Hop rhizomes

I know it is late in the season or early for next year, however you want to look at it, but does anyone on here sell/give away hop rhizomes? I was thinking about growing hops next season as I just bought a house and now have a place to grow them.

Also, I did a google search and saw a couple of places sell them online. Do they sell out quick or are they all sold out because it is so late in the hop growing season?

You can pretty much only buy them from like feb-may.( planting season). I'd send you some cascade rhizomes if you will pay for shipping, but you would probably be better off waiting until next spring. It would be a good idea to go ahead and prep your site for them. They suck up a whole lot of nutrients so soil ammendments are a must.

a couple of years ago, I picked up 8 different rhizomes from freshops for $38 with $4.95 shipping.

The Rhizomes are cheap. About the cost of an ounce of hops at the lhbs.

It helps that I live an hour and a half away from freshops. Shipping was crazy quick.



As for availability. They dig up the rhizomes in the beginning of the year. They are usually available in march. I am not a botanist, but I am assuming it has to do with the dormant stage of the plant, and has to do with the best survival rate for splitting the rhizome.

I've read that to make rhizomes you just leave a 5-6 foot piece of the bine when you are cutting them back for the winter. Then just bury that section in a shallow trench and dig it up next spring.

Posted this yesterday on another thread several lines below. Copied and pasted shamelessly:

These folks are still selling plants:

http://www.highhops.net/buy.html

Check out this thread to see what they are selling:

looking for cascade hop rhizomes

This could get you in action through the fall and winter if you grow them indoors. I grew some in buckets under grow lights that did quite well through the winter until I got too exuberant with water and Miracle Grow and drowned them. A better gardener than I could do well with these. You stand a chance of getting second year performance next year if you treat them well through the Winter. However, they seem to be $10 per plant, where my rhizomes were $4-5 this Spring.

wegz15 said:

I've read that to make rhizomes you just leave a 5-6 foot piece of the bine when you are cutting them back for the winter. Then just bury that section in a shallow trench and dig it up next spring.

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That's over the growing season, not the winter. If you want more rhizomes, when the bines sprout you train 2 or 3 and lay down 2 or 3 and cover them. They essentially turn into rhizomes you can dig up the next year or the year after that. They won't be super thick and vigorous like the ones you would get off a 5+ year old plant, but they should sprout.

Every time I look at Dan's pic. during my harvest/drying weeks it makes me smile. I looked the same way tonight.

To the OP, at this point in the season you'll want to wait and visit a reputable farm's website next spring for rhizomes. There's really no advantage to trying to sprout a hop plant this time of year in the upper midwest, IMHO.

From what I have read I know it is too late. I was just asking if people on here sell or give rhizomes away in the spring. Also, was wondering if they sell out quickly or if all the websites are just sold out because it is too late in the season.

its out of season. That is why they are sold out.

I bought in mid march. Only one of the varieties was sold out.

cuinrearview said:

Every time I look at Dan's pic. during my harvest/drying weeks it makes me smile. I looked the same way tonight.

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Thanks. I feel that way the first few days of harvest. Now its been 3 weeks as we cycle through our different varieties and I'm not smiling so much as I drag my butt out to the oast every morning at 6 to check moisture content before heading off to the other job.

Nah, I guess I still smile. I just don't dig through them so much.

Back on topic, many of the places will let you pre-order starting in Feb or even Jan. That's best. then you get what you want and they ship it to you around the time you can put it in the ground.

My wife has a guy at work who wants to grow some. He isn't a beer maker, but just wants to grow them. What variety should I tell him to grow?

I'm sure he would not mind me coming over and picking the flowers at the end of summer.

Do you mean he wants to grow them as an ornamental plant to look pretty? Or is thinking of growing them small scale commercial? If Its the first, I always thought Mt Hoods look the prettiest...I don't know why. Maybe the way they grow thicker clusters of cones. Magnum's are also kind of nice looking.

If its the second, tell him to plant at least 3 or 4 different varieties to see what grows best in his soil. Cascade is a staple to most craft brewers, so that's one that is easy to sell. Stick with the big C's. Or tell him to buy 6 packs from local brewers and read the label to see what they typically use. Grow those varieties.

If he does not brew and you intend to 'borrow' the flowers each year, tell him to grow the varieties that you like.