Hop Growers in Southern California

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Hop_Hero

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Anyone here have success home growing hops in Southern California, ideally North San Diego County? I started this year with three varieties. Cascade, Centennial, and Fuggles. The cascade got about 3 feet tall with no hops, Centennial got about 1 foot then a damn cat dug it up, and the Fuggle got about 8 feet with no hops. I'm hoping next year the fuggle will grow like crazy and the cascade will show improvement.

What varieties has anyone had success with in socal? I've heard Chinook does well. I live in a small agricultural town known for Avocados and Citrus trees.
 
I've had good success with Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial in Poway. Not much success with Tettnang, though, and I don't think the Fuggles will do to well in our climate--it's surprising to me that your Fuggles outdid the Cascade. It could be the quality of rhizomes you planted, the soil, amount of sunlight, inputs, or a host of factors that led to a poor result this year but keep at it because they grow really well in our climate, especially the C varieties. I've sold or traded 200+ rhizomes to local growers and brewers and have heard good reports from them, so if you're in the need of some rhizomes come spring, shoot me a PM.
 
I will defiantly be contacting you for some rhizomes. The ones i ordered from more beer seemed dry by the time i got them.
 
I might have to as well... :)

I live in Huntington now but am from Fallbrook - still down there a lot with the wifey and inlaws. I planted 3 years ago before really knowing much. Now I have 4 varieties that I don't use much: Magnum, Mt Hood, Nugget and Northern Brewer. Would love to get some better aroma hops going like cascades or centennials.
 
Hey, cram just wondering if you are still offering Rhizomes? I live in Santee and might be interested in buying local. I have been thinking about growing some for a couple of years and think it's time. Thanks :mug:
 
Hey, i'm in San Diego too and was just about to buy from northwest hops or fresh hops but saw this thread. I'm willing to buy some off you if they produce well. I'd rather keep it local and in the community.
 
There's a lot of great vendors that support HBT that I would have no problem buying rhizomes from and some of them offer crowns, which would save you some time if you're just starting out. That said, I'll likely have some Cascade and Chinook rhizomes, at least, to offer those folks that live close by...
 
I am just down the road and last year planted Cascade, Centennial, CTZ, Nugget, and Chinook. All did well except Nugget, only made about 10 feet. All others went 15+ and had a decent crop. I am using drip irrigation. I think this helps alot. The CTZ is crazy, grows a foot a day, fun to watch.
 
Put me down for a cascade and chinook! We can meet at a brewery and i'll buy you a beer
 
I might have to as well... :)

I planted 3 years ago before really knowing much. Now I have 4 varieties that I don't use much: Magnum, Mt Hood, Nugget and Northern Brewer. Would love to get some better aroma hops going like cascades or centennials.

I am looking to grow hops for the first time this year. I live on the border of Orange and Los Angeles County right along the LA river. Does Mt Hood do well in our area? Of the four varieties that you are growing which ones are doing the best?

I plan on growing Centennial and I will try to propagate extra plants through layering. I would like to trade you rhizomes in the future when I can produce some.
 
I am looking to grow hops for the first time this year. I live on the border of Orange and Los Angeles County right along the LA river. Does Mt Hood do well in our area? Of the four varieties that you are growing which ones are doing the best?

I plan on growing Centennial and I will try to propagate extra plants through layering. I would like to trade you rhizomes in the future when I can produce some.

They're all doing well. Magnum and the Nugget seem to be doing the best, but only marginally. I really want to get some aroma varieties in the ground like centennial and cascade. Prob won't take any rhizome cuttings just yet, as they're only 3 yrs old, but for sure next year!
 
I live in east county SD, near el cajon, CA. And All of my hop plants, which are Centennial, or Chinook variety, have already started to sprout from the ground and from their pots. I started the Centennial plant, from a rhizome last year (no hop harvest). And the Chinooks, i bought last year, were already formed crowns, purchased at greatlakeshops.com. The chinook crowns gave me a small harvest and then winter came. My question is ARE your plants doing this already? I know its warming up, and thats why they sprouted early, But do I need to cut all these little guys right now, before the roots use up too much energy? Thanks for any help or observations.
 
Mine are not sprouting yet. I find that my Chinook plants almost always follow about a month behind the Cascades. In my yard, the Tettnang come up first, Cascade next, then Centennial and, lastly, Chinook. It could be that your crowns were acclimated to a different climate so they've been hardwired to sense spring a little differently than in Socal--but that's just a wild guess and probably wrong...

If yours are on the sprout already, I'd leave them be for now. They'll probably get whacked by a late frost anyway (there's supposed to be some cold night-time temps in the weeks to come). I wouldn't worry about roots taking up energy--the green growth should be pumping some energy toward the roots, too. I'd probably cut them back and restart either way in early April, trying to get them on the lines toward the start of May. Half the fun, to me, is the experiment. You can treat the plants differently, take notes and build up your knowledge based on what happens as a result.
 
They're all doing well. Magnum and the Nugget seem to be doing the best, but only marginally. I really want to get some aroma varieties in the ground like centennial and cascade. Prob won't take any rhizome cuttings just yet, as they're only 3 yrs old, but for sure next year!

Instead of taking rhizome cuttings I intend to propagate them via layering. If I understand correctly you are suppose to keep only 3 to 5 bines each year. The binds that you normally would cut off and discard are the ones that I use to propagate extra rhizomes.

Hopefully, it will work out.
 
Instead of taking rhizome cuttings I intend to propagate them via layering. If I understand correctly you are suppose to keep only 3 to 5 bines each year. The binds that you normally would cut off and discard are the ones that I use to propagate extra rhizomes.

Hopefully, it will work out.

So do you just cut the bines, dip in root hormone and grow normally. I've never done this for hops, but have for other plants and was successful. Will this work for hops? If so I'd be happy to do so in the spring and share them. They already should be acclimated to the SoCal weather.
 
taking cuttings works well, I had success and made a bunch of new plants. I did not use hormones, just had them in plain water. after a week or so, in the shade, tiny white roots sprouted and I planted them. they grew bines before winter, then went dormant. but now they have all broken ground again. There are way better techniques then I used to clone, I did it the easy/cheap way.
 
You can also simply put cut bines into soil and they will sprout roots more often than not--super simple. I often pinch the growth tip off and you'll get two new bines come up from the next node down.

Or you can lay bines over horizontally, not cutting them, cover them with soil leaving the growth tip exposed, and they will sprout roots, too.

They don't have the gusto of rhizomes but it's a good way to spread out the hop yard and get a head start for next season.
 
So do you just cut the bines, dip in root hormone and grow normally.

Sorry for taking long to respond. What you are referring to is taking a cutting. Where you cut off binds and root them in either water or soil. You can either dip them in rooting hormone first or skip that step. Using rooting hormones tend to have a higher success rate, but it will cost you more money and is not always necessary. Propagating from cutting is what jperry is describing two posts above mine.

Layering is similar, but instead of cutting the bines and then trying to root them, you actually do it in the reverse order. You take a bind that is still currently attached to the mother plant and you bury part of the bine. The part of the bine that is buried should start rooting and once it starts rooting then you cut the bine away from the mother plant. Pretty much how cram describes in the post directly above mine.

A convenient way to layer is to layer directly into a pot. Rather than burying the bine in the ground. When you bury the bine in a pot you can then transport it after it roots and after you cut it away from the mother plant.

I have read in the forum that you can take a cutting and root it in water or soil, but from what people have described part of the bine begins to wilt or die off. This tends to be true of other plants that I have taken cuttings from such as tomato and basil.

When you take a cutting you are in battle against time. Can you get the cutting to form roots so that it can support itself before the cutting rots and shrivels away. Sometimes you succeed and your cutting grows roots. Sometimes your cutting die before they root and you fail. I have heard it referred to as "Root vs Rot".

When you use layering, the bine is still attached to the mother plant therefore the bine should continue to grow and receive nutrients from the mother plant while you are in the process of trying to get the bine to grow its own roots that are separate from the mother plant.

I have read here on the forums that both cuttings and layering works on hops. I have not done this with hops so I am speaking from what I have read and I am speaking from my experience with other plants.

With a single hop bine I have read that you can use a technique called "serpentine" layering which could allow you to create multiple rooted crowns with rhizomes from a single bine. I will post a diagram of this technique.

If I am successful in doing this then I will have some plants to trade with locals in the SoCal area. This is my first year trying to grow hops so I don't have rhizomes to trade and I don't want to wait a couple of years for my plants to get healthy enough for me to take a rhizome cutting, so I am using this technique out of necessity. I can't wait for rhizomes so start shipping already so I can test this out.

Diagram_3.jpg
 
I'm in Canoga Park. I have had good success with Glacier and Crystle (grows like a maniac!). Centennial, Cascade did ok their first year so far. Nothing but vines from the Climax, and Northern Brewer barely grew a foot, though it did make hop cones. tiny tiny hop cones.

This year I am adding new Centennials, CTZ, and Chinook.

Since I'll never know the alpha acids on these home grown hop I am trying to cultivate for zero minute additions and dry hopping.
 
I tried brewers gold and willamette last year in Escondido with the same results as you. I think I started late hopefully this year will yield. They are already starting to send some chutes up and this year they are way fatter. I'm going to start watering regularly. Good luck
 
I live in Fallbrook and check my plots and my fuggle has three shoots and my cascade 2. I thought my cascade was dead but i guess not. My shoots are the whitish nubs though. Is that right?
 
Two of the four rhizomes i got from cram broke ground over the last two days! I will post a picture tomorrow
 
Good to hear some of the 'zomes have taken off, Hop Hero! I'm sure the rest aren't too far behind. Don't forget to feed them--they love nitrogen, especially, through May and June. :mug:
 
I usually feed them the miracle grow feeder. What do you recommend using?



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There is one. Another sprouted today also
 
Miracle Grow will work fine and there's a lot of opinions on what types of inputs to use. Part of it depends on whether or not your hops are in containers or in the ground. Either way, I prefer more natural sources like organic fertilizers, backyard compost, chicken manure, fish/kelp emulsion, etc. But I am not doing this commercially and looking for maximum yields.

I think most of the commercial growers use synthetic ferts because hops are super hungry plants and it becomes more cost effective (at least, in the short term). My problem with the synthetics is that they tend to work like "plant crack" in that the plants start to deplete it quickly and depend on more to sustain. Plus, it changes the micro/macro flora and fauna of the soil and may raise levels of salts. Not to mention, I am ingesting the hops through my beer so I like the peace of mind that using natural sources gives me. That said, I have tortoises and chickens and a decent sized compost set-up, so I tend to have inputs available.

When they start to set flowers/hops, it becomes a little more tricky to source higher P and K sources from my yard, so then I sometimes use store bought sources of high bloom nutrients...

Whatever you decide to use, less is more, meaning lower concentrations at higher frequency will work better than a large dose of inputs once or twice through the grow season. The fertilize weakly/weekly mantra is good one. And be careful with steer/chicken manure because it can definitely burn plants and add too much salt to the soil if you over do it. Given a choice, I prefer chicken manure for nitrogen-loving plants.
 
Sounds good. I have two chickens and a good compost going. The compost is mostly grass, chicken manure, leaves and spent brewing products.

So do you recommend putting a small layer of compose over the ground or making a compost tea?

I have also heard diluting urine at about 10 parts water to 1 urine provides a lot of nutrients
 
Directly applying compost or compost tea are both good. Plants will be able to use the nutrients in tea more quickly but they will also deplete them more rapidly than compost applied on top. I usually don't go through the trouble of making tea since you're effectively making tea each time you water through the layer of compost. As for chicken manure, let it compost for a couple months before adding it to the plants just to avoid the risk of it being too "hot" for your young plants. Or if it's not aged well, this might be an argument to make the tea.

Urine works, especially for nitrogen. I keep a five-gallon bucket in the backyard for that purpose, especially for ornamental plants but the hops get some early in the season, too. Pee in the bucket, fill the rest with water, and you've likely passed the 1:10 ratio...can't beat the price...plus, it helps justify not going in the house to take a leak.
 
To everyone in this thread, how tall are your plants. Mine is about 12 inches. It is a Centennial rhizome that I planted late March. The plant seems to be growing really slow. I wish it would grow faster. I am sure I am doing something wrong.

I started the plant in the ground, but the area I picked didn't get enough light, so I transferred it to a one gallon pot, until I can find a good permanent spot for it.

I don't expect to get any cones from it this first year, but I hope that the plant can survive the year. If I can get the plant to at least sustain itself and develop more roots then I'll be happy.
 
To everyone in this thread, how tall are your plants. Mine is about 12 inches. It is a Centennial rhizome that I planted late March. The plant seems to be growing really slow. I wish it would grow faster. I am sure I am doing something wrong.

I started the plant in the ground, but the area I picked didn't get enough light, so I transferred it to a one gallon pot, until I can find a good permanent spot for it.

I don't expect to get any cones from it this first year, but I hope that the plant can survive the year. If I can get the plant to at least sustain itself and develop more roots then I'll be happy.

I had a similar experience to this, same time last year. My plant (centennial rhizome) only grew to have about six small bines, with the longest being only 4-5 ft. long. I believe that the plants are putting way more energy, towards establishing root mass, instead of growing big green foliage. That was my experience.
 
I have three. A williamette which is about 24" tall,


a cascade and columbus. The columbus is huge now, probably 6-7 feet. All planted at the same time.
 
@jperry Thanks for the insight. Its good to hear the experience of others since that gives me a point of reference.

@DrinkingLounge, nice pictures. Where did you get those boxes. I need boxes like those.
 
Not to create a pissing contest, but my Centennial is at 15 feet. 2nd year plant. Chinook, CTZ, and Nugget at 12 feet. Cascade is being stupid, only 2 feet. Just barely trained. Weird, cause it was the first to pop up.
 
Here is my first year chinook

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My other four plants are like this. 2 first uear chinooks, 1 second year fuggle, and 1 second year centennial
 
My one first year chinook is starting to form the first cones and throwing out all kinds of side arms.

Not pictures is My 2nd year fuggle that got a late start but now is growing 2-4 inches a day.
image-3885030425.jpg



image-2475150077.jpg
 
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