Gorilla Growing Hops?

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Swifty

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I am..

A kind member of the brew club brought a bunch of rysomes to the last meeting and I scored a few. Everyone was adamant about how these will go sick on whatever is around them so, I put them out in a local park.

Won't be long and everyone will be able to bitter their beers round here!

:rockin:Swifty :rockin:
 
People bring their dogs to parks. Hops are toxic to dogs. You might want to dig them back up.

My dog drank a glass of nugget nectar (bad boy!) and he was fine, watched him for a few hours afterwards and nothing happened.
 
gorilla growing... i like it. let's hope the city/municipality/etc doesn't come by and clean up what they believe is a weed.

humm, now that has me wondering where i could gorilla-plant a few rhizomes next year...

Hops are toxic to dogs.
they are toxic to SOME dogs, under SOME conditions (ex: rexbanner's story, among thousands of others).

it's like saying "peanuts are deadly for children"... despite the fact that they aren't for 99% of kids.
 
sweetcell said:
they are toxic to SOME dogs, under SOME conditions (ex: rexbanner's story, among thousands of others).

it's like saying "peanuts are deadly for children"... despite the fact that they aren't for 99% of kids.

Good point, but the OP doesn't control which dogs will be in the area. I love the guerrilla growing idea, I just wouldn't do it in a public park.
 
I didn't know that they were toxic to dogs.. That's a bit of info I'm glad to have as I have two of my own. The location isn't frequented by dogs; it's fringe at best. I didn't want them to get sprayed with some kind of weed poison. It really shouldn't be an issue for either.

I was thinking about putting some down near some brush that would act as a trellis on a golf course near my house. I love the idea of the gorilla grow; got it from the pot guys. They'll cut an area of corn down under an irrigation pivot and plant a real cash crop in its stead. I'm replacing ragweed with hops.
 
I've had dogs my whole life and have never had one that ate any growing plant, except occasionally grass. Even the deer in my area which eat almost everything won't eat hops. I don't think you need to worry about dogs.
 
I don't think you need to worry about dogs.

#1) The cones will be higher up than dogs can reach (cones are the toxic portion)
#2) Stories of sick dogs nearly always start with an owner discarding the trub material into a compost pile or a dog snarfing up a pile of hop pellets.

It's something to be aware of, but it's one of these internet legends that spreads by dramatic 3rd-hand re-tellings and half-truths.
 
Oh.... man, I read the title and expected something like a gorilla had, for some reason, shoved a rhizome in the ground and out came hops.

guerilla_gorilla.jpg
 
Who cares how frequently dogs can get sick from hops? There are lots of toxic plants in natural environments, and a dog owner needs to watch his pooch to make sure they're not getting in to anything. It's not your responsibility to protect a stranger's pet.

Plant away! I do some guerilla hop planting myself. BTW, if you ever get confused about guerilla vs. gorilla, remember that guerilla comes from the Spanish word for a small war.
 
humm, now that has me wondering where i could gorilla-plant a few rhizomes next year...

It is kind of hard if you live in a dry climate, because any place that's naturally wet enough won't be sunny enough, and vice versa.

I decided that since I was going guerilla, I'd just put rhizomes along fences or latticework that has irrigated landscaping vines. There will be some competition with the landscaped plants, but I thought tearing these down would be against the spirit of guerilla gardening. And at least the rhizome will get some irrigation during the long hot summer.

I have one guerilla cascade rhizome that's sending up shoots! We'll see how it does...
 
Spelling's a *****... Especially with this ridiculously complex language. Affect vs Effect= RAVEN Drop the R and Affect is a Verb Effect is a Noun. :) Silly language..
 
You could also look into a community garden. I read an article or post somewhere where a group had built a large trellis and planted something like a dozen rhizomes in the garden.

Less likely to be affected by dogs, a weed-eater or a weed killer.
 
No. Isomerized hop acids are toxic to some dogs.

Good point, but the OP doesn't control which dogs will be in the area. I love the guerrilla growing idea, I just wouldn't do it in a public park.

Hops are not toxic to dogs until after you've brewed with them. Like dwarven said, it's the isomerized acids that are toxic. Not the raw plant.
 
IrregularPulse said:
Hops are not toxic to dogs until after you've brewed with them. Like dwarven said, it's the isomerized acids that are toxic. Not the raw plant.

way off course.... Before, after and while brewing hops are dangerous to dogs. Some breeds like greyhounds and laboradors are more susceptible than others to malignant hypothermia.
 
I think the community garden is probably a better idea as they may be tended to on a more regular basis. If guerilla growing is what I think it is (plant the hops and let them do their thing unattended until harvest time), this could lead to problems for all hop growers. If those plants happen to become infected with disease or insects, they become vectors and aid in the spread of those pests which will put increased pest pressure on the well tended to hops growing nearby. If my interpretation of guerilla growing is off the mark, then never mind. Just sayin'.
 
Typically, guerrilla gardening just means growing something on public land when you don't explicitly ask for permission.

As with any crop, the grower would presumably want to get something out of it, and would tend to it. But I agree if the grower abandons the plant, that hurts nearby growers.
 
I must admit I've considered doing this also, but I hate to think of how heartbroken I'd be to put work into growing this gorgeous plant only to see it get destroyed just before harvest. I would think that coning hop bines will stick out like a sore thumb, especially as they outgrow whatever strcuture they are near and begin to "rats nest", but perhaps you have a well-disguised spot. I hope it goes well.
 
Oh.... man, I read the title and expected something like a gorilla had, for some reason, shoved a rhizome in the ground and out came hops.

guerilla_gorilla.jpg

DEAR GAAAAAWD!!!!!

That took like 14 posts before a grammar Nazi ended my misery.

I read the title, knew what was up, but was still thinking "There better be a damned good picture of a hairy primate tending some god damned rhizomes, or I'm gonna rip someone..."



Lol.


Cool idea. My biggest worry is that some do-gooder is sure to think you are growing POT and call the cops on you.

Carry on.;)
 
I would think that coning hop bines will stick out like a sore thumb, .

That's exactly how I spotted the first wild ones that I ever grew back in the mid-80's. Growing along the roadside in Upstate New York around the second week of September when everything else was turning brown. "sore thumb" = Right On!
 
I must admit I've considered doing this also, but I hate to think of how heartbroken I'd be to put work into growing this gorgeous plant only to see it get destroyed just before harvest.

Yes! Definitely don't make the guerrilla hops your only hops, or else some well-meaning but unskilled gardener might hack them to shreds!

I used to rent a room in a house that employed a gardener, and they were like the opposite of a gardener. Basically, all they knew how to do was destroy plants. They would use a leaf-blower to clear out my beds of tender barley shoots, breaking all the leaves, and then they'd come around and snip off the tips of my hop shoots!

Also, is there any way we can edit the title of this thread? As it stands, we should be talking about primates, which makes us WAY off topic.
 
Who cares how frequently dogs can get sick from hops? There are lots of toxic plants in natural environments, and a dog owner needs to watch his pooch to make sure they're not getting in to anything. It's not your responsibility to protect a stranger's pet.

Plant away! I do some guerilla hop planting myself. BTW, if you ever get confused about guerilla vs. gorilla, remember that guerilla comes from the Spanish word for a small war.

Thats really a ****ty thing to say. Coming from a guy whose dog almost died from injesting hops. Considering it is a public park, there are people in the world that aren't brewers and that don't know that hops are toxic to dogs. Most dont' even know what a hop is, let alone what it looks like.

I love how people post things on here that just because they haven't experienced it, it must not be true.

Keep on trolling.
 
Thats really a ****ty thing to say. Coming from a guy whose dog almost died from injesting hops. Considering it is a public park, there are people in the world that aren't brewers and that don't know that hops are toxic to dogs. Most dont' even know what a hop is, let alone what it looks like.

I love how people post things on here that just because they haven't experienced it, it must not be true.

Keep on trolling.

How do you feel about planting foxglove in public spaces? Dogs could get into that and their heart might stop. Or how about potatoes? An underripe potato can contain atropine, causing a dog to have a seizure. Those beautiful morning glory flowers growing along a fence? Their seeds can make your dog trip balls and run into traffic. Should these plants also be removed from our parks and front yards?

My point was not to troll (sorry if it came off that way.) But I wanted to point out that the world inherently contains poisons. It's not the public's responsibility to dog-proof the world, but a dog owner's responsibility to watch out for their pup.

I'm a dog owner too, btw! I love my yellow lab Phoenix.
 
Except hops don't look anything like pot.

......even to someone who has grown both, there are serious similarities, but do you really expect some do-good nosey moron to know what pot looks like?

And Hops are actually closely related, and look JUST like pot in vine form.
 
......even to someone who has grown both, there are serious similarities, but do you really expect some do-good nosey moron to know what pot looks like?

And Hops are actually closely related, and look JUST like pot in vine form.

This. They are close enough that some naive individual could confuse hops for Devil's Crabgrass :D
 
This. They are close enough that some naive individual could confuse hops for Devil's Crabgrass :D

Especially if you are sneaking in early or late, looking around suspiciously......planting something......


It could be a rose bush and someone would call the vice squad.;)
 
I think the issue with dogs and hops may not be as bad as we're putting it. I agree that they are poisonous, but my dogs have avoided all the poisonous plants we've grown thus far. The real danger lies in disposal of our brewing byproducts. When we toss trub with hops in it on top of spent grain, then that's a recipe for dogs to eat it. Even our french bulldog, which puts everything in her mouth, steered clear of the foxglove my wife had planted on the balcony. It's twofold, we need to plant responsibly (ie, not in the dog park, but on the fringe of a city park, probably OK) and we need to be responsible as dog owners and make sure they aren't grazing on plants all over the place.

Our apartment complex has small planters in between each of the garage doors that have these really feeble vines growing there. I'm think I might just plant a couple of rhizomes and see what happens. Heck, they've already strung the twine up the wall. Could be fun.
 
i don't like labs or greyhounds....so plant away....

is gorilla necessarily wrong? they are wild animals growing in the wild , free to climb where they want...just saying...

and really i don't like labs...don't really have anything against greyhounds except they're skinny and fast
 
i don't like labs or greyhounds....so plant away....

is gorilla necessarily wrong? they are wild animals growing in the wild , free to climb where they want...just saying...

and really i don't like labs...don't really have anything against greyhounds except they're skinny and fast

Your whole post is so wrong, I don't know where to begin.........


SO.....you are a doggy racist? either you like dogs or you don't. Please don't racially profile them.

Gorillas are common in your parks? If so, swing away. Mine would have to be squirrell gardening, and that makes little sense.

OH! You don't actively hate greyhounds! That is um......refreshing..
 
Spelling's a *****... Especially with this ridiculously complex language. Affect vs Effect= RAVEN Drop the R and Affect is a Verb Effect is a Noun. :) Silly language..

It's much easier to remember the difference between affect and effect when you remember that "affect" is an "action"
 
modernlifeisANDY said:
I'm an English teacher! :ban:

Awesome.

I never take Grammar Nazi offensively. If someone says, "Hey, Grammar Nazi..." I hear it as, "Hey, educated guy...." :D
 
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