade growing like no other

Hallertau ehhh?

Go Centennial Go!

Hops in Containers update 08/24/2011

Cascade Cone

The end is near for the hop plants. The fruits of my labor are on the vines and it is a matter of time before I will have a FatCat Estate brew in the works. All three plants are displaying cones and I am getting anxious to start harvesting some of my bounty. Seems that the cones are growing the best the higher they are on the trellis. The excess part of the vine (the slack in the adjustable trellis system) is very bushy but doesn’t seem to be producing any substantial cones. I pruned the plants once before and haven’t pruned them since. Not sure if under pruning was a factor. My previous pruning didn’t seem to effect the growth rate all that much. I do think the pruning helped with the browning of the leaves when it was very hot. I also started watering a lot more after the near death experience the Cascade plant endured, so this may have also helped the brown leaf situation. I fertilized with Miracle Grow once a week. I think next year I will dilute the Miracle Grow and fertilize twice a week. I did have a problem with a grasshopper eating my plants but I “dispatched” a grasshopper and haven’t seen any since. They must have got the message. I’ve been using an organic soap insecticide throughout the season which seemed to help protect the plants. However in recent weeks the Hallertau plant has been assaulted by insects leaving a majority of the leaves riddled with holes. Bastards!



The Cascade plant made a miraculous comeback after the initial main vine death scare. As I mentioned earlier a smaller vine was climbing the trellis post after the main vine died. I allowed this vine to climb and it appears will actually produce cones! The cones on the Cascade plant have matured the most and should be ready for harvest shortly.

Cascade

The next best looking plant is the Centennial which is in-ground plant. This plant seems to have the most cones but they are not as big as the Cascades.

Centennial

The Hallertau went from best to worst in the health category. It has been eaten alive by insects and there are very few cones showing on the plant. Hopefully it’s a late bloomer and I will be surprised by the plant once again.

Growing Hops in Containers update

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day.  I did some yard work and broke into the Sam Adams Deconstruction sampler.  I will post my results of the Deconstruction sampler in a few days so stay tuned.  I finished one of the trellis systems for my hops.  I'm using the idea I got from BYO to use an adjustable system.  Basically you let the hop plant grow up the string untill it's almost to the top.  Then you let string out and lower the hop plant and it continues to grow towards the top.  I used an 8ft piece of cedar, but about 1ft is down inside the PVC holder.  With part of the post inside the PVC holder I've only got about 7ft total height.  There is a cedar cross member I bolted to the main post to give the whole structure some stability against the wind.  I put small eyelets in the top of the post for the string to go through.  I chose Jute twine as the string component which the hop will climb.  I'm a little concerned that it may rot before the end of the season but I've got my fingers crossed.

Cascade

As far as the hop plants are going the Cascade is almost 2ft tall and is growing the best. 

Hallertau

I think in my original post I mixed up the location of the Hallertau and the Centennial.  The Hallertau is in the second container and is growing the slowest.  It has barely sprouted. 

Centennial

The Centennial is the one planted in the ground and has started out strong but hasn't grown very fast since.  Perhaps the lack of adequate sunlight is stunting the Centennial's growth.

I ran across a good post on the net while doing research for the hops.  It is another bloggers chronicles of hops in pots.

Cheers!