End of June and Picking begins

After two weeks away traveling  , and rain almost every day for the last few weeks , it was time to start picking...

Some superb Cascades

Multiple cones on a side shoot - perfect hops

Bobby with his Provincial Basket

Best hops are above standing height - ladders to the rescue

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We have a HUGE harvest ahead of us , the Cascades in the back row are superb and many of the Bines have reached the top and are now crawling along the top wire.

Unless everyone gets out and picks we will not get all the hops off the back row.

the Circles are a little behind, probably another week or two.


We also had to "fix" the fallen Nuggett system, the old Rope Broke (lesson to know for the other rings)   This was a Nylon 3/16 rope with 800lb breaking strain , but has been up in the sun for 5 years  now.

Rob on the ladder picking Cascades

Nuggets down and trying to raise with new rope

The max height we could move it, just too heavy,,, will now shorten the ropes at top and tie them off to raise the bines off the ground

Its been a rainy week, perfect growing weather

Been out of town , but walked across in the rain , and we have hops ready for picking on some Cascades

Lets NOT let them rot on the Bines this year.

8x Neuport were also planted 2 weeks back on the back row , based on success in other parts of NC


Pictures from last weekend

New Cascades on RHS, Last years in background

Nuggets Growing well

Cascades almost to the top, lower growth starting to grow back