2010 Hop Gardens

So this year, I needed to plant new rhizomes at my mom's house. I decided to try Goldings again because they are one of my favorite English style hops. This year I decided to water more frequently ( 2/day - 5 days/wk for 5 minutes) on the drip system. I also made sure to give the rhizomes a good dose of compost. In San Diego, compost is free at the Miramar landfill. You just show your ID and you can take a couple cubic yards of compost and mulch. The mulch is great for covering the ground around the hops to keep in moisture. Be careful not to cover the rhizomes or near the base of the plant as it may cause mildew. The combination seemed to really help this year as they are taking off. Also after the shoots were about a foot high I cut the bines so I only had 2 shoots. Below will be my updates:
04.26.10

 06.02.10

07.10.10 - Bugs, looks like grasshoppers and spider mites

So not the greatest news at my Dad's house. I can still see the root ball with buds but no action. And it appears the other Cascade did not make it. We recently composted the garden bed and increased the water schedule so maybe it will make a late run.

 9.07.10 Well they made a run. And they were doing really well until... THE SQUIRREL FIGHT 2010. A squirrel got into Dad's garden and as he was trying to get it out he whacked the hop vine in half. The good news is the rhizome for this plant is huge. The reason it was such as slow starter is because it grew under ground for almost 2 feet before sprouting to the surface. So for next year we are going to chop it up a bit and put a barrier around it.

So now I'm going on two years and no hop cones. But I feel like I am getting closer. I already have expansion plans for next year.