First time growing: Apartment hops in the High Desert

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Reno_eNVy

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I've been wanting to grow for a while but I happened upon a great deal for some Brewer's Gold rhizomes so it's time to get started!

I live in a townhome style apartment with a patio where we've had success growing a couple veggies.

In order I take care of space issues I'm going to be employing something similar to this:

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O1BisDATgxyHMyozJN117ZCpcaaw0mrsreZ5Rio3xD8ZAMzhQ1RLkQ_Ai4sRR9Imv0iSSv1fWaepNUM52u4wZ-Bn-k0LYyjHYY9gEJzCZhsJ9HbZPQ



I might just stick with two stakes with zigzagging twine between them... just going to have to see how it all works out.


But I have a couple questions:

1) I have 15-30-15 water soluble crystal fertilizer. Will this do or should I use liquid or a fert with a 3-1-2 ratio?

2) Is there any way to improve on that structure, i.e., materials, positioning, etc?

3) Some things I read talked about hop twine. How thick should the twine be?

Thank you very much in advance!
 
1) No, just use synthetic ferts with any variation of a 3-1-2 ratio of N-P-K for container growth. To induce more prolific flowering, a reduced N supply will have more and better effect than the high P bloom formulas. When N is reduced, it slows vegetative growth without reducing photosynthesis. Since vegetative growth is limited by a lack of N, and the photosynthetic machinery continues to turn out food, it leaves an expendable surplus for the plant to spend on flowers. Plants use about 6 times more N than P, so fertilizers that supply more P than N are wasteful and more likely to inhibit blooms (since too much P inhibits uptake of Fe and many micro-nutrients - it raises pH unnecessarily as well, which could also be problematic). Popular "bloom-booster" fertilizers like 10-52-10 actually supply about 32x more P than your plant could ever use (in relationship to how much N it uses) and has the potential to wreak all kinds of havoc with your plants.

2) Looks pretty good - I want one! But I would definitely use a much larger planter.
The only other thing I'd be worried about is if it ever tipped over.

3) You can use any twine that doesn't cut through or damage the plant. Tie it looser than you think. A tight tie will restrict growth.
 
Much appreciated bobbrews!

Thanks for the plant biology refresher. I haven't taken that course in a couple years so it was a bit foggy. You're very right, though. I'll have to go get some different ferts!

And as for it tipping over, I've thought of several ways to weigh down the pot.
 
UPDATE:

I'm getting the equipment set up and I just have a couple more questions. Sorry for the noobiness --

1) Will using Miracle Grow Garden for Flowers and Vegetables work? I know it isn't potting mix but I have plenty of perlite which is pretty much the only thing that makes potting mix different. (Images below for reference to what I'm talking about)

2) I found a fertilizer that has a 3-1-2 ratio. Now, am I supposed to feed it right away even though the soil comes loaded with nutes? And should I set a feeding schedule or simply feed them when they need it (i.e. show signs of deficiencies)?

THANKS!
 
For short-term plants, I usually use 5 parts partially-composted pine bark, 1 part spaghnum peat, and 1-2 parts perlite (along with a control-release fertilizer of NPK, plus something else that supplies all the minor nutrients, and some gypsum or lime).... However, hops are long term plants and for long-term container growth, you'll need something more stable that won't break down over time but still provide excellent drainage. The previous recipe is only good for plants that last for one season.

Here is the best recipe for long-term container growth that I've ever used. It allows for superior drainage and will last a very long time:

1 part uncomposted screened pine or fir bark (1/8-1/4")
1 part screened Turface
1 part crushed Gran-I-Grit (grower size) or #2 cherrystone
1 tbsp gypsum per gallon of soil
A 3-1-2 ratio fertilizer that contains all essentials and apply weakly, weekly (pun intended)
Control Release Fertilizer (if desired)
Source of micro-nutrients that supplies all the minors
1/8 -1/4 tsp Epsom salts per gallon of fertilizer solution every time you fertilize (if soluble, it is probable it does not contain Ca or Mg)

* Add the gypsum when you make the soil. It is added as a Ca source, or you can skip the gypsum and use Foliage-Pro fertilizer, which contains both Ca and Mg. You definitely should add it when using soluble fertilizers that do not contain Ca, so you need to read the label for contents. If you use gypsum as a Ca source when you make the soil, you should add Epsom salts each time you fertilize. The reason is because a high presence of Ca in the soil in relation to the amount of Mg can make Mg unavailable. The Ca:Mg ratio should be around 3 to 5:1, Ca:Mg.

This is what the ingredients look like... starting left/top and working clockwise... turface, perlite, fir bark, and granite chips...

The larger stones in the sharpee pics are what you want, not the smaller ones.

anov2010.jpg


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IMG_1143.jpg


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Cool, thanks for the info.

I didn't even notice your location before. What part of the Sierras?
 
The setup in your original post has pots that are too small. Here is a picture of my small space setup from last year:

http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/attachm...-2011-hop-garden-picture-thread-image0070.jpg

http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/attachm...-2011-hop-garden-picture-thread-image0081.jpg

The containers are 120L drilled out rubbermaid storage containers and for a trellis I ran a loop of twine to the upstairs balcony - when the bines hit the top i let out more string and hung the coiled up bines over the railing. This allowed them to always be growing up, doesn't require daily training like the cris-cross trellis in your picture does and allows for unlimited growth (mine were more than 20ft) Last year I grew 5 plants and that was way too many - it turned into a jungle. I gave a way 3 plants and I'm only growing 2 this year and I have the twine attached to 3 points to keep them from tangling when the laterals start to appear. When we transplanted the plants i gave away, it was clear that containers less than 100L are way too small. The plants in the 20" pots were root bound by mid 1st season. If you want to actually get enough cones to brew with, go with the biggest you can. ...and lots of sun, mine had direct sun from 15 minutes after sunrise until sunset.
 
Oh I'm going to be using an 18 gallon storage tub. I've done it with veggies. I'll post photos when I get them going Sunday.

Rhizomes came in today! Yay! Should I put the bag in the fridge until sunday or room temp?
 
UPDATE:

Huzzah! As a late Earth Day gift, the first rhizome broke ground in the early evening. It was just barely noticeable last night and here it is this morning.

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Here's the container. The trellis system has yet to be set up. You can see the bine sprout in the bottom circle. The upper circles are where I expect the other two to break. It doesn't seem like there is a lot of room in there but it's a pretty dang wide and quite deep Rubbermaid tub.

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UPDATE:

It's been a couple of rainy days.

Four days after breaking group and the first shoot is looking awesome. Probably grew an inch or so.
2012-04-26%2012.48.12.jpg


Another rhizome decided to pop up but the tip died for some reason and now there are two little shoots emerging from the injury.
2012-04-26%2012.48.33.jpg
 
Day 15:

The one sprout is looking really good! We went out of town for a couple of days and it made a couple more nodes. (Nice finger photobomb in the third photo.)

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Day 27:

The first sprout has slowed its vertical growth considerably but has put out several nodes of leaves. There's also a tiny new bine you can see in the photo that came up 4 or 5 days ago and really hasn't done much since.

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The second rhizome sent a big beefy bine up out of nowhere! After maaaybe a week it's as tall as the bine on the first rhizome. Also, the second rhizome sent up an iddy bitty bine the other day.

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The first rhizome is going to have to be moved over really soon. Once separated they'll be about 16-18" away from each other, which should be fine for their first year in less than ideal light.


I've declared the third rhizome dead. I dug it up and there is absolutely no living tissue to be seen.
 
Day 37:

Big update. The "trellis" has been anchored in and is quite sturdy. It's been pummeled by wind the last few days and looks great still. The twine will likely go up in the next couple days because one of the plants really needs to get trained.
2012-05-22%2015.09.01.jpg



Here's the first rhizome bine, still lacking on vertical growth but is making new leaves again. We "transplanted" it by moving it over so the two rhizomes are about 1.5 feet away from each other... soon enough it'll take off.
2012-05-22%2015.09.18.jpg



Speaking of taking off, the second rhizomes bine is rocking! Nice big leaves and the shoot is probably about 8-10 inches. The second image shows some noms have been taken. However it showed up 4 days ago and I have yet to see a culprit, eggs, or other leaves being nommed so there seems to be nothing to worry about.
2012-05-22%2015.09.40.jpg


2012-05-22%2015.10.28.jpg
 
Day 57:

A lot of growth happening in the last 20 days. The little guy has started to really move and the biggin' is still exploding. We got some snow and a TON of harsh wind (and one night of freezing temperatures) but they held up just fine. They also got some new friends!

2012-06-11_10-44-03_470.jpg



In the image you can see the big guy has some yellowing on the ends of the older leaves. I hit it with a feeding two nights ago and apparently that's what it really wanted because the leaves on the third node from the top tripled in size since then. It was the first feeding since planting the rhizomes nearly two months ago so it seemed like an appropriate time anyway.

2012-06-11_10-21-56_118.jpg
 
Day 74:

Hooray for severe winds that never stopped! They did a serious number on the hops but they are tough and hanging in there. There's even a few burrs!

2012-07-09_10-54-20_943.jpg


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Where in Reno are you? My hops are at my aunt's in Northwest and the cascade is about 12' tall, I planted around the same time as you.
 
I'm in the north valleys, Raleigh Heights area. And yeah, I'd say the big one is probably 10-12' if the line was straight up
 
Wow, ended up forgetting about this thread after I got my job back in July. Since then, Reno has frozen over several times and plans on doing it again next week. The bines were starting to die so I cut them back to about 2 inches above the soil and have been giving them a good soak once every few weeks.

I actually ended up getting some cones but they didn't last long.

However we did get a ton of rain last week and it warmed up slightly the last few days, and when I went outside yesterday I noticed one of the rhizomes is sending out two new shoots. I'll let them go as long as they want to, maybe it will help establish more roots.
 
Year two has officially begun! The rhizome on the right is totally taking over the container so we're going to move the left rhizome to its own container.

The bines and tips are already looking thicker and healthier than they ever did the first year. I'm so excited for this year!

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