Thinning & hop shoot risotto

Standard advice for growing hops suggests pruning back excess growth so that the plants can concentrate their energy into growing their most successful shoots. I have decided that only the Columbus is in need of pruning as the other two still need to establish themselves more. Here's the Willamette:

And the Cascade:

Both of these plants could certainly do with filling out. The Columbus on the other hand is much thicker at this point:

It has even been trying to escape. Here it is throttling a nearby daffodil:

From the pruning advice above, I have settled on nine shoots overall (three per line of twine). Once I'd identified these nine shoots I cut everything else back to the rhizome. Here is the slimmed down result:

That gave me a quantity of hop shoots:

As mentioned earlier my plan had been to use them to try making a hop shoot risotto. The shoots on their own are not unpleasant just a little bland. This unfortunately proved to be true once they were included in the risotto, which was eventually reverted back to having more flavour by adding mushrooms. Some of my own homebrew was used instead of wine though, which definitely enhanced the flavour :) There was no hop shoot flavour perceivable in the finished product, which was nevertheless pretty tasty.

Not entirely sure why this wasn't more successful. Perhaps I just didn't have enough in terms of shoots, perhaps I pruned too late in the season. There are many possible reasons. Unfortunately, this is a dish I can only try making once a year. According to the page on which I found the recipe this is a Venetian delicacy. I don't really think of the Italians growing hops so it's also possible that the varieties they use for this risotto are quite different to those used for making beer. Hopefully I will be able to try again next year with an even greater quantity of pruned hops. I may also try pruning a little earlier in the year. There's also the possibility that the Cascade and Willamette will be thick enough to need pruning and thus contribute to the harvesting of shoots. Many possibilities to try, just a very long time between experiments.

Time flies when you're growing fun

I've realised that it is going to be all too easy to lose track of what's happening with these hops if I don't keep on top of this blog. The observant will have noticed that I have changed the hop height graph to show change over time. This means that I can calculate a growth rate, even if three data points per plant aren't of earth shattering significance. The Columbus has grown nearly 4 feet in two weeks, which I reckon comes out at a little over 3 inches per day. At that rate falling behind will be all too easy if I'm not paying attention. Here's a side view, you should be able to see one of the Columbus shoots (top right) is well ahead of anything else

Also, all three plants are showing signs of lateral buds that will become cones. As always the Columbus is the most obvious:

The Cascade buds can at least be seen without squinting too much:

The Willamette cones need a much closer look, but they are just about poking out:

Overall, good progress is being made with plenty of upward growth. I haven't quite got the stage of cutting back the shoots of the Columbus to thin them down to the best performing 9 so that I can try them out in a hop shoots risotto. Should be soon though.

Onwards and upwards

Growth over the last couple of weeks has been prodigious with the Columbus and Cascade getting towards the top of their respective tomato cages:

 

Hopefully the three Columbus shoots and one Cascade shoots that are getting close can be seen. This means that it's time to instigate my twine-based plan for further upward growth. Unfortunately, some bodging will be necessary as there are no obvious points from which to hang twine. My intention is to string them up to the window just above them, thus creating some shade underneath (if we get enough growth):

What I hope is visible here is a small piece of bamboo that has been inserted into one of the holes of the brick forming the window sill. There is a similar hole on the other side. I drilled small holes in each of the bamboo pieces so that I could string some twine between them. They are kept in place by keeping the twine between them under tension through knot tying. The idea is that lines of twine can then be attached to the twine between the two pieces of bamboo. There is one attached in the photo above. Adding a total of nine lines (3 for each plant) looks like this from below:

And like this from the side:

And this is the full frontal:

I'm hoping that with enough growth, particularly from the Columbus, that there will be enough shade created so we can move the glass table (you can see in the side view) underneath to take advantage during the summer. Only time will tell how much growth happens. Certainly, putting up this arrangement has happened just in time for the Columbus:

My only real concern now is stopping them from growing up the string of lights. There will have to be some hyper-vigilance given how quickly they are growing right now.

What a difference a year makes

I was looking at the pics from last year of my hops sprouting and noticed that this year's growth is much more vigorous. This might seem like stating the obvious as they've had a full years growth to establish themselves, even if they were abused a bit in the meantime. I like to see it as confirmation that they are establishing themselves and will only become more productive in years to come. Anyway, here's a side by side comparison for all three. The Columbus:

This year's is on the bottom and I hope it's obvious that the stems are much thicker and there are more of them. They are also more purple in terms of the colour. It seems that these shoots are something of a delicacy on their own. I might have to try this as I'm almost certain that I will be pruning back some of the Columbus. The recommended number of shoots after pruning seems to be 3-4 bines per string and 2-3 strings per plant. This will still leave me with some that need pruning and can become a culinary experiment too. The Cascade has also gotten more vigorous:

 

And the Willamette:

 

Even the Willamette is looking a lot healthier in comparison with last year. This is the plant I was most worried about, given that its growth and cones production was a lot less than the other two. There is a distinct possibility that in the conditions I have here that this will continue to be the case. Hopefully it will be more productive this year than last and eventually get to a stage where it provides a good harvest. Having said that, I will be perfectly happy if the Columbus gives me even more cones than it did last year.

What a difference a day makes

I wanted to quickly demonstrate just how quickly hops can grow when they put their minds to it. Here are three pics of the Columbus on three consecutive days. 

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

 

As you can see, I am going to have to keep on top of them right now to make sure I can start to train them up the corners of the tomato cage and then onto some twine above that.

You turn your back for a couple of weeks....

Have been off in Oregan and Washington tasting beer and wine for the last couple of weeks. There was some walking through rainforests and along beaches, so it was healthy too. Came back to find my hops have definitely decided it's spring. Just like last year, the Columbus is way out in front:

There are at least a dozen shoots with leaves growing out of them. The other two may not be this prolific but they've definitely started. Here's the Cascade:

Not as many shoots or leaves yet but a very promising start. The Willamette is on a similar footing:

Too early to say if this means the Willamette will be as healthy and productive as the Cascade. If you remember last year during harvest, the Willamette gave me a grand total of three cones versus 2oz from the Cascade. I will be very happy if these two give me increased yield.

The other thing I will have to consider is whether to prune. Standard hop growing advice is to prune back all but the most vigorous bines so that growth is concentrated in them. It's too early to start worrying about that just yet. I might well do something along these lines for the Columbus, but the Cascade and Willamette seem as if they could perhaps do with another year of unrestricted growth. Will decide on this when there's more in the way of growth. Bring on spring!

Shaking off winter

The new year has brought plenty of abysmal weather. We have had snow dumped on us several times now. Here is just one example:

The table on the right gives you and idea of just how much fell, and this wasn't even our biggest snow fall by any means. There's more falling as I write this, hopefully the last of the year. It's been a funny year so you never know. I'm hoping spring will be with us soon. In between snow falls I was able to spot these very early signs of spring in my hops. Here are shoots on the Columbus:

The second picture is particularly encouraging as the shoot is growing out of an end that tore when I was transplanting them back in September. The Cascade also has signs of new growth:

Not quite as advanced as the Columbus but encouraging nonetheless. Even the Willamette, which struggled a little last year, is getting ready for spring:

Consistent with it struggling in comparison to the other two, there are fewer shoots on the Willamette. There are still plenty to make me hopeful enough that it will flourish shortly. There is also no sign of the tomato plant that tried to overtake the Willamette after I transplanted them. I will just have to hope that the current snow coming down won't set them back too much. Everything I've read or heard about hops leads me to think that this is unlikely, so I'm quietly confident that there will be greater growth this year and hopefully an increase in harvest too. As a consequence I've decided to not try replacing the Galena that was so savagely taken from us last year.