Hop rhizomes

[James P]

Hi All
(Hopefully I didn't miss a thread here, I searched first!)
Just wanted to see if anyone has rhizomes available this year? I hear there is a shortage, however if there are any suppliers anyone knows of I would be keen to given them a go!

Maybe we can get a list of suppliers going? I see in the old forum that Stephen @ Hallertau may have been one of them, any ideas?

Cheers

[Craig]

Awesome looking Danscade. Any chance of scoring some rhizome later in the year? I've got smoothcone, but quite frankly its not much of a hop!

[Dan]

Good too see my babies are doing well over the country! Im growing them here in whakatane now too,and there doing ok, maybe a bit shocked from being digged up in southland put in a truck and planted in the bay.

[Craig]

Dan, How did you get those seeds to germinate. I bought a kilo of Cascade cones for the purpose of brewing and seeds as useful little co-product, but I just can't get the little buggers to germinate. I'm thinking they are all in-fertile due to lack of males in the hop yards maybe. I've tried about 30 odd seeds to no avail. How did you do it?

[Dan]

Beats me craig! I guess it was a 1 in a million, I planted lots and lots of seeds from the same bag when I did it, first time trying to germinate hop seeds and a very haphazard procedure, and it was the only one that took, Ive also tried other varieties, lots of seeds with no luck.
It must have been at least a couple of years ago now, the brew gods were looking out for the homebrewer gardeners that day!

[Matthew]

Here's some good tips: Growing hops from seeds

[Craig]

Thanks matthew. That certainly looks like something extra I can try. They obviously need that "wintering" to set the germination wheels in motion. I will report back if we have success but likely not for 6 months now...

[Toot]

Yeah no worries Craig

[Craig]

Much appreciated Toot. I'll send you one of my beers in return.

[Smiffy]

Has anyone tried using used hops as fertilizer for their growing hops?
I've just racked off 5 gallons of homebrew leaving the yeast and the residue of 100g of hops which were added after fermentation had started. Would it be safe to use this "hop manure"? Will the yeast cause problems?
Any guidance from the more experienced growers would be appreciated.

[Dan]

Im not sure about using it around hop plants, ( Check hop acidity requirements). ive always put it in the compost, the trub from the kettle however seems to be excellent around my strawberry plants, the whole hops keep the weeds off around the plants, I would only use it on acid liking plants though, I get hundreds of strawberries off each plant each season when doing this.

[James P]

We have bush..... well at least cones!

[Sam]

Nice hops guys :) I'm getting a few on my plant too :D
I'm wondering how you know when to pick? I've read that the cones should be dry and papery, and that there is a flick test, where from what I understand is you flick a cone with your fingers and it will come off if ready? How long do cones take to mature? Cheers :)