starting a hop farm 2 acres to start..then double every year till i hit 32 acres

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rudds67

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Hey guys just as the title says...started this thread from the advice of a few guys in " the 2012 show us yr hopyard ".I hav 1800 plants in pots this year as I will setting them out in the field hopfully later the montth...using this as a grow log for my self and others to learn and grow... and to log my progress or my failures....this is my first year growing hops..howver been growing for over 15 years.live on a 150 acre farm in upstate newyork.. questions comments all welcome..as I have help from the state hop specialist plus I hav visited a few hop farms out. west (portland,or) at the end of the winter to get an idea of what I'm in for.... thanks all.... also will be experimenting in a few different types of propagation techniques for hops... air layering, top stem cuttings and middle stem cuttings using humidity domes and heating pads
,
 
As for types...I hav 650 sterling, 550 nugget, 300 cascade, 250 williaimette, 100 perle, 55 centenials and 100 columbus.... this year is just the trial year of the types of hops...then next year I get serous. .. most likely will be growing only the types of hops used for the craft brew markets... but I travel 3 months out of the year so now in my travels I will focus on collecting hop varieties from all over the world and create some sort of world hop yard...

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How are large hop yards harvested? Also, is there a way to mechanically prune back new growth or do you just let them run wild? I have a handfull of plants and just can't imagine tending something that big. Always wondered how the big dogs do it.
 
How are large hop yards harvested? Also, is there a way to mechanically prune back new growth or do you just let them run wild? I have a handfull of plants and just can't imagine tending something that big. Always wondered how the big dogs do it.

Hops Direct has a Youtube channel that is pretty interesting. They a couple videos on how they harvest their hops. http://www.youtube.com/user/hopsdirect
 
How are large hop yards harvested? Also, is there a way to mechanically prune back new growth or do you just let them run wild? I have a handfull of plants and just can't imagine tending something that big. Always wondered how the big dogs do it.

Haha that's a good question...havnt figured that out yet.( scratching my head). Lol..hm. we I do hav a 40 foot bucket truck on the farm so that will play a key roll..that and a modified 20 foot landscape trailer...but I was thinking of buying one of those huge silo trucks farmers use to move large amounts of grass from the field to the farm .iwill be trucking the plants about 40 mins away to a harvester location(thank God) its a wolf harvester...can do 160 bines an hour... down the road when I get past 5 acres I will be buying one my self.and leasing it out.
 
As for types...but I travel 3 months out of the year so now in my travels I will focus on collecting hop varieties from all over the world and create some sort of world hop yard...

Good luck with the yard. Just a few hints from someone who has been living the "dream" for several years now:

- Make sure you leave at least 6 feet between varieties. They will hit the top wire and travel. Once they get mixed together, you have no idea which variety is which. We have been sent samples to our lab to test that were clearly mixed up. Varieties that have an alpha range from 4 to 6 coming in at over 11%. No way.

- Get the earth amended and the trellis/irrigation in before you drop those plants in the ground. Otherwise I guarantee that no matter how careful you are, plants will get squished, dug up, and your map of where plants are will get messed up.

- Decide now how you are going to pick, dry, process, package and sell your product. You don't want to be in the situation of having spent all day picking and then trying to decide how to dry them.

- If you are bring in varieties from oversees, make sure you have all the USDA permits in place. They don't take kindly to illegal imports of plant material
 
How about having a hop harvesting party when the crop is ready. An exploratory discussion with your local HB shop might be a way to get it started. A "best picker team" prize or a few ounces of local hops might be an incentive and a great way to introduce your product to the hombrewers in the area.

Could be a great way to get the job done without too much expense for your farm while it is still in the less than gigantic phase.

http://www.fermentedlychallenged.com/2011/08/win-gabf-tix-by-picking-hops.html

bosco
 
Haha that's a good question...havnt figured that out yet.( scratching my head). Lol..hm. we I do hav a 40 foot bucket truck on the farm so that will play a key roll..that and a modified 20 foot landscape trailer...but I was thinking of buying one of those huge silo trucks farmers use to move large amounts of grass from the field to the farm .iwill be trucking the plants about 40 mins away to a harvester location(thank God) its a wolf harvester...can do 160 bines an hour... down the road when I get past 5 acres I will be buying one my self.and leasing it out.

More advice...the first year, just hand pick. You won't have much more than 10% of your full scale harvest.

After that, you will probably want to grow quickly enough to get to the point where you can purchase your own Wolf. I'm not a fan of sharing pickers, especially ones that are stationary with the hops brought to them. Here's some assumptions to explain why:

1500 plants/acre yield = 1.2lbs/plant dry.
1.2lb/plant dry = 6lbs wet.
6lbs is 20% of the plant wet weight...a mature plant will be about 25 lbs all total
1/3 acre (500 plants) total weight = 12,500 lbs
=>2,500 lbs are wet hops
=>10,000 lbs are soon-to-be-compost bines and leaves​

Consider transport costs now. You have to haul 12,500 pounds (6.25 tons) to the harvester and haul 2,500 pounds back for drying. You're not going to do that in a pick-up and small trailer. Expect to pay about $2.50/mile/ton if you are shipping under contract. So 40 miles (I know you said mins, but...) away would be 6.25 tons x 40 miles x $2.50/mile/ton = $625. For the return trip to your dryer, the 1.25 tons would be at least $125, maybe a bit more since it will probably be the same truck.

2,500 lb of wet hops dries to roughly 500 lbs of dry hops, so that is $750/500lb = $1.50/lb in just transportation costs. Add in harvesting costs, drying costs, testing, packaging and that adds up pretty quickly.

On top of all that...if its a shared harvestor, when is it your turn to harvest? I was helping out another group that tried that method. They had to schedule everyone's harvest around the availability of the harvestor not around the peak ripeness of the hops. They ended up with most hops picked too early or too late. Also a lot of growers that were upset because their allotted time was in the middle of the night on a weekday.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to dissuade you from doing this. It has been one of the greatest adventures of my life and I hope you enjoy this just as much. I'm just throwing out a lot of the lessons we learned along the way. Its why we changed our approach and constructed our own harvesting equipment and encourage all of our growers to either fabricate or purchase their own as well. If you can't see the harvestor from your hop yard, you probably shouldn't be sharing harvesting equipment. But run the numbers yourself, check out trucking costs and see how it works out. Maybe its worth it for you to get your own trailer and rent a truck?
 
How about having a hop harvesting party when the crop is ready. An exploratory discussion with your local HB shop might be a way to get it started. A "best picker team" prize or a few ounces of local hops might be an incentive and a great way to introduce your product to the hombrewers in the area.

Could be a great way to get the job done without too much expense for your farm while it is still in the less than gigantic phase.

Ha, we tried this. Homebrewers show up with cargo pants and fanny packs. They pick for about 2 hours...until they have their pockets shoved full...and then they disappear. Well, unless you have free beer. Then they hang around but productivity goes way down.
 
I'd do something like this:

4rz2hl.jpg


The poles are 15 ft spaced and 30 ft high. I think I'd go 10 ft spacing though.
 
Rudds... Check out the UVM Plant & Soils site. The past two years they have hosted a Hops Conference in early March. They started a hopyard and have had some very good speakers the last two years. I'm ramping up do do something similar for next spring (in negotiations with a landowner now) in Central Mass. Also, check out Four Star Farms in Northfield, MA. Gene has an established yard and is rumored to be expanding quite rapidly. Look forward to following you and maybe sharing some advice.
 
All the info you provided is very helpful as we just started growing 150 hops. I know it's not a lot but we want to expand in the future and your info is great.

Also, even after you have the post up and the plants in you still run over stuff. I just ran into my end post last night while spraying. Good thing its an oak tree post that weighs about a ton.

More advice...the first year, just hand pick. You won't have much more than 10% of your full scale harvest.
 
What size pots are they?

As for types...I hav 650 sterling, 550 nugget, 300 cascade, 250 williaimette, 100 perle, 55 centenials and 100 columbus.... this year is just the trial year of the types of hops...then next year I get serous. .. most likely will be growing only the types of hops used for the craft brew markets... but I travel 3 months out of the year so now in my travels I will focus on collecting hop varieties from all over the world and create some sort of world hop yard...
 
What size pots are they?
I am running 330 cheater pots.. there about .67 gallons... i get 270 ish pots per yard of my potting soil blend i came up with..



Rudds... Check out the UVM Plant & Soils site. The past two years they have hosted a Hops Conference in early March. They started a hopyard and have had some very good speakers the last two years. I'm ramping up do do something similar for next spring (in negotiations with a landowner now) in Central Mass. Also, check out Four Star Farms in Northfield, MA. Gene has an established yard and is rumored to be expanding quite rapidly. Look forward to following you and maybe sharing some advice.


hey right on . bud... ill have to check that out.. yes i will be expanding very fast as well.. I have extensive training in propagation techniques ( plus i have been to horticulture college) and thru doing a few trials test first, i will be able to clone these plants in the 1000's.. i will be in the coming week setting up a 20 by 10 greenhouse for new propagation's...

Where i'm at..were in a Hops race...and i plan on being at the top of it... i want to be the largest farm in the state in 3 to 4 years time. I have the land (150 acres), resources ( multiple seed investors interested with a bussiness plan being drafted and Time ( moved back home from the city life and now living the real life :)
I'd do something like this:

4rz2hl.jpg


The poles are 15 ft spaced and 30 ft high. I think I'd go 10 ft spacing though.
30 feet dam thats high.. most i have herd were 20 feet high setups... that must be crzy to work on them.... Im shooting for 18 feet high from the ground.. but if the poles are a little shorter ill go for 16 feet ..Im cutting my own poles from my land. i have 45 acres in woods... ( thats for next week!)

I was out in Portland, Oregon in april for my first business trip at a pretty good side hop farm.. ( 250 acres) and they run 14 foot aisles from pole to pole on the newer style hop yards...and they even have some yards that are 7 by 7 grids..now those are tight! ill be shooting for the 12 foot range but may bump it back to 14.
As i will have a 4 to 5 foot rototilled/amended bed in the middle where the hops are going to grow.( going to take a back blade and mound up about a foot or soo on both sides of the bed to make a larger 2 to 3 foot wide long hill....so ill be going 2 to 2.5 on either side of the row. that eats up the 14 foot row spacing fast....
Plus in that picture theirs two ways to tie the vines up.. either strait up like a grape vine or tee pee as in the pic... the tee pee way is way cooler and you get ++ s for style points ..however its a pain in the ass to work under and it doesn't seem too efficient.

Good luck with the yard. Just a few hints from someone who has been living the "dream" for several years now:

- Make sure you leave at least 6 feet between varieties. They will hit the top wire and travel. Once they get mixed together, you have no idea which variety is which. We have been sent samples to our lab to test that were clearly mixed up. Varieties that have an alpha range from 4 to 6 coming in at over 11%. No way.

- Get the earth amended and the trellis/irrigation in before you drop those plants in the ground. Otherwise I guarantee that no matter how careful you are, plants will get squished, dug up, and your map of where plants are will get messed up.

- Decide now how you are going to pick, dry, process, package and sell your product. You don't want to be in the situation of having spent all day picking and then trying to decide how to dry them.

- If you are bring in varieties from oversees, make sure you have all the USDA permits in place. They don't take kindly to illegal imports of plant material

hey dan, thanks for the heads up... 6 foot for sure in the spacing of the vines... and i will have the beds tilled and looking pretty before the plants are in the ground.....How do amend your fields? ( however the 5th generation hop farmer out west..said that there's a lot of people ( and him some times) that dont even put the trellis up the first year and just let the vines grow on the ground all over...some farmers put up a 4 foot stake in the ground to give somthing the plants can grow on some don't... ) ... then year 2 they will put the trellis up.. i may be trying this later on the year when i get my first batch of clones.. going to be using the 1 gallon pots again then when there larger ill be dropping them in the rows and not worrying about them till next year.


this first year wont be too much of a harvest so ill be hand picking or sending up some of the vines to the wolf harvester.... I have free access to large grain/ silage trucks from our neighbor across the street who He leases out 100 acres from us for his1400 head dairy farm. soo that will not be a problem moving bines..also we have a chevy 2 ton dually dump truck that we could us as well.

and as bringing hops from other countries.,didn't think of that... I think i may just try and play dumb the first few times... im sure i can sneak a bundle or 20 or more without getting couch..if i do.. o well..there not illegal so i don't have too much to worries about.. i would love to talk about your hopyards further.... can u PM me your email addy? thanks
steve
 
We don't do the "v" trellis. Our studies have shown no appreciable increase in productivity for a trellis style that is a pain in the...to work with. Just a single top wire with a single strand of coir twine coming down to each rhizome.

We also do 12 to 14 foot spacings. Basically 2 feet on each side of the rhizome for mounded up soil and covercrop then 8 to 10 feet wide...12 to 14 feet. I could go on and on about providing adequate space for sun, wind, fog drainage...but the biggest benefit is keeping it wider than our pickups and tractor. Life is so much easier when you can just drive down the aisle.

PM on the way. We have a couple guys in NY that could talk to you as well.
 
Just some more, we found 16 feet above the ground about right. almost 90% of your harvest is in the top 6 feet so if you are under that you risk reducing your harvest. On the other end, going above 16 feet becomes a much longer payback because of the extra costs to get up there.
 
Very cool Rudds (and the rest who are producers of lupulin love). Just a thought on your hop production. How did you determine the quantities for each variety? Was it demand, availability, projected yield? The reason I ask is that Sterling and Centennial fetch some of the highest prices per oz. around here, but the other varieties go for much less. Willamette is actually dirt cheap. I see that you are starting with a large percentage of Sterling, which makes sense, but I'm curious on the lower amount of Centennial. I figured centennial would be one to grow a lot of, as it sells for more, is a popular hop, and can be used in bittering, flavor/aroma, and dry hopping (i.e. more applications = more consumption). I'm not informed on the hop availability, demand, and pricing on the east coast, though.
 
I have extensive training in propagation techniques ( plus i have been to horticulture college) and thru doing a few trials test first, i will be able to clone these plants in the 1000's..

LMAO
So exactly how much weed did you grow in college?!?!
 
Bierliebhaber:

I can tell you that one of the biggest deciding factors for us several years ago was just planting whatever we could get. There wasn't a lot of choice.

We asked the brewer's what they wanted, checked market prices, experimented to see what grew best...here's what we found:

- In the upper midwest, nearly all the "American" varieties grow well enough if treated properly.

- Enough brewers weren't buying just on price but like the idea of a stable price for a quality product...so we don't play the market. We set a price based on production cost, processing cost and leave it set. If market price goes up, the brewer's "win", if the market price drops, they still buy because we are providing a much higher quality product that their customers are asking them to use.

- One brewer told us, "Don't grow what I want. Grow what grows best for you and I'll design a beer around it."

The last was the best advice we received. We have revived a number of older varieties, reintroduced them to the brewers and they love them. So much that brewers are coming to us requesting that we revive some odd ball old variety or other. Its kind of fun.

With our fields and our growers, we do put in a little variety to stagger the harvest schedule, too. Different varieties mature at different rates. So a grower with 1 acre will put in 1/3 of an acre of three different varieties so, hopefully, they will be able to get them all harvested by hand the first few years.
 
Just some more, we found 16 feet above the ground about right. almost 90% of your harvest is in the top 6 feet so if you are under that you risk reducing your harvest. On the other end, going above 16 feet becomes a much longer payback because of the extra costs to get up there.
Ahh. 16 feet sounds a lot easier then 18... hav u gone 18 feet? I guess 2 feet isn't much of a change..and yes the top 1/3 of the plant is yr most production... when things are up I will be rasing lambs in the hop fields...free mowing! Plus they will eat everything 4 feet and below the bines..so it saves on labor....

I have extensive training in propagation techniques ( plus i have been to horticulture college) and thru doing a few trials test first, i will be able to clone these plants in the 1000's..

LMAO
So exactly how much weed did you grow in college?!?!

Haha....was wondering when some one was going to catch that.. hmm well now u mention it...probly more then everyone in this forum combined.. :) .if u go just on numbers...was working out west at a. Friends dispensary and I did the cloning...working with aeroponics we would clone 500 plants at a time like it was cake.i.. I have done upwards of over 15,000 maybe into the 20K range..I lost count...but that was a few years ago...

Very cool Rudds (and the rest who are producers of lupulin love). Just a thought on your hop production. How did you determine the quantities for each variety? Was it demand, availability, projected yield? The reason I ask is that Sterling and Centennial fetch some of the highest prices per oz. around here, but the other varieties go for much less. Willamette is actually dirt cheap. I see that you are starting with a large percentage of Sterling, which makes sense, but I'm curious on the lower amount of Centennial. I figured centennial would be one to grow a lot of, as it sells for more, is a popular hop, and can be used in bittering, flavor/aroma, and dry hopping (i.e. more applications = more consumption). I'm not informed on the hop availability, demand, and pricing on the east coast, though.

U hit the nail on the donkey...! Availability..... however I had. A little choice They only had that much cascade left...soo 300 was it...and didn't even had centennial so I sourced the remaining stock from. Another farm.... I will be focusing my cloning efforts this year on getting my numbers up. For cascade, centennial, pearl ,willaimette and more sterling... funny u should ask. There's always a story for everything..lol. I chose Willaimette because the rihzomes came from 20 year old vines ..(meaning huge seed stocks) easiest to grow for first time grower is the others mess up. plus it was a cool sounding lname , u can't find them around here, people are growing fuggle (which I don't like) and this is a old school cross..that has slight citris note in it and a spicy woody aroma....u can use this as a dual purpose hop. Great for apas, ipas and dark beers...brewing this hop with cascade I herd was borderline life changing... cant wait... :)

Can yocu leave them in those pots over winter without having cold injury?
Yes u can..the hops have to have a cold conditioning over winter to grow the following spring...when I get my greenhouse up I may if I'm still in town keep some in pots. And condition them for a month or 2 then bring a few 100 in the greenhouse to start growing as cloning stock for the following year...will use. MH and LEDs to extend the daylight house to keep the plants vegging all winter long..

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In the pics..yes I did loose some..well a lot maybe I'm still counting maybe a few 100? I'm moving them all over and transfered them on plasic sheeting.....I had a huge slug problem....I thought they were just a little untill I went out the other night at mid night ans killed over 200...that's what was killing my plants..I didn't even know...dam...all this time..you live and u learn. The last pic I found while transfering..it grew right out of the bottom of the pot! Wow...

I also picked up a new 4 footed friend for the hopyard...Columbus! He's a american staffordshire terrier...great all around farm dog.
 
Anybody have any safe ideas to get rid of slugs and catopillers?

Shallow plates of BMC seems to be a pretty unanimous decision around here for slugs. As for the caterpillars that is not quite as cut and dry. I'm still in my first crop but a soap solution seems the best to me, I'm still trying to figure out what is eating mine before spraying it.
 
Diatomaceous Earth works well for slugs and is edible by animals and humans. I heard the other week on a gardening show that BEER works great on slugs too! They love the stuff, but it kills 'em. I would use the DE though and drink the beer while spreading it:drunk:

Caterpillars is a whole nuther thing. Bacillus Thuringiensis, Kurstaki or BTK is supposed to be great for Caterpillars. Or you can pick them off and use them for fishing :D
 
sluggo is completely safe and works well, too. (i use it in my garden, and i've eaten it to prove it's safety)
 
sorry for the lack of update... just bought a hagger 4 foot rototiller for our tractor and will bge putting the plants in the ground in the coming days.... had a run in with too high PH in the soil mix we used..used a lot of compost and it seemed its been the culprit in some of the plants taking a big hit...i watered them with a 6 ph water ,..soo that should help them a bit.... stay tuned...
 
Very interesting topic. I'm flirting with the idea of putting together a 1-1.5 acre Farm if I can afforfd the land. How did the season turnout? Did you build the trellis system?
 
Hey beer family..sorry for the lack of update..this year was a wild year...didn't think it would be as much work as I thought and wow...I was in for a wake up call... had soo many issues ..at least I went to school this summer at the school of hard nocks... way too much rain early season.. no rain for 4 weekss mid season... bugs bombardment from every direction....slugs, aphids, leaf hoppers, weeds like no other...you learn fast with growing over 1800 plants..in hindsight I wish I started with only 200 then next year go bigger...at least I'm where I want to be now...

Got soo fed up with it all I left for a month in sept for south America to get away...but came back to winterize the beds and get a good start for next year....over the summer I marked 100 trees that I will be cutting this winter for hop poles.. 5 to 12 inch's in diameter (ironwood trees)..from 40 acres of woods we have in the back of the farm... come april or may I will be installing the poles and trellis...
Also over the winter I'm planning on setting up the paperwork for a farm brewery and planing out an area of about 30 acres to grow malting barley.. and would like to use the CSB(community supported brewery) model to start to get the local community interested...any ideas on how to set it up? Been researching the different ways others have done it..
. if anyone is in the central NYS. (Syracuse area) message me as I'm looking for people that may want to start a microbrewery/ beer farm down the road.. been brewing all summer and I'm puting the pieces together for a 1 barrel brewery to start..and I'm poring the floor for the area in the barn that will be the location for the brew kettles and malting floor... going to be a busy winter and spring..... pics to come..
 
Awesome read and great timing. I'm ten years from an Army retirement, and the wife and I are having serious discussions about starting a farm to mug style brewery. We are looking at property in a few states and trying our best to get educated now. My intent was to timber farm until I retire, the start with hops when we retire, and eventually grow my own grains. Looks like you are on the same path. At least now I know to save some pines for hops poles!

I look forward to seeing your adventures unfold.
 
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