Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

They always said that hops grew like weeds, but damn.  My cascade vine sprouted more than 40 vines this year and is still sprouting vines.  I had to install another line for growth.  Still clipping unwanted vines that keep popping out of the ground.  The tallest vine is at least seven feet tall.  I am beginning to wonder what this summer holds, and if my trellis will be able to support the weight!  The other variety vines are only a few feet high.

For pictures goto:

http://www.absbrew.com/index.php?act=viewDoc&docId=14

Here's to some hops this year eh?  Cheers!  I need a homebrew!

-Doc M

My cascade has just reached the top of the trellis (10 feet).  Is anyone else seeing this early behavior?  My wife was asking what we are going to do during mid-summer if the vines have already reached the height of the trellis.  Any comments?

My Nuggets are ~7 feet and growing.  This normal for them.

They will climb to the top and start to drop over the other side (but only a foot or two), and all will be well.

I actually like that my don't go up for 30 feet because the shorter ones get bushier and, frankly, look better to me and the neighbors.

My fuggles are about 18 inches high and I just started training them to the trellis.  The cascades are lagging a bit behind and are maybe 12 inches high.  At least they came back this year!

Cool.  My cascade just reached the top of the trellis this weekend.  Next in the race is Kent Golding, soon to be at the top.  It is amazing how fast they grow.

Show-offs.    My rhizomes have broken ground.  And I have leaves!!!!  7 feet tall? No.  1 foot tall?  Nope.  Maybe more like 4-6 inches, and that estimate might be a little exaggerated.  The Sunbeam Golden and the Chinook both look good, but slow to really grow in height.  Of course this is my first year growing hops so my expectations aren't high.  The Fuggles is pitiful.  Of the 3, I'd say the Fuggles went into the best soil, but all I have to show for it is a little nub of a stem with what might be some yet-to-unravel leaves.  Guess I know now which varieties do well with my soil and sunlight combination.

Here's some pics taken before the vines were trained horizontal.

Hey Spidey, at least they are breaking ground.  As I told you when you were over here, something happened to my Galena planting last year and it never came up.  But I replaced it with a cascade this year and it is doing well.  I guess it was a bum rhizome.  The guys at Fresh Hops were like, "Hey maaan, why don't you pull it up and see if it has roots on it.  If it doesn't then it is probably dead, man."  Those guys are a trip, kinda like the guy I was telling you about that called and wanted to know if he could substituted pot for hops in beer.  LOL

Great to hear that your hops are doing well, Doc.  I trained my fuggles to the trellis last Sunday and they are doing well.  The cascade is coming along too, though slower.

The guys on the Brewing Network refer to pot as "the cousin" because apparently it is related to the hop plant.  There are all sorts of silly jokes and stories they make about it that are mildly amusing.  One of the more amusing ones was a guy growing hops in his backyard being "questioned" by drug enforcement officials because he was growing hops in an area that was known for growing pot.  The individual tried to explain they were hops and he made his own beer.  He eventually talked them out of it, but it took a lot longer than it should have, given that the plants don't look much a like.

Okay, now we have problems.  The weight of the cascade vine is so heavy that it is sagging the trellis lines.  I think all of my other vines are on schedule and normal.  I must have gotten a mutant cascade rhizome.  This thing is still spitting out vines.  Last time I was out there it spoke to me.  It said, "Feed me Seymour."  Has anyone ever had a vine speak to them like this?  It tries to latch on to me too.

I have an idea.  I will be back and let you know if it worked, with pics.  Mcguyver time.  Music please.

Time to buy the bulk size box of band aids.  Hopefully, your love interest is not dating an abusive dentist, but if so, just cut him up and feed him to the hop plant.

I admit it.  The Little Shop of Horrors reference makes me giggle.

When I first saw that movie, I laughed so hard my sides hurt for days.  I don't know why, but at the time I thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen.  I still find it very amusing.

My dogs are now afraid to come out of the house.  Griffin was attacked earlier this week.  The leaves are bigger than my head, it has now infiltrated the pipelines into my house and cut off all water supply.  Mayday, mayday.  I will soon post pics of what I had to do to keep the vines from weighting down the trellis.  I have never seen this behavior in dogs.  They used to love going outside.  Now they just sit at the door and whine.

Ummm, Doc?  Do you need some "Organic Fertilizer" for those Seymour cascades?   I have a few suggestions, but we'd have to, ummm... "Acquire" the fertilizers when nobody's watching.  I hope their Momma's won't miss them.
  Does it matter to the Cascade vines if the "fertilizer" is still moving a little bit?