Hops Update - July 10 Growth (More Cones!)

Well, we were out of town last week, so no update. I was a little worried about the hops, since I wouldn't be around to water them, but luckily we did get one good rain shower while we were gone. The hops sure were ready for a good drink! All 5 plants are doing very well, the 2 cascades (left) are both strong, and putting out cones like crazy. The plant in the right of the picture is sending out a lot of laterals at ground level. Most of these I have trimmed, but a select few I let grow to about 18 inches in length, then trenched them with the tips showing to try and start some rhizomes for next year. The centennials and golding are both doing well (together right). Both centennials are have burrs and cones, but the leaves have a slight yellowing to them, with some brown spots. I'm hoping that is because of not being watered for a week but I'll keep an eye on them just in case.

My largest cascade plant (below left) has just gone crazy. On this plant, I have gone with the alternative theory to not trim back to only a few main bines. I want to see how the production output differs from my other cascade which I have trimmed back to only 4 main bines. As you can see from the picture, it pretty much looks like a climbing bush. At last count, I have 8 bines climbing, with multiple laterials. My single goldings (right) has yet to produce any burrs indicating that cones are coming. The plant itself is very healthy, and shooting lateral bines all over the place but as of yet no cones. On this plant as well, I have buried a few late growth bines that had good mass to see if I can produce some rhizomes for next year.

As indicated above, all but the goldings now have cones, and the cascades have a good number. The first 2 pictures below are of some of the cascade cones.



The 3rd (below right), with the blue cloudy sky as the backdrop is a picture of some of the centennial cones. Surprisingly, the centennial plants started producing cones approximately 2 weeks after the cascade, but the cones are about the same size. I guess this make sense, as the cascade cones are said to be smaller, and centennial cones are bigger.