Archive for hop cones
Hops Harvest 2011
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Nugget, Magnum Cascade Hops
Hops harvest 2011 was delayed a little due to our strange growing season this year. A cold wet spring, a wet hot summer and dry September made for some challenges. I believe all the rain led to leaching the soil which caused a boron deficiency for my Magnum hops. Luckily I diagnosed the boron deficiency just in time – sprayed the sickly hop bines just in time to save them. They did not reach the top of the rope as the bines were stunted to 10 feet. Some laterals managed to climb an additional 4 feet almost reaching the top (the center hop bines).
We harvested a total of 4.25 lbs between all 3 varieties. This year I trained 5 bines per rope. I think I will fall back to 3 bines per rope next year. I think they do better with 3 bines – not too crowded. I gave all my hops to my friend that has far surpassed my brewing abilities. This spring he took 2nd place for an American IPA using my magnum hops (see Award Winning Hops ). In return for the hops, I get to try many styles of beers and ales (he has over 100 batches under his belt).
Due to the issues I had this year, I am going to fortify the soil next spring with more compost(top dress), composted manure and
Conjoined Hop Cone
kelp. This should address any deficiencies. Notice the gigantic leaves mixed in the bines – especially the Nugget (closest)? Those huge leaves are a result of the Bonide Liquid Iron + micro-nutrients – containing: magnesium, boron, copper, iron, manganese, zinc. It seems they may have been deficient all along? Some of these leaves were 10 inches across! I will also give them another spraying of the Bonide product as I have some left. I try and stay as organic as possible – these are just minerals so I consider them still organic.
I get one or two of these conjoined hop cones each year. They are pretty cool looking and I look forward to finding them each year. It was pretty dark by the time we finnished harvesting as you can tell by this picture (with flash). Of course the friggen mosquitoes were eating us alive once it got dark. Luckily it didn’t take us much longer after dark to finish harvesting this years hops.
That’s it for this year. If I come up with any news or advice, I will post it. Otherwise we will see you next year. I hope everyone had a good year for hops. Feel free to update us with your comments on this post.
Cascade Hop Cones On The Bines
2011 September 6th Hops Update
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Cascade Hop Cones
September 2011 hops update – approximately 2 weeks before harvest. The hop cones are getting big and plentiful. They are still wet and cool feeling when they are squeezed and do not compress much when squeezed – in other words they are still wet and not ready to harvest.
Hops should be fairly dried out on the bine before harvest. When they are dry (relatively speaking – they still require additional drying once harvested), you should be able to almost squeeze them flat without much resistance. They should feel “papery” and light and spring back to the size they were before you squeezed them.
This has been a weird growing season in the Minneapolis, Mn area where I am located. A cold, wet spring and hot, humid and wet summer. By the looks of the hop bines and cones compared to last year’s pictures, it will be a comparable hop cone harvest. Probably light on the Magnum hops due to the boron deficiency experienced earlier in the year (see previous posts).
Magnum Hop Cones
Nugget Hop Cones
3rd Year Hops Mid-August Update
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Recovered Magnum
3rd year hops mid-August update. This has been a challenging year for growing hops here in Minnesota (and probably most places). It started out with a cold spring, followed by a hot and humid summer and my brush with a boron deficiency.
As you can see, the Magnum hops shown to the left have recovered nicely. While the hop bines were stunted at 10 feet, some laterals decided to climb 4 feet higher. If you haven’t seen how bad off the Magnum hops were, go back a few posts or just click here –> Hops Boron Deficiency. They were just about dead. I am damn lucky I was able to revive them with a boron solution (after I finally determined thats what the problem was).
The Cascade and Magnum have a few small hop cones and are loaded with hop burrs. Same as the last 2 years, the Nugget are about 2 weeks behind the other 2 with burrs just starting. Unfortunately, it is hard to get a decent detailed picture posted without slowing down my blog. I will make it a point to get some close ups closer to harvest (and look into a beefier hosting solution – what do you expect for $8 a month – I host many other sites too).
No problems with deer. Rabbits munched a couple of hop sprouts when they were just starting out, but I had dozens of sprouts per plant so not an issue. I noticed quite a few Japanese beetles this year in my tomato garden. I have not seen any on my hops. Something has muched on some of the leaves but I haven’t seen who the culprit is yet. I am not worried as 90% of the leaves are untouched. I have learned to share a little in my organic gardening ways.
I tried something new and trained 5 or 6 bines per rope (I usually do 3 hop bines per rope). We will see what kind of harvest I get this year. Too many variables to really compare harvest amounts. Being third year hops, they should be near peak output. 3rd year hops, weather, deficiency issue, 5 -6 bines per rope – it will be hard to compare to last year’s harvest. We’ll see what happens.
With all the rain (above average) and humidity, I am surprised powdery
Nugget Magnum Cascade
mildew hasn’t hit. I see it or a similar disease on the leaves of my Lilac bushes, affecting my cucumbers and tomatoes. I have slime mold oozing from the ground around my tomatoes. I guess I have been lucky as far as my hops go. Let’s hope I don’t have any more challenges with the hops between now and harvest time.
I hope you all are having a good hop year. I would like to hear from you how things are going with your hops. Any “challenges” or “opportunities” to deal with this year? Any tips or tricks that would help this audience out? Make a comment – link is right below the post title “3rd Year Hops Mid-August” (don’t use the “Contact Us” form as only I see those).
Nugget Hops Harvest 2010
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Nugget Hop Bines
Nugget hops harvest – September 18th I harvested the Nugget hops. Two Weeks after the Cascade, Magnum and Fuggle hops. Same as last year – 2 weeks after my other hops were ready and harvested. I had three bines on this one rope and harvested exactly one kilo or 2.2 pounds of wet hops. They are really not that wet as they have dried somewhat on the bines.
Last years Nugget hop cone harvest was 1.3 pounds – 70% more than last years first year hop harvest.
Nugget Hop Harvest
Generally hops dry out to end up at 20 to 25% of the wet hop weight. If that holds true for this batch, I will end up with .44 to .55 pounds of dry hops. Splitting the difference, I will end up with about 8 ounces of dry Nugget hops.
These are currently drying in my living room under the ceiling fan. The temperature and humidity is down this year. Last year they dried while we still had the air conditioning running. This September here in Minnesota is below average (have not even hit 80 degrees this month – must be global warming).
Nugget Hop Cones Drying
That’s it for the 2010 hop season. I may update some posts or come up with some new ideas for the hop garden I may run past y’all (for my southern friends). 2010 was a great year for hops – for me and my Minnesota friends anyway. I look forward to your comments and ideas. I hope you all had a great hop harvest yourselves. If you are not growing beer hops, you should be – it’s easy and they are fun to watch grow. Prepare your soil now for next year – go back quite a few posts and I explain how I prepared the soil. My southern hemisphere friends, you must be coming up on your spring – best of luck to you.
Cheers!
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Hop Harvest 2010
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Cascade Hops Harvest
Hop harvest 2010 – mostly second year hops, with the addition of a first year Fuggle container hop plant (from rhizome). We harvested Sunday September 5th (Labor Day weekend). The above picture is half a grocery bag full of Cascade hop cones. We did not weigh them wet (freshly picked) but I will update the post with the dry weight. A friend of mine is drying them and going to use them in his home brews. I donated them to him as he has far surpassed my brewing abilities.
Hop Bines Before Harvest
Above are, left to right: second year Nugget, Magnum and Cascade hops. I have not harvested the Nugget hops yet, they were not quite ready. People keep asking when to harvest so here is the general rule: when they feel papery and squeeze easily and bounce back – they are ready. If they feel moist and do not squeeze easily, they are not ready. You will often see some brown edges on the hops when they are ready to pick also. You may find that not all of the hops seem ready even on the same bine. Up to you if you leave them for later or pick them all. I have my bines on pulleys so I hoist them back up and have a second, smaller harvest a week or 2 later.
Fuggle, Magnum and Cascade Hop Cones
Above are the three hop cone varieties we picked in a side by side picture. The Magnum is noticeably lighter in color. They are hard to distinguish apart as most of the cones are fairly round. The Cascade pictured above is one of the longer cones, but all 3 varieties are mostly round with some longer than others. When they are in the bags, they are tough to tell apart. Each of the 3 hop varieties has it’s own aroma. Similar, but distinct per variety. The Fuggle and Cascade hops are aroma varieties and the Magnum is a bittering hop.
Conjoined Hop
Here is a pic of a conjoined hop cone. I have only seen 2 of these in a couple of years growing hops.
I will add the Nugget harvest pictures and hopefully all the dried hop weights when I finish harvesting. First year hops are amazing to watch grow, but second year hops are over the top. If you are not growing hops, you should be. Whether for brewing beers and ales, privacy, covering arbors, fences or pergolas, calming teas or sleep pillows – there are many uses for hops (and excuses for growing them).
Until the next update, grow hops – cheers!
