Growing hops in Winter

I just purchased a few hop crowns off of Ebay. I purchased two earlier in the year and had a fairly small yield on one, and no cones to pick from the other. I plan to harvest at the end of the month (August). Being that my yield was so low had an idea with the two new ones I just bought.

I could grow these plants in pots inside and just keep them trimmed back. I wouldn't expect to harvest anything from them, just keep them growing so the root system gets developed. I'm hoping that this will give me a higher yield when I plant them outside next year.

I know growing hops inside is not a great idea if you're looking to do it year round. I only plan to do it until they can safely be planted outside. is this something you have experienced before? Can I grow hops inside during the winter and plant them outside in may?

I have no experience at all in growing hops, but I would bet they would root well in the rest of the summer and fall and do much better than if you kept them inside.

That is, unless you have a nice temperature controlled greenhouse.

Maybe experts have better info.

I grew hops years ago, in Michigan, and I tell you what, they were like some invasive aliens (think 'tribbles' on a vine). They took down three trellises (never to be seen again) so they grow awesome in the North. They need to go dormant in the winter, so they won't really be growing inside. But you can have a multitude of problems, like root rot, if you are heavy handed with the H2O. If I were you, I would, at least, plant one outside in the fall, and try putting a pot inside. You really just want to keep it dormant inside, and you could probably do that by keeping it in a paper bag with sawdust in the crisper of your fridge. My hops took 3 years to get a good crop, but I didn't use it for beer, I used it as an herb for insomnia. Now if anyone out there can tell me how or what kind of hops I can grow here in the deep south as the ones I have were planted last fall and they are pathetic little things.

Here are my first year Cascades. I hope they will be bigger next year. I've picked a couple of ounces so far. They just keep on growing. I've read that any hop with a "C" grows good in the south.

MzAnnie said:

I didn't use it for beer, I used it as an herb for insomnia.

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Not trying to hijack thread so pm me the answers if you like, I had a friend asking about this. what method are you using bag of hops under your pillow? hops tea? Any sucess?

I used the hops in pillow form as I could not drink the tea. You do have to be careful if you have hayfever, because those little guys hold on to a lot of pollen. The best thing that I have found for insomnia is passion flower tea. It is pleasant tasting and works quite well. I made mead out of the flowers and can't wait to see if the flowers retained their medicinal properties through the fermentation process. I do hope so, it is a good tasting mead (but I am really not a conniseur) but I boiled the flowers, so I don't think it will clear off well. Next time, I will pour boiling water over them, instead of 'stewing' them.
Also thanks for the hops with a C thing, I will have to check out the 'flavor' of mine.