Hop Rhizomes

General brewing information, questions and discussion. Topics that do not seem to fit elsewhere.

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Suthrncomfrt1884
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Post by Suthrncomfrt1884 »

I live about 5 miles away from Rockford, IL. It's right along the Illinois/Wisconsin state line.
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Legman
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signs of life

Post by Legman »

Well, the first hop bine has just broke through the surface of the soil. :D
It was one of my Tettnagers that I planted a few weeks ago. I can't wait to see the rest of them come up!
This is going to be cool to have my own hop garden.
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Post by Suthrncomfrt1884 »

I just got mine in the ground today. I was procrastinating, so I had to throw together my hop trellis at the same time. Can't wait to see some life with mine. The rhizomes looked excellent concidering they sat in my refrigerator for a month.
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Legman
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The battle begins!

Post by Legman »

Well, so far 9 of 12 rhizomes have come up. But what I've noticed the last few days is something is already eating the tops off about 4 of them.
I have yet to see anything out there and it seems to be happening during the day while I'm at work. Now I'm determined to figure out what the heck it is.

The war has begun!!!! :x
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Growing Status

Post by shaggyt »

My 5 rhizomes now all have broken through...they've been in the ground for several weeks now. 1 Centennial, 2 Horizon, & 2 Nugget...of these, the Centennial is shooting up the quickest.

I had mine in the fridge for a couple weeks too Suthrn. Some had 2+ inch shoots on them, 1 Horizon & 1 Nugget (which broke off at the tip). For a while, I had zero signs of life in that Nugget rhizome but two days ago, one tiny sprout broke through. I checked this morning, and two more shoots broke through on the same plant...amazing, they're sprouting off the broken shoot.

Legman, hopefully your neighbor hasn't been nibbling on your shoots, LOL! I've got rabbits and deer galore around here and (knock on wood) no damage or signs of nibbling.

If it's deer, try planting some marigolds around your hop garden or spread some Irish Spring shavings around the plants. My wife used the soap around her hostas (sp) which are like candy for deer...no signs of damage were the soap was.

Rabbits on the other hand...get a cat (lol), they work well if they stay close to home. Mine likes to go out at night, plus my neighbors' let their cats out as well.

Good luck.
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Neighbor

Post by Legman »

Ya, know Shaggyt, I did see a couple of jackasses flipping me the bird. I could be them! LOL :!: :lol:

Actually, I think it may be slugs. I have plenty of those around here. They have also been eating on some of my garden veggies and flowers. I fight them every year. Definitely not a deer problem here and probably not the rabbits either. Not many around here.

I'm already preparing for the Japanese beetle attack. I hate them !@#$. They love to destroy my grape vines, and I've read they love hops as well. I'll be watching and waiting. :x
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Post by Suthrncomfrt1884 »

Japanese Beetles...argh! Glad you reminded me. I'll have to go out and get some repellent to put out. Hopefully they make something organic. Our whole yard got eaten up by them last year.

By the way...my Mt. Hood's are starting to pop out, but no life from the other two. Suprising, because the Mt. Hood root was the scrawniest out of all of them. Also, the other two had shoots already growing in the fridge.
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Organic spray

Post by Legman »

I read a post on another brewing forum that some guy was using a home made tobacco spray. He would soak cigarette butts or buy a package of leaf tobacco and put it in sprayer filled with water, let it set for about a week and sprayed his hops. He stated that he'd been using it in his veggie garden for 30 years now with great success. I may give this a try. Evidently, it takes care of a variety of pests.

I don't like to spray any kind of insecticides, organic or otherwise, unless I absolutely have to. Mainly because they also kill all of the beneficial insects that are doing the same job for you.

But I dread the Japanese Beetles. I've tried a few insecticides, but they always come back. The only way I've been able to keep them from devouring my grape vines in to hand pick them twice a day. The though of having to climb a latter multiple time a day to pick them from my hops does not amuse me. :roll:
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Re: Organic spray

Post by slothrob »

Legman wrote:I read a post on another brewing forum that some guy was using a home made tobacco spray. He would soak cigarette butts or buy a package of leaf tobacco and put it in sprayer filled with water, let it set for about a week and sprayed his hops. He stated that he'd been using it in his veggie garden for 30 years now with great success. I may give this a try.
Just be careful. Nicotine pesticide is extremely toxic, even absorbed through the skin. Be particularly careful with it around kids or pets, since it takes a smaller dose to kill them; just the amount in 1 or 2 butts.

If you're having trouble with slugs, try making traps out of tin cans partially filled with stale beer, then buried up to the rim.
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Legman
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Re: Tobacco spray

Post by Legman »

I have read that it can be pretty toxic, but I'm not so sure about the amount of nicotine in 1-2 butts killing pets. When I was a kid, it was kind of a party trick that when I flicked my butts in the yard, my dog would run over and stomp and roll around on it and then eat it. She did that for many years with no negative effects.

I only use insecticides for extreme measures. I'll probably just experiment with garlic and hot pepper sprays. I hear the do a good job.
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nicotine

Post by slothrob »

People use this stuff, and used to use it a lot, and its not like thousands die every year. I just got nervous when you called it an organic pesticide, because some people mistakenly think that means non-toxic. But This stuff could potentially kill you if you took a big enough swig of it

Interestingly, nicotine is 10 times less toxic to dogs than humans. But a puppy or a baby or someone with a bad heart would have a much lower tolerance (easily 5 to 10-fold lower than a typical adult as it usually depends on body weight).

Tthe "1 butt" is probably based on the amount of nicotine in a cigarette butt as opposed to an actual cigarette butt, from which you would get a time-release of nicotine and less than 100% extraction. But the extracted nicotine in insecticide will be quickly absorbed and virtually all at once, making the same amount of nicotine more toxic. But that's definitely the low end of the toxicity scale. An adult dog or human would probably need to eat 4 or 5 cigarettes to get particularly sick.

I've had luck with Pyrethrin spray against aphids, when I was too impatient to wait for the lady beetles to do the job for me, and it should also work against japanese beetles. That's an extract of marigolds, and 100 to 1000-fold less toxic than nicotine, I believe, but anything that actually kills insects is going to be somewhat poisonous.[/b]
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Legman
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Hop damage

Post by Legman »

Well, another one has been attacked. I'm still not sure what the heck it is, but it's doing the same thing in my veggie garden. I just went out there and saw that one of my zucchini plants that I just put out yesterday has been clipped right in two at the stalk. The leaves are just laying on the ground. A few other things have been munched on as well. I'm starting to get irritated. :x


I'll look into that Pyrethrin spray. Thanks for the tip. I just hate to use anything if I don't have to.
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hop damage

Post by slothrob »

Good luck.

Could be cut worms if the stems are actually sliced through. The trick I learned from my father to deal with cut worms was to sprinkle wood ashes around the plants. They don't like to crawl over them, so you get some protection. After it rains, you may need to replace them. You can also set up a barrier, like a ring or strip of paper or plastic surrounding the stems and partially imbedded in the soil. We used to do that with bottomless paper cups around young tomato plants.

Hopefully you won't need a .22.
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re:hop damage

Post by Legman »

Heck with the .22.....I've got the 12 gauge out!

Yeah I was thinking cut worms when I saw my zucchini plant, but I don't think it's the same thing with the hops.

You think birds would do it? I sat and watched one just raisin' hell on my grape vine for no reason. :?
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hop damage

Post by slothrob »

Well, that will relieve you of the annoyance of having to aim.

I've never seen birds do that, but maybe they're looking for nesting material. If that's the case, that should end soon. Maybe a couple crushed garlic cloves would discourage them. Or perhaps some strips of foil. Or get a meaner cat.
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