jaredio

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Hey edecambra. I've been thinking about trying to grow hops down here in South FL so I did a search and found this thread. Guess what? I'm also in Sunrise!

Good to see there is a possibility it can work out!

edecambra

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It can be done! Cool that you are in Sunrise, you should come out to one of our club meetings you might like it: http://fortlauderdaleareabrewers.org/

jaredio

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Sounds good. I'm just getting back into the swing of things after a long hiatus! Brewed 23 gallons for my December 2010 wedding and have really busy since then. I am ready to keg/bottle my first batch since then!

I'm also in a condo situation but I think I got a decent spot picked out. You think planting in the ground is a big advantage to potting?

Puckhead

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Hey Eddie

Nice to see your growing some hops. I'm still trying to meet up with you guys one of these weeks for a club meeting, maybe this month... I picked up those grolsch cases from you quite some time ago. Hope your doing well and hope to catch up soon

Gear101

Recipes 

Looks like alot of work for just a couple of oz. of yield, hope your second year gets better.

__________________
Island Time Brewery

Stainless is painless

Gear101

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Looks like alot of work for just a couple of oz. of yield, hope your second year gets better.

__________________
Island Time Brewery

Stainless is painless

jrcomito

Recipes 

Hi there,
I am new to homebrewing but not gardening. I am interested in growing hops in SW Florida. Have you had any success at this, and is it feasible for a small plot garden?

rgarry

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After reading the post from The east coast, I decided to give it a try. I ordered a bunch and should get them in march. From what I have been reading stick with the c's (centineal, chinook etc)

edecambra

Recipes 

Hey man, glad to see you are still brewing, and I hope you are getting some good use out of those bottles. Hope you can make it to one of the meetings some time, and if you can't make it out the 2nd Wednesday of the month at Geronimo's for our meetings, check out our site: FLAB or sign up to our Yahoo groups page for email updates and chatter, etc.

The work is mostly in the initial time planting. You can put as much or as little effort into training them as you want. At first I was very invested, moving them every day, but now I will just let it grow and trim stray bines to focus the growth. I do hope this year I will get a better yield, now that the roots are established. I think that if I gave it the whole height of my house to grow it would do better, because the cone formation was ample for sure.

And again for those considering doing this, make sure you get the morning sun and afternoon shade to protect from that extreme heat. I think you would have the most luck with hearty C type hops. If my very limited experience is any indication of how it works, Cascades rocked and I had no luck from the nugget, which I might want to trade for some other variety when people on here start digging theirs up!!

edecambra

Recipes 

Hello, good luck in your brewing, it is my favorite hobby, EVER!!!

That said, check back a few pages and my other updates. Growing hops down here can be successful if you follow a few rules of thumb, namely protecting your plants from the extreme heat while still allowing them to get "enough" light for growth. I think if you plant them in the ground, even a small plot, you will have more success than if you pot them, and make sure to have good mulch to keep your roots from drying out (not too much of a problem down here) and to help prevent excess weed growth.

as far as the small plot is concerned, I have two plants growing in about 2 foot by 4-5 foot rectangular area, which is pretty damn small. I live in a condo and have some real limits on what and where I can grow but it hasn't stopped me. Rhizomes are super cheap and you can plant them in some good soil with fertilizer for under 20 bucks (more if you want a nice trellis), so there is no reason not to give it a shot.