2009 Hop Growing Season Begins

Ed and Michelle are helping to clear the mounds of weeds. There's lots to do over several weeks including pruning mounds, replanting the bottom row, testing irrigation, restringing trellis wire, fertilizing, and mulching. All hops (except mounds that were mauled last year) have broken ground. By the look of the growth, they look like they broke ground weeks ago. I'll turn on the irrigation in a few weeks when they start taking off.