Cascade Rhizomes available at next meeting.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:11 am

I plan to have a huge supply of Cascade rhizomes available at the next meeting. Some of you planted some of these years ago. I am planning to move my cascades from my Mom's place to mine so I can do a better job keeping up on them. Please take as many rhizomes as you want as they are free to me and I will throw away what does not get taken away that evening. All you need is some ground that gets sun and something for them to grow up. I use a post with string attached. The picture is from last year when many of the hops had started to brown and were past their prime.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:29 pm

Matt,
I've never seen a hop rizome before. How big are they? I just need to know what kind/size of container to bring.
Thanks,
Randy

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:00 pm

A zip lock sandwich bag will be plenty big.

Mr T · Post by **Mr T** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:49 pm

Bring a wheel barrow, they are huge!!! I have a truck so if you need to borrow that it will help, its only a half ton but if you have a 1 ton dually you can usually hold 2 – 3. I’d take a picture for you but you need a wide angle lens.

From: carrisr [mailto:brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org]
Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2010 8:30 PM
To: brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org
Subject: Re: Cascade Rhizomes available at next meeting.

Matt,
I've never seen a hop rizome before. How big are they? I just need to know what kind/size of container to bring.
Thanks,
Randy

Randy Carris
Trouble Brewing

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:29 pm

They are basically a chunk of root and will be in a wide variety of sizes. You don't need to bring any bags. I have a large supply of grocery store sacks to send them home with you. They are very hearty. I had some sit in my fridge for a couple months one year and when Larry planted them in June/July they still got tall and had some cones.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:05 pm

Mr T wrote:Bring a wheel barrow, they are huge!!! I have a truck so if you need to borrow that it will help, its only a half ton but if you have a 1 ton dually you can usually hold 2 – 3. I’d take a picture for you but you need a wide angle lens.

OK, for the record, I'm not THAT stupid, but nice try!

I just didn't know if they would be in a root ball or bare for example.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:21 am

Finally dug up my hops last night. I put them in the ground shortly after midnight so I haven't seen them in daylight yet. They are much further along than usual with the warm spring we have had. Many of the bines are already over two feet. I am not sure how well the whole plant will transfer as usually you just plant a rhizome. The picture shows me digging up one of my cascades. This thing was a three inch long chunk of root five years ago. Hope my neighbors didn't think I was digging a hole for a body last night. Crossed my mind as I dumped loads of dirt in the approximately 3'x6' hole at 1 am.

TappedOut · Post by **TappedOut** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:39 pm

Do you trim back the bines. I recall hearing that you should trim back all but the strongest three or so bines, but I'm not sure if that's true, or if I'm just halucinating again.

I planted some last year (Mt Hood and Willamette that I ordered, pluse one of Matt's cascades.) They were a little wimpy last year, but growing like kudzu this.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:53 pm

Mr T wrote:Bring a wheel barrow, they are huge!!! I have a truck so if you need to borrow that it will help, its only a half ton but if you have a 1 ton dually you can usually hold 2 – 3. I’d take a picture for you but you need a wide angle lens.

See, doesn't seem like such a dumb question now, huh?

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:02 pm

You are correct, you only keep two to three bines. Problem in the past has been keeping up on it. When it was in my Mom's garden I didn't get over there enough and eventually a bunch grew all over the place. A big reason to keep it trimmed up is to prevent disease like mildew from taking over which can be promoted by a bunch bines laying around the base. I have never transplanted an entire hop mass like this before so I am going to let it go for now and play it by ear. I figure I will be able to tell pretty soon which bines will survive the transplant. Otherwise, I will start from scratch again with a rhizome. After a year or two of developing the root system, it is amazing how much and how fast they grow. Cool plant even if you don't want to keep the hops.

I will have some copies of a two-page growing hops article from BYO March-April 2008 you can take home with you that cover the basics.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:33 pm

If you can't plant your rhizomes right away don't sweat it. Just keep 'em in the fridge with a moist paper towel until you are ready to plant. They will stay in there for a while just fine.

Also, Chris Burke would like to get a few rhizomes but couldn't make it to the meeting last night. If anyone has some extra give Chris a call at (319) 377-2244.

Final item, you can get a hop analysis for alpha acid %, beta acid%, and Cohumulone % for $24 from http://www.brewlaboratory.com/ which has had positive feedback from a post on Tech Talk. Currently I just use my homegrowns for late additions and dry hopping so haven't worried about these things. Would be cool to know, but you can always learn by experimenting too.