TheGreatHambino
Member
I searched the forum pretty thoroughly before posting this, so hopefully Im not re-hashing anything thats already been covered. All this wet snow in Colorado has me thinking about Spring and growing hops!
I came across a bunch of threads about growing hops in Colorado, but everything I saw had to do with the front-range (elevations of 5,000 6,000 feet). Im also aware of Colorado Orgainic Hops in Paonia, Colorado, but a quick google search suggests that the elevation in Paonia is similar to the front-range (about 5,600 feet). I also read CSU's report on Hop growing in Colorado, but again was unable to find any truly high altitude results.
Im wondering about the viability of growing hops at a much higher altitude. I have access (through a friend) to quite a bit of land near Jefferson, Colorado at the bottom of Kenosha Pass (elevation is in 9,500 feet range). In the summer, it is fairly dry and warm during the day. It can easily get up to the mid 90s. At night the temp. drops quite a bit. I would guess it routinely drops to mid to low 40s. Other obstacles that I can think of are that it is regularly pretty windy, and the growing season would be shorter because the ground thaws later and freezes earlier.
Im wondering if anyone has heard of or has any experience with growing hops at high altitude. For you experienced hop growers out there, would it be worth a try or would I just be wasting my time and money?
Unless I hear its a terrible idea here, I want to try this as an experiment and start a thread with the details and results. I'll probably do it either way on a small scale, because I don't really learn anything unless I learn it the hard way!
I came across a bunch of threads about growing hops in Colorado, but everything I saw had to do with the front-range (elevations of 5,000 6,000 feet). Im also aware of Colorado Orgainic Hops in Paonia, Colorado, but a quick google search suggests that the elevation in Paonia is similar to the front-range (about 5,600 feet). I also read CSU's report on Hop growing in Colorado, but again was unable to find any truly high altitude results.
Im wondering about the viability of growing hops at a much higher altitude. I have access (through a friend) to quite a bit of land near Jefferson, Colorado at the bottom of Kenosha Pass (elevation is in 9,500 feet range). In the summer, it is fairly dry and warm during the day. It can easily get up to the mid 90s. At night the temp. drops quite a bit. I would guess it routinely drops to mid to low 40s. Other obstacles that I can think of are that it is regularly pretty windy, and the growing season would be shorter because the ground thaws later and freezes earlier.
Im wondering if anyone has heard of or has any experience with growing hops at high altitude. For you experienced hop growers out there, would it be worth a try or would I just be wasting my time and money?
Unless I hear its a terrible idea here, I want to try this as an experiment and start a thread with the details and results. I'll probably do it either way on a small scale, because I don't really learn anything unless I learn it the hard way!