Hops in Missouri

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Turdhammer

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I live In Missouri zone 5 and was wondering if any others have grown in this area or zone ?.What are some varieties that will grow in this zone ?

I prefer stouts,porters and bocks to drink so what varieties are appropriate? I was thinking galena, something dual purpose. What others?

I also will be planting in mineral tubs, bigger than half barrels, I have hard red clay for soil.

Thanks
 
Last year was my first time growing hops. I bought a cascade and a nugget rhizome and they both did pretty well. The cascade went crazy and I got 8oz of dried hops from it so I'm expecting it to be a great sophomore year. From what I've read cascade is a very hardy variety so you might try growing one of them. The nugget did well but I got about an ounce and a half dried from it. I just bought a house and have an area designated for a garden so I'm going to try and grow a total of six to eight varieties. I'm going to shoot for adding centennial, chinook, northern brewer and willamette to the mix this year.
 
My brother lives in zone 5 in Illinois and I gave him a cascade and planted three here. His grew abot 25 feet and put out about a half of a pound of dry hops it,s second season, my hops planted a year earlier grew a whole two feet last year.
Goes to show you that soil type makes all the difference. Mine were in Missouri red clay and his were in Illinois river valley loam,six feet of beautiful black topsoil.
 
I think with the soil you have your on target with the large planters. As for variety you should be fine with almost anything, but maybe some noble varieties.
 
I live In Missouri zone 5 and was wondering if any others have grown in this area or zone ?.What are some varieties that will grow in this zone ?

I prefer stouts,porters and bocks to drink so what varieties are appropriate? I was thinking galena, something dual purpose. What others?

I also will be planting in mineral tubs, bigger than half barrels, I have hard red clay for soil.

Thanks

Here's an interesting snippet from a state publication in 1857, talking about hop cultivation in Missouri.
http://books.google.com/books?id=eg...v=onepage&q=HOPS CULTIVATION MISSOURI&f=false

We do not know that the hop is cultivated in Missouri at all except for family use We have seen hops growing wild in various parts of the state flourishing admirably and seeming to be as good as those in cultivation Hops are consumed very largely in the state particu larly in the city of St Louis and are supplied mainly from New York state The crop is found to be a very profitable one in Michigan Ohio New York and other states eastward In our mild climate where the hop grows naturally and so perfectly there seems to be no reason why hop culture should not be much more profitable than in New York state where the crop is more precarious on account frost and where smaller prices are obtained for the crop than could be obtained here.
 
I've been growing Cascade, Chinook, Glacier, Centennial and some unknown hop in containers for about 3 years just over the border in Kansas. Our zone isn't a problem at all, Hops are hardy to zone 3 as far as I can tell. The real concerns are:

- Maturity, different varieties require different day lengths to mature. Early and Middle maturing varieties like Cascade, or Chinook do great here. Late maturity varieties don't, we're on the southern edge of the Hop Latitudes and don't get long enough days (Don't bother growing Pride of Ringwood)
- Disease resistance / heat - It's hot and humid here, noble varieties and American noble substitutes don't seem to like it. I tried growing Goldings, Sterling and Santiam here, neither thrived or produced more than an oz or two. Though they both survived, so it could have been a day length issue.
Hops with more American character do well - Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus, etc. I've heard of guys having good luck with Wilamette and Magnum, but I have no personal experience.
 
I grew Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, and Nugget in containers last year. The "C" hops all did well. Nugget struggled. I live in St. Louis and will see how year 2 goes. Growing in 20 gallon containers for now. Learned a lot last year. Feel free to ask any questions. I grow all organic. Good luck!

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Cascade and Columbus do really really well in hot climates. The problem you run into is if you have clay soil. They really don't like clay soil at all... There are some varieties that tolerate clay pretty well, however, most of those varieties are European and absolutely hate the heat.

There may be some hybrids that do well down that way. We're interested to hear other growers feedback from Missouri on those.
 
Columbus and cascade do well in St. Louis. I started mine last year with good success. I planted them late and they still outgrew my 15 foot trellis and produced well. I hope they made through this winter.


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Chinook also does well in St. Louis.

2013-07-28104633_zps344b32c1.jpg


They were about 5 feet taller, but they fell down under all the weight. IIRC, this was the second year.
 

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