East Kent Golding Last Blog
Week 24 (September 20, 2011) This is the last blog for East Kent Golding 2011 (Dent Golding)
Today I harvested the hops from the two plants and the cones are drying. I picked just under a pound so on average each plant yielded a 1/2 pound. This is really good for 1st year plants. Within the week I will be cutting down the hops and wheeling the two pots outside. Hop roots require a minimum of 6 weeks at 38 F or colder. Next year I may bring the two pots in early to get an early start.
I hope to grow two Cascades next year outside. I hope you enjoyed the weekly updates. Please comment on the blog and any suggestions for 2012.
Cheers
Tom
Week 22 (September 7, 2011) Special Hops Offer!
If you purchase $20 or more you receive one 1oz bag of homegrown leaf hops for free as supplies last. In store only!
Labor Weekend if over and the growing season is almost to the end. I've harvested all 52 plants at home and have the two at the store left for harvesting. Since I planted the East Kent Golding about a month late the hops are just about ready for picking. Some are ready and some are not. It’s time to pick when the hops turn a greenish white or the pedals tips turn brown. This year’s production was a little short. I moved a few plants and cut out the rhizomes to make more plants. Next year all of the hops will be 2 -5 years old and majority 3-5 years old. Next year should be a good crop is the weather works out. This year the rains were too much and slowed down the growth. The way my yard is sloped the hops where flooded or very wet for a month or so. I am going to dig up my two fuggles and expand up to 6 fuggles next year. I am putting up two new poles along my brick wall to help shade the wall during the hot summer months. Here are a few hoppy pictures:
You can see in this last picture the hop clones are greenish white and a little fluffy. These will get harvested next week.
I will post one more blog after harvesting to show the hops after drying. Here is picture from home. I had two 10ft long tables fully loaded. A hell of a lot of picking.
I have fresh Homegrown hops for sale. The hops are packaged in 1 oz bags and I am selling the hops for 75 cents per ounce. In store only. Centennial are sold out and there at still Cascades, East Kent Golding and Sterling.
Week 19 (August 10, 2011)
It's been a few weeks and the flower cones are everywhere on the two plants. It is unbelievable how fast and how long the East Kent Golding's grew the 1st year. Once again this is not typical for the 1st year. The two plants are working great as a window shades and it looks cool. Here are a few pictures.
Each little bud will transform into a cone.These two pictures where taken above the counter which is on the other side of the two planters.
A couple nice groups of hop cones.
The home hops garden is doing very well. Soon it will be time to bring down the wires and start picking thousands of hop cones. It looks like I will have a lot of Magnum Hops this year.
Week 16 (July 20, 2011)
The hops have stopped growing and now producing a great number of flower cones. There are a 100 plus new cones and it will look neat in a few weeks when they grow into 1 - 2" long cones. This will be one of the last overview pictures. Starting next week I will be posting flower cone development.
Close up view on the two East Kent Goldings
View from the counter that I get to see everyday. It is also working very well as a green blind.
Close-up of a new cone flower.
Week 15 (July 13, 2011)
Great news! The East Kent Golding’s are finally starting to flower (cone). The flower heads are popping out everywhere. The hops are still growing, but will slow down to concentrate on flowers. Soon we will be able to smell and feel the hops. The flowers will turn into a cone shape flowers. The following are the three (3) signs to determine the cones are ready to pick:
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The green cone starts to lighten up in color.
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The pedal tips are starting to turn brown.
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When you squeeze or flatten the cone its' springs back to the original cone shape.
The fuzz star like ends are the beginnings of the hop cones.
Week 13 (June 29, 2011)
Now the two hops are across the store and turning around heading back along the rope. The branches are all over the place. There are no sign of flowers/cones. The East Kent Golding’s at home are flowering and cones are starting to form. Since the store plants only get a little direct sun in the evening I am afraid they might not flower. Next year I might have to move them outside. I guess time will tell. I will be picking some Cascade Hops this weekend. Look for fresh Cascades Leaf Hops in the store next week. I should get around a half pound of hops (8 - 1 oz bags). See blog labeled "Hops 2011" for home garden pictures.
Hop vines going across the 3 windows and double doors and heading back to the planters.
Hop vines hanging from the rope. This window is just left of the planters.
Week 11 (June 15, 2011)
In a few more days the two hops will make it to the end of the store front and will have to turn back. This makes the plants 23-25 feet long. I tried to capture it all, but no way. Hope you are enjoying the pictures.
Week 10 (June 8, 2011)
The hops are now 19-21 feet long and still growing. Some of the lateral branches are over 5 feet long and dozen are coming out. Still no flowers since the plants are still in the growing mode. First year plans typically do not grow 21 feet the first year. If you get 12 - 15 feet you are doing great. I guess the great potting/topsoil is the main reason. This will be the last update until there are some flower cones to show. If you are interested please stop in and see for yourself. Next week I will post some flower cones from the cascade hop plants at home. Cheers!
Week 9 (June 1, 2011)
June is already here and we moved straight to dog days of summer. Where is the middle ground that is sunny and 70's? The hops just keep on growing with more branches, longer vines etc. The mildew is slowing down. I may need to spray one more time. No flowers yet. I hope there is enough sun for flowers. I guess time will tell. The home hops are doing great. Some of the plants are over 21ft tall and the cascades already have flowers. The two fuggles are now a few feet tall and should be in good shape to transplant next spring and hopefully get six rhizomes. I planted more rhizomes in each of the corners of the fence so I should get even more flowers in the future. I'm going to let them grow along the fence top. At one end will be two Mt. Hoods and the other end will be East Kent Goldings. In the 3rd picture the two lateral branches are hanging from the top rope. The 1st picture shows the branches hanging. Maybe next week there will be a close up of a new flower.
PS: I have new pictures of the home hops. I hope to post this week.
Week 8 Pictures (May 25, 2011)
I have good news and bad news. Both EK Golding’s are growing great. They both have made it to the door window. That is at least 12 feet long. The lateral branches are coming out all over the vine and some are 3 ft long. East Kent Golding's lateral branches max out around 5 ft. Most of the flowers come from the lateral branches. We should have a lot of flowers. See the 3rd picture. The bad news is that both plants have Downy Mildew. This is a first for me. The cool damp cloudy weather is the cause. I stopped the watering a week ago and the dirt is still damp. We need some sun drying days. I applied a fungicide yesterday. This should stop the downy mildew. I checked the plants at home and so far so good. No mildews signs yet. The two new fuggles are growing good and the last East Kent Golding is starting to come up. This makes a total of 50 plants at home and 2 in the store.
Week 7 Picture (May 18, 2011)
The two East Kent Golding’s are still growing in length. Both are around 12ft long and both are starting to grow lateral branches. This is good news since a majority of the flowers form on the lateral branches. This means we should have a few flower cones the 1st year. There is only one picture since the shots are getting hard to take with the window glares. Since the lateral branches are starting the main vine growing should slow down. My guess the plants will max out around 15-17ft. We need some sunny days!!! Some of the leafs are looking thin and a little wilted.
Week 6 Pictures (May 11, 2011)
The hops are doing better than expected. It appears you can grow them indoors if you have the room and proper lighting. The pictures are not the best since the plants are at the end of the pole and onto the rope. East Kent Golding #1 jumped from the right pole over to the left pole. The 2nd vine from EKG#1 is now going up the pole and should make it to the rope by next Wednesday. I do not see anymore new vines coming out. It looks like the three vines will be it for this 1st year.
The 47 plants at my home are doing great. Only two new rhizomes did not come up, one East Kent Golding and one Fuggle. I will take some pictures for next week weekly blog. The plants loved the record rains. Now I hope the fungus and mildew stays away. I do need to weed soon.
Week 5 Pictures (May 4, 2011)
If you have not been in the store lately you are missing it. The past week the hops have grown 3f. The East Kent Golding's are going to grow somewhere between 12 and 15 feet. Not bad for the 1st season. As you will see EGK #1 2nd vine is starting to grow which is slowing down the 1st vine. EGK #2 only has one vine and it is the tallest of the three vines. The height difference is the 2nd vine on EGK #1. The hops will be on the rope by tomorrow and hopefully start growing across the front of the store windows.
East Kent Golding #1
East Kent Golding #2
Week 4 Pictures (April 27, 2011)
The East Kent Golding's are still growing. The two plants are 3ft tall and half way up the 6ft pole. I will have to install the rope across the front very soon. This is almost 3.5 inches a day, not bad for 1st year plants. With the size of the hops and the window glare I only took one picture. The two plants are already started twisting up the pole. EKG1 still needs a little help. This vine likes to grow up the window.
The home hops garden is very wet with all of the monster rains, but all 45 plants are growing the fastest ever. I have only one E.K. Golding not coming up yet in the garden and the two fuggles under the deck. The last E.K. Golding might not come up. I let the rhizome out for two days and it dried up some. I hope the fuggles come up; this is my first two. With all of the rain I am sure most of the plants will grow somewhere between 20 and 30 feet. I do have concerns with mildew and wilt. Hopefully we get some sun and have a few drying days before the next rain shower.
Week 3 Pictures (April 20, 2011)
Week 2 Pictures (April 13, 2011)
Week 1 Pictures (April 6, 2011)
Table Top Brewing is growing two East Kent Golding Hop rhizomes inside the store near the window facing the south west. The two East Kent Goldings rhizomes where planted on March 30, 2011. Yesterday, both rhizomes broke ground and today each have two vines peeking out. We will be taking pictures weekly with a report on progress. Table Top Brewing is using two large garbage cans with wheels as the planters. We put around 3 inches of 1" round rock at the bottom, then added 3 " of construction paper to adsorb the excess water. The dirt is a combination of Miracle Grow potting soil, top soil, peat moss and 15 lbs of spent grain. We filled the planters to the top and added two grape vine poles to each planter for the hop vines to climb up. Once to the top of the window the hops will grow horizontal across the front of the store.
Comments
Jump to comment formTom Z said:
This was super cool to follow, I hope you do this next year too. Do you have any more fresh hops for sale still?