Milwaukee Area & Chicagoland Brewers Group

[dime0000]

Holy crap - it *looks* like I may have to harvest some Willamettes soon! A bunch on the top already look full size.

Does anyone know when Willamettes typically start to become ready for picking??
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[Rhoobarb]

Wow! None of mine have gotten to that point yet. And I have all-day southern exposure, so they get lots of sun. And I don't have to tell you about all the rain they've gotten. They seem to like this wet weather and humidity. Most of my plants are ~12 feet tall and still climbing. This year should be the best so far in the current house.

In the past I have always harvested mine end of August/Labor Day weekend.
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[Chesnok Red]

Larry,
Yeah same situation here.

I have some Willamette almost ready to harvest. I seem to recall in years past I get my 1st harvest around lthe 3rd week to late July. I don't have many of the early cones set this year for some reason. I might only get 1 or 2 oz. from my 1st harvest. But its still putting out some burrs so this might be a longer harvest season than normal. I usually do 3 seperate harvests on my Willamette. Next spring I am going to have to take a shovel and grub out many of the suckers and try to get this plant under more control. Maybe a severe haircut will help it produce more cones next year.

Usually my Willamette has the ripest cones out towards the ends and I will harvest those 1st working my way back towards the base of the plant. As soon as the cones start to feel softer and not as ripe I stop. Then wait a few weeks then once again pick towards the base. Only harvesting those that seem ripe. Then around the time my Cascades are ready I will harvest the rest of the Willamette 's

My Cascade by comparison has a massive amount of burrs on it now. But my 1st harvest of these won't be until early to mid. september sometime. Come fall, by the looks of it so far, I will be up to my arm pits in homegrown Cascades.
Jim
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[Chesnok Red]

I harevested the 1st picking of my Willamettes on 8/1/2010. I only am going to get about 3 oz or so once they are dried. They are currently drying on newspaper on the dining room table with a gentle fan blowing on them. There are more cones on the bine but they are not ripe yet.

The Cascade has nice sized cones now, but they are still weeks away from the 1st harvest.

Both my Willamette and Cascade still have, and continue to produce burrs, so I imagine harvesting will continue a bit at a time throughout the late summer early fall season.

Jim
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[jayb151]

By burrs do you mean the "flowers" that eventually become hops?

I have a ton of those on my 2nd year Chinook, 2nd year Nugget, and first year Cascade. That's right, I said first year! I can't believe that the cascade has any, not only that but it has more than the nugget!

I have a few cones already on the chinook, but not too many yet. I'm thinking that I'm just going to do either a wet hopped beer or dry them and just make an IPA. I don't see myself getting enough to really bother with trying to store them for very long.

[Chesnok Red]

Jayb151,

Yeah by burrs I am talking about the little spiney looking thinga ma bobs that eventually turn into cones.

It sounds like your Cascade is doing well in its 1st year. My normal yield is around 12oz or so dried from just 1 Cascade bine. And I only got a few cones from it my 1st year.

And I am a huge fan of chinook in hoppy american ales

Jim
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[Banjo]

Had a look at my Cascade plants. One has a $@#load of cones. Unbelievable to me, given how I mistreated the rhizomes.

I'm really only trying to get the plants established this year. Should I remove the cones?
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[Chesnok Red]

Banjo,
No I would leave the cones on and count myself thankful I got any harvest at all from 1st year hops. But I would harvest the hops when they are ripe and leave the bine/bines intact. Then after 1st frost or when the bine is cashed out for the season, then cut it at the base and remove the old growth. That way the energy in the plant mass will go back into the rootstock for the following year.

I usually wait until late in the leaf raking season to cut my bines down. By then all the leaves will have fallen off and all thats left is the mostly dried out runners and side brancehs. Then I cover the crowns with 6" or so of leaves for winter protection, that is removed as soon as spring thaw.
I doubt the crowns need winter protection, but I already have plenty of oak and maple leaves so it is free and only takes a few min. so why not?

Jim
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[tony]

My Williamettes are doing the same thing. 3rd yr. Chinook is going crazy HUGE cones, Cascade, Mt. Hood, and sterling are all doing good, lots of cones but still weeks from harvest. Centennial was a total loss this year It just didn't grow and I have no idea why. Nugget is huge as always and the burrs just started to form into cones. 1st yr Zeus didn't look good for a while, and then all of a sudden it just decided to grow and grow and grow. Now the thing is producing cones like crazy, I'll bet I get 3oz from the thing.

I LOVE FREE HOPS!

[peejaybee]

Normally I like to post photos of the bines as they develop, but this year the f***ing mosquitoes have put the kibosh on that. My regime is:

(monthly)
dump fertilizer
run inside

(every other day)
turn on sprinkler
run inside

That said, all my bines are developing a few cones, but the strong producers so far are Centennial, Cascade, and Willamette. Sterling, Mount Hood, and Magnum are developing some, but I'll be surprised if I get more than an ounce off of each -- these noble hop descendants are not happy with something I'm doing.
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[Rhoobarb]

I'm finally getting decent growth from all my hops except two (I have six total). One Cascade plant didn't sprout, so I figure it is dead. My Mt. Hood only grew to ~4 ft. and has no burrs. But the other Cascade, Sterling and Centennial are growing like crazy and will probably yield 4-5 oz. and the Willamette ~3 oz.

And as luck would have it, we'll be moving to a new house in early 2011. Instead of just cutting some rhizomes, like I did when I moved in 2007, I think I'll try and dig up entire crowns for transplant. Anyone tried this?
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Rhoobarb

[jayb151]

I think that is a pretty good idea. My second year Chinook had a sprout about 3 ft away from the main vine so I dug it up and put the segment in a bucket of dirt. I didn't do anything else and it not only survived, but is searching for more room to grow! I'm thinking of trying to grow a few different varieties in buckets next year, so when I get a permanent house I can cut up the rhizomes and spread them out.

[tony]

I have transplanted a whole rhizome once. The Thing was HUGE! It was a 2nd year cascade that I transplanted in the spring. I didn't get too much from it year I transplanted it, but this this year the thing is producing like crazy.

[Rhoobarb]

Sounds like a plan, then. Think I'll wait until as late in the season as I can, after the first hard frost. Which will probably Halloween!
_________________
I'm a man
But I can change
If I have to
I guess.
-- The Man's Prayer
>^,,^<
Rhoobarb

[Chesnok Red]

I had to move my Cascade a few years ago. I waited until early spring to relocate it. It survived fine but only produced about 1/2 of the normal amount of hops.

I even manages to crack the wooden handle on my shovel whilst grubbing that thing out. Those old hops really form an extensive underground root system. Not much different from grubbing out shrubs. Not a fun job.

Jim
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