June Update

Well , we have been crazy busy and I have not had much to say about the hops, other than I seem to have made a mistake with the addition of the rotten mulch into the soil.

The plants have NOT grown as expected , by now we should have 10-15ft growth and only have 3-4 ft.

Either the mulch has robbed the Nitrogen , or they really need daily water.

The plants are all healthy , and while we have lost a few more , we still have over 70% of the ones that we planted. The worst hit have been the Sterling, we have lost over half of them.

I fertilized with some balanced 10:10:10 two and half weeks ago and the plants have started to react , so this weekend I bought some 17:17:17 and fertilized again just before good rains on Sunday ( we got over 1.5 inches).

I spent the day also putting up more ropes, so now only the back row need trellis.

The well , is still not working , and when back from vacation will give it my best go.

The Cascades and Centennial both have some small cones , and Nugget are also growing very well. The Chinnook at the back are very healthy and have long runners, so need to get some ropes up soon.

The working teams seem to be "working" as most weeks people have been out and watered and weeded. Hopefully it continues well.

I am off on vacation tomorrow and will add to this when back