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mendozer · 01-25-2011, 01:44 AM

that's true; i like to support local farms anyway. I'll look at it as "forced community support". Everyone wins

alexdagrate · 01-25-2011, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rniles

http://www.rnventerprises.com/

Cool, RNV has Horizon. I've always wanted to grow some since it's high alpha acid but low in cohumulone.

By the numbers at least it appears to be the closest thing to Simcoe a person can grow on their own.

jasonsargo · 01-25-2011, 03:14 PM

Great info. I am unfamiliar with the quarantine because it hasn't made the news here.

Still curious, though, has this been standard practice for Washington for a while, or is it new since the shortage of the last few years?

**Randar** · 01-25-2011, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonsargo

I clicked on this thread because I am unfamiliar with the quarantine because it hasn't made the news here, and I thought I would keep up on things a bit.

I am sorry I did. What an unpleasant thread to wake up to.

Still curious, though, has this been standard practice for Washington for a while, or is it new since the shortage of the last few years?

It has nothing to do with the supply shortage. It is for disease control, and I don't expect it to be lifted anytime soon. There are also restrictions in Oregon and parts of Idaho as well.

jasonsargo · 01-25-2011, 04:14 PM

Wow. No kidding. Still curious, if someone knows, is it a recent thing, or is it long-standing agricultural practice for that industry/area?

**Randar** · 01-25-2011, 04:38 PM

The original quarantine dates back to 1980 and was updated in 1991 relating specifically to Hop stunt viroid, Ilar viruses, Powdery mildew, Verticillium wilt.

Sarcasm not required.

rniles · 01-25-2011, 04:48 PM

Washington isn't the only state that quarantines. Oregon does as well along with some parts of Idaho.

The reason is that Washington and Oregon are the major hop producers for a good portion of the beer brewed here in the United States for everyone from the local small brewery to big beer (think Coors, Bud, etc).

Pest/Disease management is very hard as it is (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hop_diseases).

The eastern United States used to be the major Hop producer but through disease and a serious of unfortunate events (Prohibition, price drops, etc), the growing of hops slowly moved to the west coast.

The Willamette Valley in Oregon used to produce more hops than in Yakima. That declined in the 1930s as the hops in the Willamette Valley was attacked by Downy Mildew. In Washington State there once was a time when more hops were grown on the west side of the Cascades than on the east side. Disease wiped those west side hop yards out.

In 1997 the Yakima area was strongly attacked by disease (Powdery mildew). That was a very tough year. A very interesting read can be found at: http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/review/2008/hop/ and at http://www.hopunion.com/news/microglobe-november1997.html

You can see why the commercial grower are protective. If a disease were to be brought in and wipe out the crop fields then you can imagine what that would do to the beer supply. Everyone from the home brewer to AB would be effected. Disease control is very important.

There are some resistant varieties out there but using only them would make for some very boring beer after a while. Variety is better - and there's no guarantee that even those stay resistant forever.

I hope this helps.

jasonsargo · 01-25-2011, 05:03 PM

Great info, guys. The more you know...

mendozer · 01-26-2011, 12:19 AM

yeah rnmiles, that was quite a bit of info.