hops and the sqare foot gardening method

I want to start growing hops this year... and I have a couple questions..

I want to use the "square foot gardening method"... which is basically a raised bed with a custom made soil... It is intended to maximize space and time, by using 4x4 raised bed platers divided into 16 individual 1 foot square sections, with a plant in each...

I plan to build a 16' high trellis, with pullys at the top of each plant that will allow me to lower the plant down for harvesting without a ladder...

My concerns are twofold... First of all, freezing... With raised beds, I'm thinking that the soil in them will freeze easier than the surrounding soil.. Even though hops are wintered, and I would be covering them with mulch after cutting them down, If the ground around them were to freeze, would this kill the rhizome? If so, what is the best way to deal with this?

Also, I just don't think 1 square foot is sufficient for a hop. or is it? How many square feet would each hop plant need to do well? I'm not talking about 'spacing' which is to prevent competition as each plant will have it's own isolated soil bed... but square footage.. I know some people grow these things in pots, so I'm thinking it shouldn't need to be ridiculously big.. Also the square foot gardening method uses fairly shallow beds, so that might also increase the size requirements... The hops garden will be incorporated into a larger vegetable garden using the same method...

Finally, is THIS a good place to buy hops? Anyone ever dealt with them? And how many should I buy of each variety? Or am I pretty much guaranteed to get a plant out of each rhizome I buy?

Or are there better places to buy hops? I live in northern Ca.. I looked on Hops directs website, but didn't see anywhere to order rhizomes...

I would be hesitant to do this with only 1 sq ft, but then again, the plant will send the tap root down and side roots will readily escape the wood raised structure anyway. In the end, not sure how much this would buy you above and beyond a simple mounding method. (would better contain the mound and limit erosion, but otherwise???)

Freezing is not an issue. We grow hops here in the upper midwest and the ground is frozen solid 2 ft deep as I type this.

It will have a bottom, and be raised up off of the earth... no place for roots to go.. Although the method for this type of growing allows for a ton of nutrients in very little soil, I am concerned that there is not enough room for the roots in a square foot box.. So I am wondering what square footage is necessary for these plants..

Anyone grow them in pots?

Good to know that freezing is not an issue, as with these things being raised off the ground the soil will definitely freeze...

SQUARE FOOT GARDENING WEBSITE

The "square foot gardening method” is more for annual plants not really perennials that spread. The bines will get much larger than the 1sq ft limited with this method. I guess if it were me I’d avoid doing it just for the fact that they will spread and are much larger than the gardening method is used for. But if you’re like myself and can’t be told, do it anyway. Worst that can happen is you have to remove them.

Nickeldeposit said:

But if you’re like myself and can’t be told, do it anyway.

Click to expand...

LOL.. Do we know each other?

I'm not against abandoning an idea once I have exhausted it's possibilities thoroughly... I'm wondering about 'larger' plots than the one foot thing though.. how big? an entire 2' x 4' box one foot deep.. Would that be big enough? 4' x 4'?

I like the idea of isolating the plant from the native earth, weeds, critters, etc... That's why I'm interested in this method for these plants...

Tap root will be pissed and continue growing around there to try to find deeper soil. Also, gonna be pretty difficult to keep those bad boys watered well enough. It's hard enough in a large patio planter.

If it has all the nutrients it needs in the shallow soil, why would it look for deeper soil.. Or is it a 'structural' issue? (ie that the plant needs deeper roots to support itself)

Thinking about using drip watering...

Using traditional means, how deep do the roots typically like to go?

It is a structural issue then
Hops are a 50 year plant so the root network is extensive

Square foot Gardening is for annuals that give all they can in a few month and then seed and perish

That is not the strategy of hops which are to go deep and spread out and take over. Hops will go through any barrier or die trying

I'm a huge fan of square foot gardening but I don't believe it would be suited for hops. If you do, maybe 1 hop per 4'x4' area. The root system takes a lot of space up, sending out rhizomes everywhere. And the plant itself can be kind of beefy with it's height and laterals.

With that - try it anyway. Just let us know how it goes!

I've got an old copy of Square Food Gardening on my bed stand right now (I'm only about 2 pages in). I didn't realize that the beds had a bottom...
Anyway I think you could modify things for your situation, and design a system for hops that also works well with your other plants.
Well placed hops could provide shade to extend a lettuces crop into the hotter months. I did this with some success last year, though not in raised beds.

As for the square footage per hop plant, it depends.
People do grow them in 1.5gal pots, but their yield is crappy. A hop plant could use a full 16sq ft bed if you let it.
One thought I had is if you plant a hop in a bed it's roots will soon be in every corner of the bed. But you could still plant other things in it. Just keep it to small rooted things; lettuces, small radish, or anything that would only be in there for 30 to 60 days.

My final suggestion would be to make a smaller 2ft by 2 ft bed out of 2X8's. Don't put a bottom on it, and enrich the soil in the ground where you plan on placing it. If you do several types of hops; keep the beds a minimum of 18" apart, as some may sprout up out of the wrong box on year 2 or 3.

DrJerryrigger said:

I've got an old copy of Square Food Gardening on my bed stand right now (I'm only about 2 pages in). I didn't realize that the beds had a bottom...
Anyway I think you could modify things for your situation, and design a system for hops that also works well with your other plants.
Well placed hops could provide shade to extend a lettuces crop into the hotter months. I did this with some success last year, though not in raised beds.

Click to expand...

Along those lines I grew potatoes in cribs between hop mounds last year. Of course, the potatoes didn't do much (first try at growing potatoes) for unrelated reasons.

I also have good success growing edamame (soy beans) in and amongst the hop mounds.

Hops can be contained on the surface by cutting sprouts and the side roots (rhizomes) but the tap root likes to go deep. It may work if you leave the box bottomless. Container hops will find the drainage holes and root in the ground below. These things will eventually take over if you do not trim the root stock (crown). I would allow 1 foot radius from the crown per plant minimum (so much for the square foot).

Northwest Hops - I have dealt with them and had a good experience with their hop rhizomes - great prices. I compiled a list of online hop rhizome vendors.

So, form the sound of things, I have two choices...

a) build my container on or in the ground to allow the tap root to grow downwards..

b) build a very deep box so that the plant has room for the tap root...

if i were to chose method 'a' it would cost less, but what about gophers and moles? This place is littered with them... will they eat the roots?

if I were to choose 'b'.. it would cost a lot in compost, vermiculite, and peat moss depending on 'how deep' the box would need to be.. So how deep does the tap root go? 'deep' is a vague term to me at this point..

Thanks for the replies... I'm learning..