HOP UPDATE, WHAT A WONDERFUL PLANT

What an exquisite plant. Five days ago I posted pictures of hops that I have growing. These are native hops that I believe were planted by the early settlers of McDonough. I came across them while exploring the property I had just purchased in 1978. The vines I found were filled with young hops. Very nearby, within 50 feet from the vines, I also discovered an old foundation made from Bluestone and covered with years of decayed vegetation. I became very good friends with the owner of our town's General Store. His family has lived in the area for generations. He filled me in on some of the history of the town and stated that back in the late 1800s many of the the locals, as he called them, planted hops for their own consumption. This is what I believe to be the origin of these prolific plants you will see in the following pictures.

This vine was 31 inches on 5/11/18 and has grown to a height of 58 inches. 27 inches in 5 days or 5.5 inches a day.

This vine was 27 inches and now is 49 in.

I believe that the measurements I am giving you could all have several inches added to them. From this photo notice how the vine spirals around the dead growth from last year. Taken from it's support and stretched out, no doubt it would measure several more inches. From the picture you can also notice that it spirals in a clockwise direction. After doing some investigating I learned that the hop vine spirals clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter clockwise is the southern hemisphere.

I leave standing last year's vine to facilitate new growth the following year. In a couple of weeks I will suspend new bailing string to add new lines for additional growth.

Last years spent vines that were reaching for the heavens. Several of the vines reached the top of the guide wire and continued to grow up into Sugar Maple you see in this photo. I estimated that this vine reached a height of between 35 and 40 feet.

a rhizome (/ˈraɪzoʊm/, from Ancient Greek: rhízōma "mass of roots", Each rhizome will send of countless young shoots during the growing season. After establishing between 4 to 6 vines/rhizome all other vines should be cut back in order to produce quality hops.

Unearthed rhizome with new shoots.
Hope you enjoy this post . More to come as they reach for the sky. Future posts to include following their growth, development of the hop, harvesting, drying hops in an oast, plans for building a simple oast, preserving hops and using them in beer as I have been making home brew for many years now. If you like beer stay tuned.