Indoor Hops Light Question

Alright, I have to admit I read all the threads on here where people pondered the idea of growing hops successfully indoors and the space constraints and I became intriqued. I have an apt. with a loft bedroom that overlooks the livingroom so I have LOTS of vertical space.

So I started a jumbo cascade rhizome in a big, big pot and put two twine lines up to the bedroom. In two weeks they have gotten 2-3 feet up the twine and are headed for the bedroom. I have plant lights on timers clamped on the twine about 2 ft above each bine.

Two Questions:

1) As the light moves up and up above each bine (it will be up roughly 10-12 feet above the pot at its highest) do I need to add another grow light on the plant towards the middle or bottom so that part of the plant gets enough light too?
2) I've read references to flowering and red light frequencies...at some point do I need to expose the plant to a different kind of light to flower or will shortening the daylight be able to trigger the plant to flower?

I have cascade, willamette, and sterling outdoors at a relative's house, but I'm the curious/obsessive type and so I found it hard to stop myself from experimenting with trying these indoors where I could maintain them more closely. If it doesn't work, no harm done, and I've wasted $50 on supplies...oh well.

Thanks for your tips!

UPDATE: Here's some photos of the setup. The second and the third pic show the plant as of today (just over 5' high).

To answer these question you might have to study indoor cultivation of the hops closest relative as I doubt anyone here has any knowledge of indoor hop growing application, light cycles or frequency.

But hey, ya' never know.

In my experience with trying to grow things that you want to fruit or flower indoors (even with lots of sunlight) it is tough. But good luck! Hops seem to be pretty vigorous. Either way I want to see some pics!

I have given this a lot of thought.

I think that 4 foot flourescents hung VERTICALLY are the only way to go.

Ideally you would hang a cord from a swivel bracket and put the pot on a slowly rotating...thing. But that is probably a lot to ask for!

Just some simple training here & there would mostly make up for a lack of rotation.

The more light the better. Can't wait to see pics!

Yeah, I joked to a friend about making the light rotate around the twine, but the bines are doing pretty well on their own making it up the line. The funny thing is that this crazy setup is visible from a big window in the living room and I'm just waiting for my Apt. mgmt. to come and ask me what the heck I'm doing!

The vertical flourescent is an interesting idea. I may have to try that if it seems like the rest of the plant isn't getting enough light. I'm gonna officially join the board and put up some pictures over the weekend so you guys can see the extent of my madness!!

I am sure that you would either need the long flourescents, or a BUNCH of horizontal lights.

Hops are like peppers, they want full sun. Indoors, my peppers lose their lower leaves after a couple of months due to lack of light.

Plus flourescents are relatively cheap!

mdowns63 said:

Alright,
2) I've read references to flowering and red light frequencies...at some point do I need to expose the plant to a different kind of light to flower or will shortening the daylight be able to trigger the plant to flower?

Thanks for your tips!

Click to expand...

Hops are short night plants so they need a LONG day to induce flowering. I'd give them as much light as you could. If you go with fluorescents, use a mix of cool white and warm white bulbs to give a good spectrum. Fluorescent bulbs are typically low in red light and yes red light is involved in flowering. I like to supplement my "shop" lights with an incandescent bulb or two. Conversely, incandescent bulbs are low in blue light which is why plants don't grow well under them alone.

As an undergrad, I grew a morning glory vine in my dorm room. It ran all around the window frame and onto our loft. It even flowered. It probably got to over 15 ft by the end of the semester.

I think the real question will be light intensity. Fluorescents in many cases will not put out enough power to produce significant fruit/oils.

I appreciate all the input....and WOW...it looks like I have gotten myself in way over my head since I don't have much gardening experience, but I'm pretty sure I will learn a lot.

Horizontal lights are the way to go, but you're not going to have enough light with those long fluorescents...you'll need to keep them 3" from the plant to get any use from them, so you can imagine how many you'll need. If you really want to go this route, build a roundish frame where you can mount the lights on the inside, ringing the plant, two 4' rigs high. Make sure the bottom of the lights aren't illuminating the pot, but the bottom of the plant. If you use 10 lights per level, for a total of 20 lights, you might get enough lumens. You wouldn't need to turn on the top level until the bines are 75% of the way to the middle. Don't forget to build a door so you can get inside the rig to water/harvest.

Here's a terribly poor sketch showing what I mean. The plant would go in the center, with all the lights facing inward.

Flourescents can be put right up against a bine, which will produce plenty of light, especially given the amount of light for the money.

Flourescent "Grow" Bulbs of varying wavelengths can be bought at Lowe's.

I bet 4 4' lights would do quite well if there is any natural light at all.

The problem with the grow light is they put out less light than the cool and warm bulbs. The below data is from bulbs.com. Not only does the plant light give less than half the light, it costs 4X as much ($3.09 for the reg., $12.39 for the plant). A mix of warm and cool will give almost the same spectrum, so for 2 bulbs with 6000 lumens for $6 or 2 bulbs with 2700 lumens for $25. This is what many of the labs that study plants use to grow them. It's what we use for tobacco and arabidopsis. Now field crops, they require lots of light and typically require fancy halide lights if you want to grow them in the greenhouse (out of seson)

All 40W bulbs

Plant 1,360 Lumens

Cool White 2,970 Lumens

Warm White 3,040 Lumens

I added photos to the beginning of the thread so you can see my crazy indoor hops experiment.

You are totally crazy! I love it. Please move out where you can actually have a bit of land.

I actually do have cascade, willamette, and sterling planted at my dad's house, but since it's about 20 min away I decided to try the indoor project to cater to my crazy/obsessive side that wants to watch the hops all the time.

In addition to large quantities of light, hops need a cold period in which they go dormant. The cold period should last around 7 months out of the year, so you might want to put them outside after harvest.

That's good to know, but I may have to clear up some space in the fridge for the rhizome, because during an Alabama winter, it will be 30-40 for 4 days and then 60-70 for a couple, so it may not stay cold long enough.

Looking at your pics, they are clearly not getting enough light. The distance between each set of leaves is a sign of stretching. A plant receiving sufficient light would put more energy into leaf production to harvest as much energy as possible...yours are producing stems in a vain attempt to get closer to a sufficient light source. Even if you can keep these plants alive with the light you've provided, you won't get a harvest to make it worth the effort. Add more light while you can, and you might be able to salvage something.

cheezydemon said:

I bet 4 4' lights would do quite well if there is any natural light at all.

Click to expand...

They won't do quite well on a 10'-12' plant. Their intensity diminishes rapidly at distance. They might be enough for a small plant, but once it gets bigger, more light will definitely be necessary.

mdowns63 said:

Alright, I have to admit I read all the threads on here where people pondered the idea of growing hops successfully indoors and the space constraints and I became intriqued. I have an apt. with a loft bedroom that overlooks the livingroom so I have LOTS of vertical space.

So I started a jumbo cascade rhizome in a big, big pot and put two twine lines up to the bedroom. In two weeks they have gotten 2-3 feet up the twine and are headed for the bedroom. I have plant lights on timers clamped on the twine about 2 ft above each bine.

Two Questions:

1) As the light moves up and up above each bine (it will be up roughly 10-12 feet above the pot at its highest) do I need to add another grow light on the plant towards the middle or bottom so that part of the plant gets enough light too?
2) I've read references to flowering and red light frequencies...at some point do I need to expose the plant to a different kind of light to flower or will shortening the daylight be able to trigger the plant to flower?

I have cascade, willamette, and sterling outdoors at a relative's house, but I'm the curious/obsessive type and so I found it hard to stop myself from experimenting with trying these indoors where I could maintain them more closely. If it doesn't work, no harm done, and I've wasted $50 on supplies...oh well.

Thanks for your tips!

UPDATE: Here's some photos of the setup. The second and the third pic show the plant as of today (just over 5' high).

View attachment 5036

View attachment 5037

View attachment 5038

Click to expand...

GilaMinumBeer said:

To answer these question you might have to study indoor cultivation of the hops closest relative as I doubt anyone here has any knowledge of indoor hop growing application, light cycles or frequency.

But hey, ya' never know.

Click to expand...

mdowns63 said:

Alright, I have to admit I read all the threads on here where people pondered the idea of growing hops successfully indoors and the space constraints and I became intriqued. I have an apt. with a loft bedroom that overlooks the livingroom so I have LOTS of vertical space.

So I started a jumbo cascade rhizome in a big, big pot and put two twine lines up to the bedroom. In two weeks they have gotten 2-3 feet up the twine and are headed for the bedroom. I have plant lights on timers clamped on the twine about 2 ft above each bine.

Two Questions:

1) As the light moves up and up above each bine (it will be up roughly 10-12 feet above the pot at its highest) do I need to add another grow light on the plant towards the middle or bottom so that part of the plant gets enough light too?
2) I've read references to flowering and red light frequencies...at some point do I need to expose the plant to a different kind of light to flower or will shortening the daylight be able to trigger the plant to flower?

I have cascade, willamette, and sterling outdoors at a relative's house, but I'm the curious/obsessive type and so I found it hard to stop myself from experimenting with trying these indoors where I could maintain them more closely. If it doesn't work, no harm done, and I've wasted $50 on supplies...oh well.

Thanks for your tips!

UPDATE: Here's some photos of the setup. The second and the third pic show the plant as of today (just over 5' high).

View attachment 5036

View attachment 5037

View attachment 5038

Click to expand...

As you are probably aware, hops are photosensitive so their growth matches that of the summer solstice. Our experiments with a variety of hops in an indoor environment have proven you can induce hop production any time of year. Really just a matter of matching day length and meeting nutrient demand. Just be careful to keep lighting on for more than 12 hrs so you don't induce dormancy.