Hop Harvesting August 08 2015, 0 Comments

Your hops are growing like crazy and taking over your yard, by now you're probably seeing lots of those big bright hop cones and fantasizing about throwing them in to your next homebrew. You know that typically hop harvest begins in late August and continues through the beginning of October, but each variety reaches peak maturity at a different time, so when to harvest those hops in your yard? It is time to harvest your home-grown hops when you see:

1. The hop cones appear less tight, the leaves of the cone are opening and loosening
2. Bright yellow lupulin droplets are showing at the base of the leaves (this smells strongly like hops and is sticky when touched)
3. When you squeeze a cone, it emits a strong fragrant scent that you would expect from fresh hops
4. The hop cone feels papery and resilient, but not hard
5. The cone is no longer entirely bright green, the small leaves at the base of the stem are beginning to dry with the tips turning brown.

Keep monitoring those hops, harvest at the right time when you see the signs listed above, store the harvested hops properly or use them right away and before you know it you'll have a delicious homegrown homebrew! Let us know if you have any questions or want help making a recipe to use your fresh hops!

Trimming Hop Bines April 24 2015, 0 Comments

As your backyard hops get taller, usually above 6 inches, you'll want to pick the strongest bine per rhizome and cut the rest down. This way you'll get more energy poured into producing hop flowers and less on making "structure."

If this is the first year that you planted your hop rhizomes, don't trim them at all, just let them grow, since the first year you just want the plant to take hold, you're not really concerned about hop production.

Happy Hopping!

Planting Hops June 24 2013, 0 Comments

Hopefully you all are getting close to being done getting your hop rhizomes planted for the year. You'll definitely want to get your hop rhizomes or hop plants in the ground by mid-to-end of June, for sure. You may not see many hops the first year, but you'll definitely be glad you planted them in years two and onward.

Remember hops want lots of sun and want to climb, sometimes up to 20 feet! One trick to maximize your hop yield (as long as your hop bines are 3+ years old) is to trim all your bines down to the ground near the end of May and then keep the best two or so that come up from each node. This will give you a higher yield of hops.

Remember that you can always call us with any questions regarding hop bine planting, tending, or harvesting. And we still do have some hop rhizomes and plants left. The rhizomes have been marked down to $3.99 and the hop plants are $9.99.

Happy hopping!