Possum Lane Hops in Stanthorpe, Queensland | Farm

Possum Lane Hops

Locality: Stanthorpe, Queensland

Phone: +61 488 491 709

Address: 38 Nicholson Road, Thorndale 4380 Stanthorpe, QLD, Australia

Website: https://www.possumlane.com.au/

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31.01.2022 Our hops at Granite Belt Brewery.

25.01.2022 A Granite Belt hops grower has managed an unlikely yield in drought.

25.01.2022 We are preparing to put the new bine twines up for the next hop harvest. We don't tie them we use wool bale hooks on the top wire so we can drop the bines for harvest and reset them in the event of a second flowering and to also maximise the amount of photosynthesis post harvest so the rhizomes are in the best nick for next season. The big commercial outfits cut the bines when they harvest. We use jute twine which is fully biodegradable. Looking forward to next season!!

24.01.2022 Hops struggling with the hot, dry winds but still looking OK. Started buying water in to get us through to flowering... and beyond we have to keep the rhizomes alive until winter dormancy. Drought looking set to continue. Fair bit of leaf damage but they are still looking OK. The lights appear to be working with strong lateral growth but no flowers yet. Will know about what the crop looks like in 3-4 weeks when we turn the lights off to trigger flowering.

22.01.2022 All our hops are harvested by hand. Our entire operation is very low tech and has a very low carbon footprint including the harvesting. The bines are dropped onto The Hopinator - a 1930s dray with a 4 metre ladder attached making the harvest at waist height to save our backs! Works very well. After the harvest we put the bines back up because the leaves are still healthy and still photosynthesizing. As with grapes we dont like to prune until the plant is ready that is ...the leaves drop. Maximising the amount of photosynthesis helps keep the plant robust and healthy for next season. Large commercial growers who harvest mechanically and take the whole bine for processing including all the foliage. This deprives the rhizomes of weeks of energy and carb production. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

21.01.2022 Our hops at Granite Belt Brewery.

20.01.2022 Nice story that features Rick from April this year. https://www.beerandbrewer.com/growing-hops-in-queensland/

20.01.2022 Lights up and functional. We'll turn them on (Midnight to 1.30am) once the hops reach around 300mm up the bines and leave them on for around 6 to 8 weeks. This promotes growth and will deliver consistent maturation allowing a single pass harvest.... well here's hoping. An Australian first. 100% solar powered so no greenhouse gas emissions.

20.01.2022 Our production consists of hydroponic parsley, the long rows on the bottom as well as our hops at the very top and in the middle. We have five 80 metre rows of hops in total, consisting of 400 plants. The rest of the area being mixed veggies both in-ground and hydroponics as well as fruit trees pears, pomegranates, lemons and Desert Limes. All on about 5 acres. All chemical free. The hydroponic system is fully solar powered. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

19.01.2022 Tonight we celebrate the installation of our new solar panels and battery system. Tomorrow we go off grid!

19.01.2022 This is one of our better bines from the 2017/18 season. A cracker Hersbruckers did very well this year in spite of the very hot weather. Well over a kilo off this little beauty! #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

18.01.2022 Tessie, our 15 year old Kelpie Cattle cross is always down the paddock supervising care of the bines as well as harvesting! Shes an important part of the whole operation.

18.01.2022 Chemical Free hops for sale! Grown chemical free on the Granite Belt, Queensland. We're the only commercial hop growers in Queensland. This year we have Saaz, Cascade, Hersbrucker, Victorias Secret and Chinook in 100 gram cryovac packs. Price is $16.50 per packet including GST + postage (around $5 depending on how may packets and where you are) Note: These hops were packed semi-dry to preserve their full flavour so if you are only using part of the product in your brew make ...sure they go back in the freezer. e: [email protected] m: 0488 491 709 s: rick.humphries3 https://www.possumlane.com.au/hops/

18.01.2022 The Hopinator! The bines grow on 5 metre trellises. We had to work out how to get the strings up and get the bines down for the harvest. We had an old dray on the property dating from the 1930s. The solution, build a 4 metre ladder on top of the drays deck and bobs your uncle, we have The Hopinator! Dragged behind the trusty ute it allows us to set, harvest and maintain the bines. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

17.01.2022 Hops struggling with the hot, dry winds but still looking OK. Started buying water in to get us through to flowering... and beyond we have to keep the rhizomes alive until winter dormancy. Drought looking set to continue. Fair bit of leaf damage but they are still looking OK. The lights appear to be working with strong lateral growth but no flowers yet. Will know about what the crop looks like in 3-4 weeks when we turn the lights off to trigger flowering.

17.01.2022 Once the pruning is complete we reshape the dreels and add dolomite, composted organic chicken manure, alpacha manure and then mulch. If available we also add brewery mash from the Brass Monkey Brew House at Severnlea just down the road. We also mark out those rhizomes that failed to produce so they can be replaced with fresh rhizomes from other plants on our farm. ... We turn the drip irrigation off on the first frost. Intensive weeding including running the rotary hoe up each side or the dreels as a buffer against weeds particularly couch grass and wild sorel. Then we just keep weeding and wait till September when the hops re-emerge again. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

15.01.2022 We have lights, camera, action! These solar powered lights will run nightly for 1 1/2 hours through the peak growing season to promote growth and constant maturation, allowing a single pass harvest.

15.01.2022 We dont cut our bines when we harvest because the bines still have healthy leaves which are still photosynthesizing. Cutting the bines prematurely deprives the hop rhizomes of valuable energy for next season. So once we harvest we hook the bines back up again and only cut them when they drop their leaves in early May. Once the bines are cut off, we prune the individual rhizomes ready for next year. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

14.01.2022 We jagged 37mm of rain over the weekend in three thunderstorms. Very grateful and lucky. The hops are starting to respond - drip irrigation is no substitute for the real thing! This photo is our Goldings which have emerged early. We'll be activating our new horticultural light system later this week. Here's hoping for some decent followup rain.

13.01.2022 The 2019 hops are out at Possum Lane! Looking good for a bumper harvest this summer.

12.01.2022 All the harvesting is done by hand. We drop the bines onto the back of the dray, pick and send off for drying before packing for the home brew market. In 2018/19 well be using a commercial dehydrator rather than the drying shed to ensure the quality and the colour of the flowers. For our craft brewery customers we deliver fresh. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

12.01.2022 Fancy a cold one? A bottle (empty!) of Russian Imperial Stout from the Brass Monkey Brew House at Severnlea on our frozen bird bath. Now that's what I call brass monkeys! -6 last night at Possum Lane.

10.01.2022 Our hops field at night. We think this will be a nice venue at peak growth for a long table dinner!

10.01.2022 Spring rain and warmth are turbocharging our 2019 season hops! Looking good for a great harvest in 2019. Harvest season is from January-March. #stanthorpe #granitebelt #queensland

08.01.2022 2018 hop harvest now finished. Plenty of fresh hops available for home brewers.

08.01.2022 Like everything we do, weighing and packing is by hand. Once we scale up to full capacity based on all 400 bines well need move from the kitchen table to a more fit for purpose set up. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

07.01.2022 Freshly picked hops before drying for the home brewer market. Our first two seasons we used a very basic system of racks in the shed where the temperature can exceed 40 degrees. For the 2018/19 season, well be using a commercial grade dryer 10 minutes away on a local herb farm. It will give us the ability to control the moisture content to ensure the highest quality product. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland

04.01.2022 It's been a while since I posted anything - been busy including an R&D trip in June to the US researching hop cultivation in Florida and Washington State. Florida because they are at the same latitude as we are and Washington because they produce 70% of the US's hops and a material percentage of the world's production. In Florida we (Andy Carson from Hilltop Hops in Brisbane came on the trip as well) were particularly interested in USDA and Univ Florida research into the appl...ication of LED lighting to promote consistent maturation of the hop cones. Florida and QLD are 3 hours short in daylight at peak summer which confuses the hops leading to somewhat random maturation and the need to harvest each bine several times adding significant cost. LED lighting appears to solve this problem allowing a single harvest. So we have decided to deploy 85 LED horticultural lamps over the entire hop yard this season. The lights have arrived and the electrical pole is in. Wiring on the way. We'll flick the switch in late September when the plants start to emerge. The district is suffering the worst ever drought but in order to hopefully get a hop crop off we have decided not to plant our commercial parsley crop leaving enough water in the dam to supply the hops. You can see how dry we are from the photo below. So here's hoping the bushfires stay away and we get some decent rain to deliver a terrific hop crop in 2019. 2020!

03.01.2022 The drought is biting hard. This season will reveal just how hardy and thirsty hop rhizomes are. Of course we'd prefer not have to be conducting this sort of research! We're optimistic that we can still deliver a crop. The photos are of 2 of the 3 dams we draw water from. The 3rd is about 25% full. These two are effectively empty. Just leaving some for the roos, tortoises and other wildlife.

02.01.2022 Tonight we celebrate the installation of our new solar panels and battery system. Tomorrow we go off grid!

02.01.2022 Here are our trellises with the bines. The trellises in the foreground will add another 80 bines for the 2018/19 season bringing the total up to 400. Well probably plant more Cascade and Vic Secret. Overall we grow 7 varieties, Chinook, Cascade, Fuggles, Golding, Halletau, Hersbrucker and Vic Secret. We dont intend to expand so get your orders in for next season! On the right you can see our hydroponic veggies kale, lettuce and silverbeet with some basil and flat leaf parsley. Chemical free, very water efficient and very, very productive. #possumlane #hops #chemicalfree #homebrew #stanthorpe #granitebelt #darlingdownsandgranitebelt #sqcountry #thisisqueensland