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!

[Glynn cleaver]

Good idea my plants I planed last year I got a small crop of have started to grow and we are in Kirwee I've taken cuttings would be good to swap with others in CHCH when they start growing

[Jozsef B Beverly]

Nice. What variety/-ies do you have growing?

[Jozsef B Beverly]

As an update, I've recently taken some more cuttings (mostly rhizomes) from a wild hop patch. Not 100% on what variety it is, but the aroma is fresh tropical fruit. Mango, lychee, red grape. Very low alpha (though it's hard to tell for sure - the hops I smelled had sat on the bines for about 4 months since ripening. Not ideal storage conditions).

Anyway, long story short, happy to supply people. Pretty sure they'd survive postage if packed carefully.

[Hutch]

I'd be keen to take mystery hops. I've got Smoothcone and Mystery German, I can take cuttings once they start sprouting if you'd like.

I'm up in Palmy, but occasionally make it to Wellington.

[Jozsef B Beverly]

As it happens, I've just relocated to Palmy for work. Still have a few rhizomes, so you're in luck. Will send you a PM. I have just acquired Smoothcone and Mystery German from Fragrant Garden. The chap said they had imported Mystery German as seed back in the days of lax biosecurity (if it isn't still a bit lax sometimes!). Anyway, the upshot of that is that Mystery German won't be a clonal cultivar of any 'named' variety. Does anyone have any info on its brewing qualities?

[Hutch]

I used some Mystery German in a Saison, and it turned out pretty good, but it's not a hop driven variety. Unfortunately I over-carbed the bottles, so you get about half a glass. I've still got some cones in the freezer if you want to try them.

I've also made quite a nice porter with Smoothcone.

[Hutch]

I've got two of the rhizomes you gave me sprouting. At an inch long, they're a bit behind my Mystery German, that's about 8 feet long at the moment.

[Jozsef B Beverly]

Glad they've sprouted. 8 feet on the German? Amazing, surely that's a typo. Different varieties can have markedly different phenologies. An early English variety grown in Whanganui had about a foot of growth at the start of the month, while my Late Clusters are still yet to emerge.

[Hutch]

nope, no typo, just huge already.

[Jozsef B Beverly]

That's seriously impressive.

[Brett Mason]

I've got a three year old Smoothcone in a 75l tree bag free to a good home in Dunedin. Moving it on because I have other plants that need the space.

It could do another year in the current bag provided you can feed & water it enough but would probably be happier if it went into the ground, a bigger bag, or was broken up.

[Rugbymonk]

Hi Brett,
I'd be keen for the smoothcone if still available. Could always shout u a beer for it.
Keith