Sounds like things are moving along! Have enough water to keep em from getting thirsty?
Waiting for string
With string
Waiting for string
With string
Anyone grow hops?
- Thread starter blindboxx2334
- Start date
just noticed my plants are putting out shoots. gonna have to trim some back. and find some rain barrels
Yes sir, the first three appear to be enjoying themselves. Curious what the last two are doing.
Any day now!
Fwiw, I know alot of growers burn or chop back the first set of shoots and then train the next set to come out. Something about the first shoots of the year aren't the good growers the later ones are. I don't think this applies to babies though.
yea i was told not to do it for first years, but that i could do it on second years. will look into it again, don't want the bines to go too long if they're gonna get whacked.
wow that is super useful. i will remember that for next year!
thank you!
thank you!
trimmed my first round of shoots on saturday, keeping an eye for any stragglers this week. gotta get my hands on a rain barrel or 3
nice! the last two finally sprouted. i believe Chinook and Nugget were the last two to sprout. will be working on a trellis system this weekend.
we had deer come through the yard this weekend and one of them decided to sample the top of one of my cascade shoots. i guess he didnt like it (as Mr. Kranked has indicated on pg 1), he spit it back out.
we had deer come through the yard this weekend and one of them decided to sample the top of one of my cascade shoots. i guess he didnt like it (as Mr. Kranked has indicated on pg 1), he spit it back out.
insects tend to be the biggest concern. i read somewhere that putting banana peels at the base of the plant is a good deterrent for aphids (although i have no experience to confirm this). if nothing else as they decay they will add some potassium to the soil.
good to know, it appears i need to start eating bananas!
just out of curiosity, what kind of mix did you use for soil?
'house blend'. we have a pretty big horse poop/mulch pile at the house; just dug to the middle to get to the good stuff. everything that grows at the house gets planted in this soil and it does well; cant get the peppers to sprout worth a damn though.
from what i can tell, the rhizomes like it, also drains very well without any soil additives (which was a concern for me). i was going to go to a nursery and grab some stuff, but i decided against it.
ill have to take pics of the rhizomes and post them up, they are doing well. i need to setup a trellis system this weekend.
from what i can tell, the rhizomes like it, also drains very well without any soil additives (which was a concern for me). i was going to go to a nursery and grab some stuff, but i decided against it.
ill have to take pics of the rhizomes and post them up, they are doing well. i need to setup a trellis system this weekend.
one thing i added to the soil mix i used for the hops was some peat moss, it helps to retain moisture which is good for hops which take a lot of watering.
i wanna say one of your key nutrients is off.
that is good to know for future reference. the soil i have the rhizomes in right now seem to have good water retention.. i actually thought the water retention was actually too good when i first started watering, but they seem to like it! i read stuff online about over watering and poor drainage before planting and it kinda psyched me out.
my buddies dad has been gardening longer than i have been alive, he looked at them and was pretty impressed; said they looked 'happy'. good enough for me.
i gave the rest of my seeds to my buddies dad (as mentioned above), going to try and get him to work his magic. there was a slip in the seed packet that tells you they are 'difficult to sprout'.
what kind of peppers?
where are you located? just wanna get an idea of what your climate is. I'm in southeastern PA. our summers are hot and humid, but rain can be sporadic so i have to water them almost daily.
one other crucial thing - daylight daylight daylight. they need to be somewhere they get direct sunlight essentially from sunrise to sunset. someone once told me that they need a certain number of hours of sunlight per day (i wanna say it was between 11-13) to actually trigger the cones to grow, or something like that
i am in northern CA. about 30 miles east of sacramento. summers are hot and dry, i am assuming i will go from watering once daily to twice daily. We are in a drought, so i have to be ninja farmer when watering.. i got something in the mail that says im only supposed to water Tuesday and Caturday. 
I was told as much sunlight was very important as well. i live in an area with LOTS of trees. I picked a spot that gets a lot of sunlight. i havent actually timed it yet, but i should. i plan on setting up my trellis system on sunday. I should time it then.
I still have been slacking on the pics, work has been draining the life out of me. I will get some up soon. Right now, this one will have to do, this is crystal.
I was told as much sunlight was very important as well. i live in an area with LOTS of trees. I picked a spot that gets a lot of sunlight. i havent actually timed it yet, but i should. i plan on setting up my trellis system on sunday. I should time it then.
I still have been slacking on the pics, work has been draining the life out of me. I will get some up soon. Right now, this one will have to do, this is crystal.
in your situation, i'd put some kind of plastic sheeting over the exposed soil to minimize water loss due to evaporation
not that it would be a ton of help with your limited rainfall, but are you allowed to have rain barrels?
not that it would be a ton of help with your limited rainfall, but are you allowed to have rain barrels?
got it, i actually think i have some plastic sheet i can use.
as far as i know, its not illegal, we did it last winter and the winter before. i actually just had to google it, i wasnt sure what you meant by 'allowed to have rain barrels'; complete BS.
as far as i know, its not illegal, we did it last winter and the winter before. i actually just had to google it, i wasnt sure what you meant by 'allowed to have rain barrels'; complete BS.
did the last round of shoot pruning. next round gets thinned down to 4 bines per plant. next weekend i'm gonna string the sisal for climbing and add a fresh layer of compost.
trellis system has been installed in 4/5 raised beds. i should have done the 5th one(nugget), but i got lazy. it still has a couple of weeks to go before its tall enough anyways.
ill post pics shortly.
ill post pics shortly.
nice. i got my lines up and tied on Sunday. Gotta stake the bases and add some more compost and i'll be in business.
my shits exploding. will try to get pics tonight. i've got some thinning to do.
so. i have noticed a sort of weird trend with my hops: the really tall ones that have already started climbing up the trellis system (centennial & crystal) only have one shoot (refer to the pics above). where as the others have more than one shoot but are much shorter, do you know why that is?
also, (i know its a bit premature, but i am starting to see pics of people and their hops on IG) when does the actual hop itself usually start forming? im not sure if they're pics from last year or something,
also, (i know its a bit premature, but i am starting to see pics of people and their hops on IG) when does the actual hop itself usually start forming? im not sure if they're pics from last year or something,
because the rhizome is splitting energy between two shoots instead of focusing on one.
that is what i figured. i edited my post above, but do you know when the hops them selves will be forming?
let me get the pics off my phone and ill show you my super ghetto trellis system.
let me get the pics off my phone and ill show you my super ghetto trellis system.
here is my ghetto trellis setup. it actually works out very well. i also managed to keep it 100% reclaimed/reuse. which is good, cause im cheap. 
not bad, but start planning now for a more substantial setup for next year
well, i sorta got shafted this year when planting:
long story short, i knew we were going to be moving out of the house sometime this year, although i did not have an exact date.. i was told that there was a strong possibility we wouldn't be moving until later this year, so i decided to go ahead and plant them.
Now they are looking at moving out within the next three months due to finding a 'good deal' on some property. im not sure if im going to move with them, so i might end up moving back down the hill (about an hour) closer to my parents house. if that happens, i will be taking them out of the raised beds and planting into my parents back yard (they dont have a mole/vole problem). i hope it doesnt shock them too much in transit.
the trellis system is ghetto because its not permanent (which is also why i didnt want to spend any money on it). i just wanted something to hold the plants over for a couple of months while i figure out what the hell is going on with my living situation.
its a shitty, but whatever.. i told myself that i was going to plant hops in 2015, irregardless of what the hell everyone else is doing. for 2016 they will be in the ground and have a legit trellis system and ready to take one the additional hop vines.
long story short, i knew we were going to be moving out of the house sometime this year, although i did not have an exact date.. i was told that there was a strong possibility we wouldn't be moving until later this year, so i decided to go ahead and plant them.
Now they are looking at moving out within the next three months due to finding a 'good deal' on some property. im not sure if im going to move with them, so i might end up moving back down the hill (about an hour) closer to my parents house. if that happens, i will be taking them out of the raised beds and planting into my parents back yard (they dont have a mole/vole problem). i hope it doesnt shock them too much in transit.
the trellis system is ghetto because its not permanent (which is also why i didnt want to spend any money on it). i just wanted something to hold the plants over for a couple of months while i figure out what the hell is going on with my living situation.
its a shitty, but whatever.. i told myself that i was going to plant hops in 2015, irregardless of what the hell everyone else is doing. for 2016 they will be in the ground and have a legit trellis system and ready to take one the additional hop vines.
yea i remember you saying this year was only a temporary setup. that's why i specified next year
gotcha. anywho, i still cant believe how well these puppies are growing in their little raised beds.
my chinook is a foot tall. these guys are on the move! release the hounds!
I believe my Crystal and Centennial are already over a foot tall as well. The leaves are HUGE!!
was going through some notes on fertilizing that may be of use to you - nitrogen is best early season and after harvest, potassium is best once you see the burrs that will form cones. the biggest trace elements they need are zinc & boron, and neutral pH (between 6 and 8)
no. they're not huge yet.
do you have a link or something? how is this stuff applied?
depends on what form of fertilizer you get.