[bluesman]

I thought it would be fun for our members to show their hops and share their hop growing experiences. 

It could be anything from a rhizome to harvested hops and/or anything in between. I know there are alot of folks that grow their own hops. Hopefully by sharing pics and experiences we can all grow and learn how to successfully grow and harvest hops.

Here's a shot of my third year Sterling hops.

[theDarkSide]

My first years are moving along slowly...is this to be expected.  I planted them May 12th, and as of yesterday they are only about 2 feet up the trellis.  I know the first year they build their root systems, but I was hoping for a little more by this time.

I'll try to post a picture when I get home tonight.

[bluesman]

Yes. Actually two feet in 45 days is pretty good.

The first year the hops are developing a root system to enable them to obtain the proper nourishment. The next few years they should double in size assuming they are receiving the required amount of sun, water and nutrients.

[weithman5]

i planted santiem, magnum and sterling rhizomes on easter sunday.  the magnum hops have hit the roof of my garage (8foot) and are turning back toward the ground. the others are close.  I am not sure what i am going to do with them. either let them go down and up or string to the second floor.  they are not very full yet.

[ndcube]

I think sunlight is a big part.  I planted a few varieties on the side of my house.  The ones in front that get sun for better than half the day seem like they grow a foot a day once they get going and I have them thinned out.

I think it depends on the variety too.  My Chinook get's the biggest.

[ndcube]

i planted santiem, magnum and sterling rhizomes on easter sunday.  the magnum hops have hit the roof of my garage (8foot) and are turning back toward the ground. the others are close.  I am not sure what i am going to do with them. either let them go down and up or string to the second floor.  they are not very full yet.

My Chinook's hit the top of my second floor roof every year and turn back down.  They got all tangled up while I was on vacation a couple weeks ago and I don't think there is any untangling then at this point.  I'll try to get some pics later.

[dj99]

These are my third year hops.  The first two years did not produce much at all.  This year will be different.  The left half is perle and the right is chinook.  The second group of bines from the left is perle and is about 17 ft and is almost to the top of the 18 foot cross string.  What you can't see that well is that the hops grow out of a small area and are trained up inside a bird netting cage to keep the deer from nibbling.  So far so good!

[bluesman]

These are my third year hops.  The first two years did not produce much at all.  This year will be different.  The left half is perle and the right is chinook.  The second group of bines from the left is perle and is about 17 ft and is almost to the top of the 18 foot cross string.  What you can't see that well is that the hops grow out of a small area and are trained up inside a bird netting cage to keep the deer from nibbling.  So far so good!

Looking good!

Where are you located?

[dj99]

Southwest Washington, above Portland.

[mikeypedersen]

I planted them a couple of years ago, half as a privacy screen from my neighbors, half to have fresh hops.  I have two 4 X 8' lattices about a foot apart then on the top of each one I tied 4 strings and ran those to the 2nd story soffit of my house.  It gives us some privacy and also makes a great sun shade in the afternoon.  This is the third year, so far they are about as far as they got last year, which is probably about 20' or so, but they are much fuller.

From just off the back patio:


The Latices:


The Cones just starting to form:

[bluesman]

Beautiful Hops!

What variety?

[dean]

Wow!  Those are beautiful Hokerer, how many rhizomes did you start with and do you have to keep training them once they reach the end of the vertical climb or is the slant toward the house steep enough they don't need training?

My plants vary in height, from 5 feet to 12 feet now.  I'm sort of happy and dismayed, happy they all grew considering when I moved them here.  I'm hoping next year they take off a lot better. 

[hoptomation]

Some of my plants are on their second year and others are new this year.  We had an unseasonably early and warm Spring up here in NW MN so growth has been pretty good.  The tallest bines are just shy of 14'.

[mikeypedersen]

Beautiful Hops!

What variety?

The ones on the left are Chinook and on the right it's Cascade.  There has been a little mixing this year, but the majority of the cones are on the strings to the house and those are far enough apart (they go to differetn points on the house, to not intermingle.

I had to stay on top of them once they reach the top of the lattice, and train them to the string.  Once they got going, they just run up the string towards the house.

[bluesman]

Here's a robust commercial trellis system.