2013 Hop growing

[Chris Hitchcock]

Afternoon all, here are some pics of my first year's growth from a single Green Bullet Hop rhizome. Its done quite well tucked down the side of my house in Auckland and gets sun for 3 or 4 hours or so a day.
Gutted i managed to break off the biggest and most flower ladden bine when i dropped a large scaffolding frame on it ...

What can i expect from this years harvest and growth, what i need to do to prune it back once its done, and what i need to do to take care of it (feeding watering etc.) over winter. Can i expect a lot more growth next few year. Quite happy how it ended up size-wise ... maybe could look at expanding the wires further horizontally. Cheers ...

 

 

[Tilt]

Nice one Chris - not bad growth for its first year by all accounts. I'm in my first year of growing in the ground too and figure that any flowers from the first year are a bonus.  Check out the Library for info sources on growing hops - my take is that they need a bit of food and water during growing season but are otherwise pretty robust.  I've heard some just run the lawnmower over the bines after harvest and wait for them to sprout again next spring.  I'll be digging my rhizomes up and dividing them to get a better spread across my garden bed.

[Robbo]

that's awesome man. i'm looking to start growing soon. what strain is it and wherefrom?

[Liam Callaghan]

Thats great mate!

I'd be interested to know where you buy specific strains from too, heaps of room at my place to give them a go and I think I've talked the neighbour into it too!  Irish girl that loves a guinness, should be an easy trade ;)

[Chris Hitchcock]

Strain is Green Bullet, bought from trademe. As far as im aware you can only get un-named or no longer popular rhizomes (smooth cone, green bullet) there's a few danscade (cascade-y) around places too. Forums and trademe ... seem like the place. Shame its not like USA where you can just buy (mostly) what you want. I reckon they'd grow real nice on Waiheke Island where my inlaws have a place, so will try and divide mine up at some stage ... Its quite a nice vine to look at too!

[Robbo]

choice, yeah i haven't really looked into it, asides from the prohibition whenever that was, and all the legal strains in NZ were from nelson. i'm a greenthumb anyway, and there's another joker up the way that grows some so i'll find out what he's got, although i suspect it's going to be generationally acclimatised to northland...

[Paul Fraser]

When I got my rhizome off another brewer I was advised to chop plant down to about a metre length at harvest time, then dig a shallow trench and lay it down horizontally and cover. I gave it no attention over winter other than to cover over with mulch to protect from frosts a bit. Then this year shoots have sprouted up all along it's length so after this years harvest I will divide it up and pass on.

[Chad Keven]

Hopzilla!

[Chad Keven]

As the others said they don't need a lot of care, grow a "green manure" crop like lupin or mustard chop it down and cover the roots over winter

[Paul Fraser]

Wow, you've got your work cut out harvesting that lot.

[Chris Hitchcock]

Getting fatter 

[Chris Hitchcock]

Now what, they're drying out a bit, still a little springy to the touch, but tearing them apart they seem dry, a little ammount of lupulin in them. How do i know, and how do i go about drying them easily?

They look cool though.

[Tilt]

If they feel papery to touch, you can smell rich hoppy aromas when you're standing next to them, they're just starting to brown at the edges, the lupulin is golden (not green tinged yellow) and a few "petals" fall off when you rub them against their direction of growth then they're ready to pick.  They should also come off the bine relatively easily - like when you pick just ripe fruit. 

Lay them out on a rack somewhere with good air circulation but out of the light and direct sun heat for 3-4 days.  I used our old child stair gates draped in a sheet - the rack doesn't have to be flash. 

They lose about 70% of their weight due to evaporation of water - but retain a slightly sticky, oily feel.  Then freeze them in airtight bags (C02 flushed if you've got the gear).