New Plants.....

**2BeerSpeer** · 11-15-2011, 03:17 AM

I just purchased my first (7) hop plants from Great Lakes and will be growing them in the basement until march when they will find their home in the hop garden. I will have them under grow lights and will be increasing the time they spend under the lights as we move towards spring. Is there a certain soil that is best for young plants? Will 1 gallon planters be big enough to get through the winter? Any other advice on hops under lights, chemical aids, what to look for as far as disease, etc is greatly appreciated!

brewingmeister · 11-15-2011, 04:12 AM

If you plant them outside and put a layer of leaves on top of them it would probably be best.

-cheers

**B-Hoppy** · 11-15-2011, 04:59 AM

I concur. They need a little 'down time' to reset their cycle and get revved up for the upcoming year. You're the boss though.

**2BeerSpeer** · 11-15-2011, 10:50 AM

Thanks for the replies...The roots on these guys are so small I'm afraid they won't make it through the winter outside!

**Randar** · 11-15-2011, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2BeerSpeer

Thanks for the replies...The roots on these guys are so small I'm afraid they won't make it through the winter outside!

That's not how they work. Rhizomes aren't like vegetables or fragile succulents.

They need the natural light and temp cycle. They need the "down time" of winter. They need to be placed in the ground and grow without being disturbed at some later time.

You are more likely to break off the 2 or 3 growth shoots they do have during transplant than they are to be damaged by winter.

Nickeldeposit · 11-15-2011, 08:55 PM

It’s odd that they even had any to sell to you at this time of year. I think your best bet would be to keep them cold and moist in the frig but they may not last anyway there or in the ground right now.

Good Luck

**Randar** · 11-16-2011, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nickeldeposit

It’s odd that they even had any to sell to you at this time of year. I think your best bet would be to keep them cold and moist in the frig but they may not last anyway there or in the ground right now.

Good Luck

I just realized that this guy bought "hop starts"... meaning just newly rooted starts without a base rhizome having yet been formed.

Seems to be a bad business practice to sell these to folks in late fall. What are they supposed to do with them until March/April? A rhizome could at least be planted int he fall and grow fine after ground thaw. A "hop start" has no rhizome.

Oh well. I suspect we'll see some posts complaining about this in about 5 months or sooner when their plants die.

Hethen57 · 11-16-2011, 05:35 PM

They sell nationwide, I would think people who are buying need to do a little research and decide if they can grow in their area at the particular time they are ordering. I bought some in early Oct. after I saw a guy in San Deigo order some. Granted his climate and growing season was going to be way different than mine, but I wanted plants now. I know I was impatient, but they had the ones I wanted in stock and I knew it would be a risk to plant them outdoors in my area this late in the year, but I wanted to get plants going and not wait til Spring for a rhizome (or worse "out of stock" if I didn't order at the right time, which has been my experience in the past. Luckily we had some good weather and mine had a few weeks to take root and get going before the cold set in. I have since covered with straw and leaves and am waiting for Spring to see what I got. It was my risk to put them in at this time of year...the vendor did nothing wrong...they just had great plant starts available when I wanted them. I knew if I didn't get something in the ground, I would be obsessed with hop plants all winter and it would waste a ton of my time. I had my fun and got it out of my system. Now, I just have to wait to see if it was a good call or not, on my part, not the vendors

**2BeerSpeer** · 11-16-2011, 07:39 PM

well I got mine in the mail today and they came with a note saying that they had been upgraded to mature crowns because it was so late in the fall. It says that they are in fall dormancy and that it is better to plant where they are going to live than to try inside(thanks for the good advice guys)...They are bigger than my fist and have several stems on each crown! Most of them have the bottom leaves still on the bines! They sent an extra crown in a package labeled "lucky dog, freebie" its a brewers gold, never used it yet but i'm gonna plant it too! The people I delt with were very helpful and I was probably like Hethen57 and in a lil of a rush to get some plants afraid they wouldn't be any left in spring! Now the biggest problem i have is prepping the spots these babies are gonna call home b/c they are going to run the posts of a deck that is yet to be under construction...Thanks to everyone that has responded in this thread and any other suggestions are appreciated!

**2BeerSpeer** · 11-16-2011, 07:55 PM

ordered the starts and got the crowns.....

the other pic is kinda what i have in mind for them, just spaced out a little more.