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| This is one happy hops plant! |
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| With lots of blossoms. |
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| I was worried that the plant would not bear many blossoms since it slid down upon itself on the pole. |
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| WRONG! A bumper crop. |
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| Those of you with aroma-capable devices are OOOhing and AAAAwing right now. |
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| Many of these blossoms are big! That's a quarter, not a nickel. |
Wow, do these babies ever smell good! It's a really pungent "make me into beer" odor.
With the help of my compatriot Jim, and advice of our mentor Tom, we'll be doing the deed soon after they dry. "Yes, Mary, I'll be moving them off the kitchen counter and into my drying screen in the morning."
I'm thinking maybe next year, a few more plants are in order. And, of course, we'll have to start a brewery. Jim tells me there is a great available building overlooking Black Creek in Churchville...
Awesome - let me know when the brewery opens!
ReplyDeleteYou'll be doing all the promotional items.
DeleteI am so Hoppy for you (and me if I get a taste this time around) !! GoHF/CB
ReplyDeleteGit yursef to the next Construction Party!
DeleteRunning commentary with Mentor Tom, placed herein so I can refer back to it.
ReplyDeleteThese hops look fantastic with larger than average size for the variety based on my experience. Your growing conditions look excellent. Your harvest timing looks perfect as well.
DeleteYour current hop mound is very vigorous. In my experience over more than 10 years of growing hops in the same spot every year, I have seen my plants look like that for several years, but become less vigorous suggesting loss of nutrients in the soil. Probably not a big revelation.
I mulch with composted manure in the fall and fertilize with a high quality organic(I believed it is derived from chicken poop) fertilizer in the Spring. I still don't think it is enough and I may need to add more compost and or find something with the right micronutrients(whatever they are). There is probably literature out there, I just haven't put in the effort to find it. Just a heads up.
Enjoy your awesome crop. You will probably get good yield for several more years. Maybe you can find the right mulch and fertilizing formula and never have to worry. It would be interesting to know what they do in the Yakima Valley. Wonder if they rotate every 5 to 10 years. The probably have the magic formula.
Drying time now.
DeleteThe crop has improved each year. I looked back at the previous blogs…kind of a neat thing to be able to look back at what happened and what I thought at the time.
http://americanlibations.blogspot.com/2013/08/hops-harvest-2013.html
http://americanlibations.blogspot.com/2012/08/hops-crop.html (this shot was the entire crop!)
I’m not sure about the fertilizing…if I’ll do it or not.
The plant is really 4 years old now, because the first year it did not flower (after the year when the first rhizome you gave me died). I think the key point in its success thus far is the sheltered spot it is in, and also the white house behind it. It gets a bunch of reflected light and is warmer than the rest of the yard. Probably got lucky on the soil.
It's normal for the hop mound to increase yield for the first few years . It will be interesting to see what your peek looks like. Looks pretty good now. I agree with you about the white house reflection.
DeleteAlso from Tom:
Deletehttp://piedmonthops.com/how-to/root-your-own-cuttings
This is nice but way too much work. If you want more vines, just dig around your existing hop plant sometime in late March or April, and cut about 4-5 inch pieces of root(rhizome) with a small shoot growing off the root.. Plant those
where you want and in a couple years, you'll have lots more hops. If you want different varieties, which based on our discussion it sounded like you were interested in a stronger bittering hop, you should be able to find a supplier on line that will send you a living rhizome cut. They key is to do it so you can plant it in April - timing is everything.
You must dry them as soon as possible. They are flowers and you want to end up with dried flowers. I put them between two old window screens and set them on my concrete pool deck for a day or so depending on the weather. They should be almost crispy dry before you put them in a freezer bag and freeze them. I use the vacuum seal type bags. You can use a food dryer. but the high temps drive off some of them more fragrant hop oils.
DeleteBummer, just planted a row of arbervitae and could have done hops instead. My brother, the alpaca farmer, has fertilizer if you are interested. I can taste the beer. Yum.
ReplyDeleteHere at Bad Knees Brewery, our alpaca-fertilized hops make all the difference!
DeleteRandy, you dropped a quarter in one of the pictures!!!
ReplyDeleteI wondered where Mary had put my allowance!
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