Hop Growing in South Florida - Page 2

debaniel · 01-23-2008, 09:40 PM

as for growing them indoors, imagining an indoor hop 'grow room' presents some interesting possibilities...

"Yeah, officer, they are all just hops. I swear."

Actually, I've considered growing hops here in Sarasota, as well, so I'll be interested to hear how it turns out.

**jbreiding** · 01-23-2008, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryA

Squirrels like hops?

thats what i have been told.

**niquejim** · 01-24-2008, 02:36 AM

So I've got someone just north of me and just south of me.

Sounds like a potential group brew

**pjj2ba** · 01-24-2008, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheezydemon

Not enough light in south Florida?

I would sugget growing it inside if you have a place. A 2 story room with lots of light and skylights would be best.

Nope, not enough light, at least not long enough (sort of). Remember near the equator it is pretty much 12 hrs of light every day, all year round. The further North one goes the more variation you get throughout the year. The payback for long winter nights is long summer days - thats what the hops need to flower. Growing up in Michigan I loved the fact that it would be light until nearly 10 PM at the summer solstice.

I found a nice calculator
For Miami, FL, June 22nd 2008, sunrise 6:30, sunset 8:16 or ~13.75 hrs
For Eugene, OR, same date, sunrise 5:30, sunset 8:59 or ~15.5 hrs, 1.75 hrs more daylight than Miami.

It is actually not the amount of light, instead it is the amount of dark that is critical. Some plants need long nights to flower (Christmas cactus, poinsettia), some don't care (tomatoes, soybeans), and others need short nights like hops (also mums, lettuce, potatoes)

If you can track down a light source that provides lots of 660 nm (red) light, and not much 690 nm (far-red) light it may be possible to simply turn this light on in the middle of the night for 30 min. to fool the plant into thinking the day is longer.

Sorry, my day job is as a Plant Biologist

RangerG · 01-25-2008, 01:59 AM

Wow, pretty interesting info.

Thanks a bunch. I'm gonna try growing em - maybe as a scientific study - at least we'll all know how long it takes Florida to kill em or something like that. I'll use the extra light idea, and water by drip system to try to keep the leaves dry-er. My area is pretty humid in summer and I forsee that as being a problem. I'll get good time release fertilizer. Keep an eye out for bugs.

I've been warned to plant in big pots to keep nematodes off the roots, but squirrels? My cow-dog's gonna not wanna come back in the house.

RangerG · 01-25-2008, 02:12 AM

Floida growing story.

There was a guy here in SW FL with a small nursery - Terri's Fruit Trees. He had apple and pear trees that would produce fruit. He claimed that there was a geological anamoly underground that kept a strip of land, including his, 10 degrees cooler. The fruit was told to me by friends to be small but OK.

cclloyd · 01-25-2008, 11:56 AM

I was considering trying to grow some as well - it's good to see I'm not the only one willing to take a chance. Losing a few $ if it fails isn't a big deal, I'd be more bummed out about the failing part. I hate when that happens.

Hey pjj - biermuncher mentioned a few types he thought might have a better survival chance this far south - any input from you to that effect?

**pjj2ba** · 01-25-2008, 03:50 PM

I'm not real familiar with the growth likes/dislikes of the various hops. I know the USDA has some info on all the varieties - freshops.com has a bunch of this data on their website. I also recall that the Univ. of Vermont has some info somewhere. Often the various places that sell hops will give the conditions to seek/avoid for the various varieties.

Apples in Florida - cool! I must be an weather anomally. Apples (and pears) require a long enough cold period to induce flower bud formation.

I suspect hop plants will grow like crazy in Florida. Getting them to flower could be tricky. With the humidity so high, keep an eye out for disease. If you can find them, you might look into trying some of the varieties they grow in New Zealand. I know a bunch of the English varieties didn't/don't grow well there so they developed new ones. Maybe these would do better in FL too.

Nematodes could be a problem. It is probably not well documented as only a silly fool would grow them that far south. Many problematic nematodes can't take the cold of further North so scientist porbably haven't checked for it. Plant some mustard NOW in the spot you are planning to put the hops in. Chop down the mustard before it sets seed and bury it right there. Plant your rhizomes. Mustard shoots contain compound that have been shown in field trials (real published data in scientific journals) to do a pretty darn good job of detering nematodes. The shoots must be turned into the soil for this to work. I'm not sure if the benefits would last any more than a year. Now for subsequent years I don't know. This is fairly recent results (not my area) so there's a lot to learn still. Now I wonder if one could take some prepared yellow mustard, add it to water and water with it and get the benefit. This is not something a commercial farmer would do, so this will probably be left to the the small grower/gardener to explore.

**jbreiding** · 01-25-2008, 07:05 PM

http://www.freshops.com/usda_hop_desc2.html

**niquejim** · 02-09-2008, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niquejim

The cascades I grew last year did OK. I cut them back after the dry season kicked in and I fed and watered them starting this week. I'll see if they come back then I can tell you better.

I planted them because I like gardening and they are cheap

Just an update; they are about 2" tall now and not there 2 days ago

, so I assume one can grow hops in south Florida. It's not the ideal place, but I'll take what I can get.

Edit: I got several oz's last year so I'll see if this year is better.