Rhizomes 2012

[Jozsef B Beverly]

Hi all,

With spring only a couple of months away it's time to start thinking about hop gardening. With the paucity of hop varieties available commercially to home gardeners, I'm keen to do some rhizome-swapping. So far I have 3 varieties: Cali, a mystery hop from a wild source in Wellington (smells a bit like Goldings?), plus another mystery variety from a wild source in Kapiti.
Keen to get hold of which ever varieties are out there - Danscade, Smoothcone, Sticklebract, Kortegast, Mystery German, wild varieties, whatever.

So if anyone has any spare rhizomes, or would like some of mine, it would be great to get a discussion going!

[David R]

What is "Danscade"? Guessing it is something similar to Cascade?

I'm in Whangarei and would love to get my hands on Cascade or something similar (or anything that would be good for a hoppy pale ale type beer), and have plenty of space to grow them in good north facing volcanic soil. Don't have any beer worth trading at the moment as we've recently moved and I haven't brewed since January (and that was a cock up!), but can offer gas vouchers, karma, a share of the hops produced or actual cash moneys...

[David R]

Actually, my father-in-law has a couple of fairly large wild hop plants growing on his property just going crazy into a huge old feijoa tree. I picked some last summer but didn't brew with them and think they may have been past their prime. The guy at the brew shop suggested they were probably a low alhpa variety. They're growing in pretty poor clay soil which possibly doesn't help, but the plant certainly seems to be thriving and producing plenty of cones. Could probably take some cuttings off that and trade them if anyone is interested.

[Jozsef B Beverly]

Hi David. If no-one explained, Danscade is a variety first grown by a guy on this forum, Dan. It was from open-pollinated seed of NZ-grown Cascade - hence the portmanteau 'Danscade', coined by another forum member. Given the high heterozygosity of hops and their obligate out-crossing, its genotype is probably quite different from Cascade. But some people have reported similarities.

What part of the country are your feijoa-fondling hops? I could potentially be keen for a swap.

[Paul Fraser]

I have a very healthy smoothcone plant in Chch which is ready to go in the ground asap. The shoots are trying to race each other. Free to a good home.

[Adam Sparks]

If no one local puts their hand up I will absolutely take that off your hands Paul, if your happy to ship it at my expense. Im sure someone local will be into it however.

How are your cuttings coming along Hugh? Are they reaching for the heavens yet?

[Strango]

Paul! I have just joined this forum, I live in Christchurch and I'm looking to try growing hops. I'd love to talk to you about your smoothcone plant, if it's still available of course. If not I hope it's found a happy home. If it is still available how do we go about contacting each other?

Regards,

Andy

[Paul Fraser]

Sorry mate, I passed it on to someone on Sat.

[Strango]

Having missed out on Paul's smoothcone - are there any other generous folk Christchurch way out there willing to share some love? Be great to hear from you if so!

Andy

[Hamish Jones]

how did you get on with finding some hops, I have a smooth cone seedling I don't need and can do a sticklebract seedling also if you want one?

[Strango]

Hi Hamish, I'm just back from 4 weeks of beer tasting (actually rockclimbing but they are compatible, right?) in the USA to find my hop plants going a bit crazy. I've got Kortegast and Smoothcone in the ground with the longest runners at 4.5m, way over the deck they were apparently going to reach. I just managed to cobble up an extension system to take them to nearly 6m. How the heck do you pick them that high! Anyway, thanks for the generous offer. Maybe we could do a winter swap if you'd like a Kortegast? Of note, the guy I got the Kortegast off is growing them from pots on the coast. We planted a split rhizome on the same day and his are topping out at around 5 meters, my longest is at 3.5. Mine get a soak every second day from a drip line. Might just be that the Kortegast variety was selected especially for the conditions over there and there are better varieties for canterbury? Guess we'll find out when they get turned in to something =)

Cheers again for the offer and lets talk again this winter!

[Trevor Courtney]

Hi Strango

i'd be very interested to get a Kortengast hop. Can swap for a Cascade or Fuggles.

[Al Witham]

Looks like we'll soon be moving to a house in Raumati where I should be able to grow hops. I'm keen to go foraging for wild hops this summer. Any idea where to find those wild hops in Kapiti / Wellington, or is that a secret? ;-)