August Hops Update

The hops have done well this year! I've really only been displaying half of my crop, the other half is nearly as big and is on the opposite side of the house (to the left of the air conditioning unit). They have actually climbed across the strings that I placed between the two arbors, and have intertwined.

If you go back to one of my earlier posts you can see how much they have grown and filled in now.

I have also seen several "Hop Guardians" climbing around on my plants too. Praying Mantis and various spiders. These are very welcomed as they are natural pest control for my hops. Early on in the growing season I do need to hit them with a dose or two of Seven Dust, because the natural predators haven't hatched as early as the plant devouring Japanese Beetles do. And believe me those beetles can do some major damage in a short amount of time! On a sad note though I fear that one of the best of these guardians has fallen pray to a bird. On Sunday I came out to check on the hops and there was a huge "Garden Spider" (Orb Web Spider) You know the yellow black and white abdomen spiders that spread their legs out in pairs and sit waiting for something to land in their web http://www.spiderzrule.com/orb.htm right in the center of the arch. She must have been 6" diameter leg span, and was in the center of her perfectly orb shaped web. She was beautiful, but of course I didn't have my camera, and wasn't able to get back to the hops until last evening to get a shot. When I went back she was gone and there was a huge hole in the center of the web where she once was. Bummer! I'm pretty sure that a bird flew up and plucked her out of the web.

I wanted to try to get several angles so that you could see how healthy they are. In this photo you can see some of the cones that will be harvested within the next couple of weeks.



This is a close up so that you can see the size of the cones (flowers) of the hops. They are bigger and better than ever this year.

This plant was put into the ground here about 4 years ago, and the other plant (not pictured) was put into the ground 3 years ago. Next year they should be even better!

I watered them pretty good last night because we haven't had rain for over a week now, and don;t have much chance of rain over the next week either. I'm actually hoping that they will be ready to harvest within the next week because they are so close and I'm scheduled for another business trip, out of the country, just after Labor Day. If I don't harvest before then, I'm sure I will miss the optimum time while I'm gone.

Oh well like I've said before, I really grow them because they are such cool plants, growing from 3-6" per day at peak growing season, and that if I actually get any of the hops to use in my brewing then it's a bonus!