growing hops in VA? - Page 2

**JLW** · 11-02-2011, 05:47 PM

I should add one more thing. With my friends hops I brewed a single hop Columbus IPA with a grain bill based on SN's Torpedo. I bottled this last night and it tastes pretty darn good going into the bottles.

SiriusBock · 01-24-2012, 03:37 AM

I am about two hours down I81 and grew first year nugget hops, and there were definitely really hot and really wet days and months. For a first attempt, I got one healthy bine, the other was waterlogged (due to my overbabying). They aren't kidding when they say it needs to face a south direction! The nugget had bugs, however nothing damaging, just crawling, and no mildew or powder. Nugget seemed to be a good starter hop. Just plant, train on twine, and watch it go.

rexbanner · 01-24-2012, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ODA

I took my first shot at growing this year. I planted 2 Cascade and 2 Nugget rhizomes at my folks' garden in Leesburg this last April and had good first-year yields for all four plants. About 1.5 lbs of wet hops per plant, 6 lbs. total. I harvested all cones in late August/early September. Looking back, I probably would have done a few separate harvests to make sure that each and every cone was ready. All of the plants were in a spot where they got lots of daylight and I think we had a pretty good weather year for them...aside from those few weeks of scorching temps mid August. Rhizomes were purchased at freshops.com.

I pulled the cascades out of the freezer for a single-hop ale last week and they smelled great. Will be dry hopping with the last ounce of the cascades this weekend. Nuggets are next up once I can figure what grains might compliment them nicely. Hoping to plant some different varieties next spring.

Good luck, looking forward to hearing how yours go.

Wow, I also live in Arlington and planted hops at my parents' house near Leesburg last spring. I got practically nothing from two cascade and one EKG. Maybe it's because they didn't get full sun.

**sweetcell** · 01-24-2012, 08:46 AM

i'm in maryland, so i too am most interested in what has grown well in the area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Improbable

I'm going to try planting some Kent Goldings in the spring and cross my fingers. My property's pretty shady, but I heard they might be able to manage it.

according to my handy-dandy spreadsheet, Sunbeam actually prefers partial shade. i would try mixing that in with whatever else you're growing. Bianca (AKA Bianca Gold) is another variety that supposedly does well with filtered sun, but i haven't actually seen it for sale anywhere hence i didn't include it in my research.

based on that research, this spring i am considering Nugget, Perle (or Sterling), Willamette (or Ahtanum) and Cascade. i just hope i can find enough space and time to take care of 4 plants.

jskinner10 · 01-25-2012, 04:12 AM

Piggybacking... I pre-ordered 4 Cascade Rhizomes back in December. I've got a bed worked up in my parent's garden. Been working fertilizer into it every few weeks. I'm interested to see how other people in VA do with growing their own. Blue Mountain over in Nelson, Co. seem to have very good luck with theirs. I helped in the harvest last year.

**BasementBrewmistress** · 01-25-2012, 12:47 PM

Just pre-ordered 3 Cascades and a Nugget from Great Lakes. Decided to wait on the other varieties until next year. Might have to go the container route to get them south-facing full sun.

**sweetcell** · 02-01-2012, 08:11 PM

just put in my order last night: i got one each of nugget, sterling, santiam, spalter select and centennial from greatlakeshops.com. my choices were based mostly on disease resistance (we have both bugs and wilts here), ability to grow in heat, flavor/use profiles (i.e. looked for a variety across my selection) and storability. varieties that didn't make the cut only because of lack of space (i.e. could have been on the list) - chinook, vojvodina, wye challenger, and newport.

just thought i'd share in case anyone was looking to make a choice and wanted some input. then again, maybe i took way too a scientific appraach to this decision. many people have said "just grow what you like", so YMMV.

(yes, i realize i'm not in VA but i live within a few miles of the potomac... MD, VA - it's not that different as far as hops are concerned

)

**dcHokie** · 02-21-2012, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetcell

just put in my order last night: i got one each of nugget, sterling, santiam, spalter select and centennial from greatlakeshops.com. my choices were based mostly on disease resistance (we have both bugs and wilts here), ability to grow in heat, flavor/use profiles (i.e. looked for a variety across my selection) and storability. varieties that didn't make the cut only because of lack of space (i.e. could have been on the list) - chinook, vojvodina, wye challenger, and newport.

just thought i'd share in case anyone was looking to make a choice and wanted some input. then again, maybe i took way too a scientific appraach to this decision. many people have said "just grow what you like", so YMMV.

(yes, i realize i'm not in VA but i live within a few miles of the potomac... MD, VA - it's not that different as far as hops are concerned

)

Just put in my rhizome pre-order at the local homebrew shop: 2 each of Cascade, Nugget, Centennial & Brewer's Gold. Going to start planning out my schedule for soil treatment, etc.

**VaBrewer** · 02-21-2012, 09:57 PM

I planted Chinook, Tettanang, Goldings, Mt Hood and Willamette last year. They all grew well, but the Willamette is the only one that produced - just under a pound of dry hops. I can't wait to see what the rest do this year, plus I'm adding more. I'm in the Manassas area.

**BasementBrewmistress** · 02-22-2012, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VaBrewer

They all grew well, but the Willamette is the only one that produced - just under a pound of dry hops.

You do anything special, aside from the standard care? I decided against Willamette, because I'd heard it won't grow well here, but you're just down the road....