Hop Farm, June 22 2008

The back-flow preventer sprung a leak so we made a trip to the hop farm to replace it. I was also curious to see if the trimmings barrier strategy was effective.
Turns out that a number of chinook cones were ready for harvesting. A JUNE HARVEST! After dehydrating the picked cones, it will likely amount to 1.5 ounces or so.
The weather in southern California has been very warm. I bumped up the watering duration to 1 hour twice daily to ensure they are getting plenty.

Above is a good image to see the progress the bottom row has made in just a week. Even the far left of the bottom row is making progress (previously mauled by rabbits and squirrels). Looking to the middle row, there's more vegetation than last week. Again, I trimmed back but not too much. The main vines have got to be protected!

Here's a wider shot showing the growth during the past week. Established vines are all in cone production!