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Growing Hops 2011
Who is in this year? My two hops plants, Glacier and Cascade, now three years old, are going bananas. I love it. They are currently both right at six feet up the twine, with the Glacier leading slightly. What kinds of fertilizer or manure should I be looking for?
My 2 year old Cascades, Centennials, Goldings and N. Brewers are doing ok. Just planted six more Cascades too. I just went with the garden fertilizer but shouldve gone with some manure.
I am planting 6 types (Cascade, Chinook, Ht. Hood, Sterling, Willamette, and K. Golding) This will be the first year. I am actually building the trellis now. I will post some pics when done.
My cascades are 3 feet high. I've been mulching all my spent grain for 3 years, and I use it exclusivly for the hops. Stuff is great.
I've got 2 Glaciers going and one EKG that are all 2nd year plants. The one glacier is in a semi shaded area, so it isn't doing as well as the others, but they're all doing okay. I'm trying to fence train 'em because vertical isn't gonna work on my property.
I've also added a cascade and a Columbus rhizome this year. They've started to grow and are doing alright too, but they're small yet.
Last year I used bonemeal to fertilize with, but I think the dog has a taste for it now. I'll have to come up with another organic solution. My property is certified as a wildlife habitat, so I kinda like to keep it all organic when I can.
Just dropped some Goldings, and Magnum into two 5 gallon buckets on the deck of my apartment. M-Grow outdoor veggie garden soil, I hope its not too much nutrients and burn them up. My first year of trying this. I wish you all luck on your plants, I know i need it.
Just had a look at my hops (Cascade, Centennial & EKG) for the first time today. They're doing pretty good; the Cascades are about 15 ft high and a couple Centennial bines are nearly as high as well. The trellis was holding strong and only need a few repairs to the climbing ropes. I'll have to stop by again next week with some insecticide and fungicide spray before the beetles chew 'em to shreds. I still don't have any time for brewing these days but hopefully I will by harvest time.
I am at the final stages of constructing my trellis. My poor hops are begging to get out of the cramped planters. I hope to have transplanted by the 24th at the latest.
Goldings reached 6 feet this weekend. sweet.
Both of my hops plants topped out at 16 feet about three weeks ago, and are sending off all kinds of side laterals. Some of the laterals have almost reached back half way down. One is even reclimbing it self. Everything looks good so far but I have seen almost no burs as of yet. I need to include a picture one of these days.
So my Magnums are doing great by my standards. About 8 foot still just growing in a 5 gallon bucket, has 3 shoots to it too. However my Goldens are not growing that great. Goldings has 2 shoots coming out both about 2 to 3 feet tall, but the other day I noticed that the leaves are curling up and turning yellow. I try to keep the soil moist and im treating them the same way as the magnums but just not coming along as well as I would hope. Especially since they are the hops I want to harvest the most. They get a good south east facing sunshine and are set up in the same way as the others. Any tips and Ideas for me to save them?
If any of you all are looking for plant fertalizer for your hops and/or garden, Blue Seal feed stores are the way to go, or if you have any comperable local farm feed store. A 4 lb bag of plantone at Home Depot goes for 9.50 arround here, a 20 lb bag at Blue Seal is 16.99. It's like an IQ test.
I was talking to my local Homebrew shop and starting talking about my first year hop plants. I have about 10' growing on my magnum and my goldings burnt off from the extreme heat we have had this year, he was asking me how many buds I have and if I have started picking them yet. To my surprise I did not expect any hops till later in the season. I was told that many of his customers were already picking them. Myself, my neighbor, and a friend down the road all have first year hops growing but non of them have any buds. Any chance that I might get them later on in the season?
from what I hear, first year plants don't make buds, or make very few. you might get some later, but next year is when you'll get a real crop.
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