Tampa rhyzomes

Anyone know of anywhere near the Tampa area I could get some rhyzomes or a starter plant? I'm looking to grow my own this year and would rather start before the march-may time frame most of the online places quote...not to mention I'd rather support local. I'm pretty open to types right now too.

To my knowledge, there aren't any hop farms old enough to have rhizomes available in the Tampa/FL area. If you truly want local, then you're best bet is some other member of this forum is growing in your area and can cut you some rhizome.

Otherwise, go to your local homebrew store (LHBS) and ask if they get in shipments. Most of these will be in the march time frame since Feb/march is when the big farms in the PNW cut their rhizomes.

That's pretty much what I assumed but was crossing my fingers I was wrong.

Looks like I'm going to go with crowns from Great Lakes Hops. I'm leaning towards Centennial and Willamette, any other suggestions for a general use hop? I'm still pretty new to brewing and haven't developed a favorite variety yet but I thoroughly enjoy both brewing and gardening so why not bring them both together.

Ddubduder said:

Looks like I'm going to go with crowns from Great Lakes Hops. I'm leaning towards Centennial and Willamette, any other suggestions for a general use hop? I'm still pretty new to brewing and haven't developed a favorite variety yet but I thoroughly enjoy both brewing and gardening so why not bring them both together.

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Cascade should be your first choice. Growing hops down here is tough. I've seen cascades grown with success. It's a great hop for almost everything for american beers, especially pale ales.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/growing-hops-florida-tampa-area-353836/

You may also want to hold off purchasing those crowns until later. The problem in southern states is the bine shoots up but never develops side arms before it starts burring. Typically, the solution is to keep cutting it back until the "normal" sprouting time. You don't want to do this to a first year plant/transplant, though. It would be too much stress. If you hold off planting it until at least march maybe a bit more, you should be in good shape for the first year. Then the next years you can cut back.

My plan is to put the plants on a side of my house that's shaded most of the day to simulate a short day for the plant. Once it gets a little warmer I can then move it to a full sun area to let them settle in.
Is growing cascade really that much different than centennial? I've read nearly all the Florida hop posts and yes people have luck with cascade, but seeing as cascade was a root plant in the development of centennial I would imagine the two would grow fairly similar...but it's just a guess.

Ddubduder said:

My plan is to put the plants on a side of my house that's shaded most of the day to simulate a short day for the plant. Once it gets a little warmer I can then move it to a full sun area to let them settle in.
Is growing cascade really that much different than centennial? I've read nearly all the Florida hop posts and yes people have luck with cascade, but seeing as cascade was a root plant in the development of centennial I would imagine the two would grow fairly similar...but it's just a guess.

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I don't know. I'm with you, I'd much rather grow Centennial than Cascade.

Sounds like a challenge to me. I accept, successfully grow centennial in florida 😃. Worst case scenario I'm out some money to buy a new plant and time to get the new one up and growing. Once they come in I'll make sure to document the process. Either way, I get to play in the dirt, every grown man who has the heart of four year old's dream.

Are you into vdubs^^^

Vdubs are nice cars but that's not where the name came from. My initials are DW, hence Ddub.

Centennial, Willamette and Galena (a freebie) crowns are now planted and ready to start my first attempt a growing hops. Big thanks to Great Lakes Hops!