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Of the hops I tried last year (sterling, mt. hood and kent goldings) only the sterling survived. I think one of the two mt. hood rhizomes is trying to reroot. I transferred it into a pot with soil and compost and rooting hormone so I'll see if maybe it reroots and might produce bines next year.

I pulled the sterling out of the ground. It definitely grew last year in the very clay-filled soil here (I'm on the north side of Fort Worth) and when I dug it up it had about a dozen shoots. I am redesigning my garden so instead of planting in the ground I am planting in grow bags and I am going to build a raised bed around them. I'm going to have a trellis above at about six feet above the plants (I can't go higher due to HOA limitations) and run twine up to it. As the bines get about four feet high I plan on stripping the leaves and coiling it around the base and letting it regrow so the bines will think they are taller than they are and produce cones. This year I am growing sterling, cascade, nugget and I'm making another run at mt. hood. In addition to the hops I have several plants I am going to plant in separate grow bags in between the hops to provide some shade over the roots and help keep the roots from burning in the heat. I have rosemary, bell peppers, tomato and I will probably add another pepper variety or two. I plan on building in a couple weeks and I'll try to add pictures once it's done.
 
I'm looking to plant this year but I'm worried about this summer. Is it possible to pot it the first year and transplant it next spring and get a full crop?

I have several Earthtainers that were designed for tomatoes -- think they would work?
 
I'm looking to plant this year but I'm worried about this summer. Is it possible to pot it the first year and transplant it next spring and get a full crop?

I have several Earthtainers that were designed for tomatoes -- think they would work?

yeah potting first year is a good idea. When you transplant always do it when most dormant.

I actually did in reverse. I planted a bunch of cascades in the ground and they did great then in Jan this year transplanted them all into a big pot so I could move around and give me more mobility. They came up fast like they never moved.
 
Well, this thread has convinced me that I can totally pull this off in my back yard here in Dallas (albeit with a good amount of looking after). Question about the rhizomes though: do you need to break them apart each new year as you would, say, double-bearded irises? Or will they spread themselves out without any assistance on my part?
 
I planted a Centennial in a pot and my neighbor planted a Northern Brewer in a raised bed out here in Katy so we will see how they do.
 
I planted my rhizomes purchased this year. I got nugget and mt. hood cuttings grown out last year and planted those on Wednesday. They already have shoots breaking soil and growing fast. I also got a regular cascade rhizome. I planted it a little deeper to give it a chance to survive by not drying out as quick. I assume it will grow fast enough that an extra few inches of soil won't be detrimental to its health.

My sterling from last year was repotted a few weeks ago. It has a couple bines sprouting but the mt. hood is already taller by about an inch.
 
I'm waiting on my rhizomes to come in from Austin Homebrew. I got two Cascade rhizomes as I heard they are the easiest to grow in Texas. I am hoping for a mild summer. I rent so we are going to plant them in a jack daniels whiskey barrel cut in half, they sell them at home depot. Do you think this will be big enough to put both in one or will they each need their own container?
 
I'm waiting on my rhizomes to come in from Austin Homebrew. I got two Cascade rhizomes as I heard they are the easiest to grow in Texas. I am hoping for a mild summer. I rent so we are going to plant them in a jack daniels whiskey barrel cut in half, they sell them at home depot. Do you think this will be big enough to put both in one or will they each need their own container?

that would be a good place to put them. I have a smaller pot and probably have more than two. The hardest part it making something vertical for them to climb on.

cascades.jpg
 
that would be a good place to put them. I have a smaller pot and probably have more than two. The hardest part it making something vertical for them to climb on.

I'm planning on setting them up about 10 feet from the house, and then running twine to a hook in the siding right below the roof. So I should have about 18 feet of growth that is angled vertically. Hopefully that works.
 
My Centennial broke ground on Sunday now I have to figure out where to run something for them to crawl up. Can anyone give me a ball park figure how tall the vines may grow?
 
Hi.
I'm in Houston and have been inspired to grow some hops this year (started home brewing about a year ago). I've got myself some Willamette, Goldings and Northern Brewer in a raised bed South East facing just under a balcony, which I'm hoping to grow them up (I've attached a couple of pics below). I've even set up a blog to document my progress (hopstarter.blogspot.com). Any suggestions would be gratefully received or if you fancy just coming over and laughing at my efforts that's fine too :)
Cheers

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Thought I would post some pics of my progress, three weeks after the rhizomes were planted. They are Willamette, Goldings (looking a little sad in comparison) and Northern Brewer.

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Planted my two rhizomes yesterday. Just starting with two this year to see what the Dallas sun does to them. Both cascade. I have them in half barrel jack daniels wooden barrels. I decided to give each rhizome its own half barrel, so there should PLENTY of room for them to get 2-3 seasons if they grow well. I'll post pics once they break the ground.
 
Thought I would give y'all an update. The Willamette is doing really well. It's now just over 4 feet tall. The other two have struggled a bit. The Goldings is a lot bushier than the other two but are not growing vertically much. In the case of the Northern Brewer that's my fault as I managed to decapitate it due to some gardening incompetence on my part. As you can see in the picture it's slowly recovering. There's also a lot of damage due to bugs, most likely snails. Any suggestions for improvements would be appreciated.

CIMG3863 will15-001.jpg


CIMG3861 gold13-001.jpg


CIMG3860 nb12-001.jpg
 
Here is one of my first year cascade rhizomes. The other one just isn't doing good :(

This guy seems to be doing about an inch a day now, so he's picking it up. About time to train him I think.

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Another update from here in Houston. My Willamette is really taking off. Must be about 10 feet now. Getting up to the level of the decking. The Northner Brewer is making its way up twine now. The Goldings are still struggling a bit. There have also been a few bugs taking an interest. For more details hop (sorry) on over to my blog: hopstarter.blogspot.com

CIMG3929 will23-001.jpg


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Our willamette is still struggling. But our chinook is doing well. Ive been manicuring the chinook but im stumped. Do i want only 3-5 bines only out of the ground? Or do i only want 4-5 bines altogether (my bines have been off shooting bines all over the place)? Also, i have read that i should remove the bottom leaves surrounding the mound on the bines. Should i do this? In the pics below, you can sww the zig zag of the chinook accompanied by strawberry and tomato. In the other pic you can see just the start of the willamette. Thanks!

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Indytruks138 said:
Here is one of my first year cascade rhizomes. The other one just isn't doing good :(

This guy seems to be doing about an inch a day now, so he's picking it up. About time to train him I think.

Mine seemed to do better once i gave them something to climb on. My willamette is averaging about 3 inches a day, whereas my chinook is averaging up to about 8 or more.
 
That is a pretty sad looking Willamette. How long ago did you plant the rhizome? Is it south facing? Was it planted at the same time as the Chinook? Because you're in California rather than Texas there could all sorts of other things too.

I have a feeling that the reason my Willamette is doing so well is that it gets closest to full south facing sunlight. Now the top of it is above the deck it will. I had been worried that the sun here would be too much for them, but the Northern Brewer I have keeps putting out anaemic leaves at the top as if it were looking for sunlight. Don't know what's happening with my Goldings. I guess to some extent you just have to see what works for you.

Hope this helps some.

Our willamette is still struggling. But our chinook is doing well. Ive been manicuring the chinook but im stumped. Do i want only 3-5 bines only out of the ground? Or do i only want 4-5 bines altogether (my bines have been off shooting bines all over the place)? Also, i have read that i should remove the bottom leaves surrounding the mound on the bines. Should i do this? In the pics below, you can sww the zig zag of the chinook accompanied by strawberry and tomato. In the other pic you can see just the start of the willamette. Thanks!

View attachment 63574



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The willamette is west facing. Planted the exactly the same time as the chinook. I transplanted them last august. The willamette took off at first. But as spring came and went...well you see the difference. They get exactly the same nutrients, water, sun. They are maybe 5-6 feet away from another. I stay on top of weeds. Im just hoping they ate late starters because of this being their first year. Thanks for help.
 
I think most people would recommend they be south facing. Mine are south east. That doesn't explain the difference between the two though. If the Willamette rhizome had more in the way of nutrients than the Chinook when they were planted then it might well come up more quickly but would slow down when those reserves ran out and it needed to adapt to the conditions you have. Was the Willamette rhizome noticeably thicker or longer? I think figuring out exactly what the Chinook likes about this spot that the Willamette doesn't could take a very long time indeed. I'd be tempted to stick to varieties that grow well where you put them. For example, I probably won't be planting Goldings in this spot again rather than play with fertilizers, etc..

I'm sure there are others that know more than I do about such things that might be able to identify the problem. Hope this has been of some help.

Best of luck with the Chinook at the very least :)

The willamette is west facing. Planted the exactly the same time as the chinook. I transplanted them last august. The willamette took off at first. But as spring came and went...well you see the difference. They get exactly the same nutrients, water, sun. They are maybe 5-6 feet away from another. I stay on top of weeds. Im just hoping they ate late starters because of this being their first year. Thanks for help.
 
Just thought I'd point out that I've started growing hops again this year. Willamette, Cascade, Galena, and Columbus. I've moved to the DC area though since last year. Blog is the same as before though: Hopstarter

Hope to see you there.
 
Great to see hops growing in Texas (lot of folks say it can't be done). My hops sprouted, then 4 days later 4 inches of snow and snow for 6 days straight! Temps are hovering between 30 and 35 so I am waiting for this winter that would not go away - to go away. Not sure if the snow covered hop sprouts will survive or not (fifth year hops so if they don't, there will be more to replace them).http://www.growinghopsyourself.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Apri11snow.jpg
 
Thanks for that, both the typo correction and the welcome. I have high hopes for hop growing here. I was able to get at least a couple of successful plants last year in Houston so further north ought to help. We seem to have shaken the cold weather completely as well, so full steam ahead.

welcome to the DC area! i have 6 plants going in the northern suburbs. all my plants are up, the newport is over 2 feet tall already.

you had a typo in your post above... corrected: Hopstarter
 
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