Gold Hops Lead Vine - Doubled in Less than a Week

It was just a few days ago that I posted a photo of our Golden Hops vine shooting upwards on the trellis.  Taking a look at the photo above, you can see that the vine has almost doubled in height.  Just counting the number of whole 'diamonds' just to left of the center point on the trellis, we can see that the vine has shot up the height of five full 'diamonds'.  It was at 3 full 'diamonds' on Monday.  It is listed as a fast-grower, but the conditions must be right this week.

The only disappointing part of this whole experience is that the gratification is going to be delayed.  FOR A YEAR.  That's right....everything I've read says that we shouldn't expect to see any hops until the 2nd year after the vine has been established.  Coupled with the very late planting date I put this in the ground, and we have to cross our fingers that by late next summer, we'll be swimming in golden green hops.