How's everyones hops plants doing so far?

[Ale Man]

What food you giving them? I haven't used any

Plenty of well rotted manure over winter as a mulch, tomato feed about every 10 days when flowering or just before it. And water, lots of water every few days if there is no heavy rain. I saw some ladybirds on one of my plants last week, glad they called it home as it prevents s build up of aphids.

[montofk]

Mine are only about 18" -  2' long each at the moment and most of this has been in the last few weeks, (EKG doing better than my cascade).
They got off to a slow start, I got mine with Drowning Manatee, and his seemed to shoot off before mine for some reason.
(They were in a green house for the first couple of months with that crappy April/May we got thought it would be better)

They're now growing in soil in a directly south facing location with netting behind which is supported by a 'briary bush' (think that's the latin name for it? ) the netting goes up to around 6ft, but I could probably add more to acheive more height...., Do you think the bush will interfere with the hop or will the hop stay quite close to the net itself? I'll be able to get behind the net to keep the bush trimmed    ...  so hopefully it'll be fine. I don't mind if I don't get optimal yield from my plants, as long as I get enough for maybe 10 brews a year....
The other thing is my hops are spaced about 4' apart from each other. I think this might be a bit close.....
To be honest I'm not totally happy with their location at the moment, and often think about moving it before they get much longer, but don't really know where else to put them. I'll try get a picture up see what y'all think.
Horizontally speaking they have about 15' of length to grow on, with the plants located in the middle this means each plant can grow up to about 6' high and sideways by 7-8' each, I will need to 'encourage' them to take the right course and not just get tangled up with each other.

[Will_D]

My Cascade, Magnum and Saaz (in the ir first year are growing very slowly - only about 18"

[Tom]

It's not length, but girth that matters. Seriously

Girth is good to satisfy an area, but you gotta reach that area first...

But anyway... i was wondering. If you snip the tip of the bine once it gets to a level you're happy with, will the plant then concentrate on side chutes and flowers? like cutting the top off a tree.

I suspect not. Side shoots will grow with gay abandon, but only the top half or third of the bine sends out cone-forming sideshoots, so you'll be basically cutting off your actual production. If you want to shorten the plant and still produce cones, try cutting about 6 foot from somewhere in the middle 

And while we're spoiling the fun, hop bines are 'pre-programmed', so they already know how many cones they'll produce by April. YOU get to find out in August. I read this in some American hop thesis, so it MUST be true.   

[LordEoin]

Calvinist hops eh? 

feck it so, I'll just borrow a ladder and extend the netting all the way up the side of the house.

[imark]

Planted fuggles and cascade in April. They're over 2m already. No feed so far other than planting in a manure rich soil. Actually think I may have some wet hops for an ale come harvest. 

[Dodge]

My cascade, Fuggles, EKG. And challenger are at least 5m high and loads of side shoots. Looks like it will be a bumper crop this summer. Starting to think of some wet hop ale recipes  :

[LordEoin]

I looked up today and saw that one of my bines had made it all the way to the top of the gable and was trying to get across the roof, another one is reaching for the electricity wire.

[johnrm]

Thats a great sight!
Mine had a rough start but I have 1 thats 3M+ high and going sideways now, a few smaller ones catching up, one at 3m.

[LordEoin]

It won't be long now!
Looks like I'll be butchering another keg to add 2 more varieties next year 

[johnrm]

Whats with the butchering?!
Have you spare kegs?

[LordEoin]

There's no such thing as a 'spare' keg. It's like a 'spare cigarette'... 

[Tom]

Oh my god, man. Bucket's are about €2, and aren't rare as hens teeth!

[LordEoin]

@tube - this is their first year planted and they were pretty beat up when they arrived in the post, so i was just going to leave them do their thing and get established. But I might pinch them off now alright as otherwise they'll be climbing along the ESB wire and probably be the end of me at harvest.

@tom - buckets are ugly. I was originally going to pot them in buckets, but I just kept my eyes open and pulled this keg out of a river. A few hours and grinder discs later i had a far more fitting bed for them. (grow from a keg, end in a beer). The area below them is also dig down a few feet to allow them to root properly without becoming potbound. The last thing I'd describe pub kegs as is 'rare as hens teeth', look in any builder's yard or construction site and you'll find them in the stupidest of places, acting as tables, chairs, etc

[Tom]

I like your circle of life for hops, but I don't think I've ever tasted any hops in a keg beer!

As for rarity, I do see them places (outside pubs, building sites etc) but I don't like pinching things when I'm sober...

They do look good though.