growing hops in VA?

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DAV3

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Does anyone have any info on what types of hops grow best here in VA? Also when to plant and harvest and all else? I have some property now and would like to add hops to my gardening. Any info/advice is appreciated.
 
I'm in central PA. Climate zone 5. Similar to VA. I have three types of hops, but the most flourishing one is the Cascade. I planted the rhyzome in early spring, and was able to harvest that fall.
 
I planted 3 varieties, but admittedly a bit late - in the middle of June. Cascade, Columbus, and Brewer's Gold. None have produced cones, which I have read is typical the first year. However, the plants have steadily grown larger and are very healthy. The former has been the slowest, but still doing pretty well. Drainage and soil acidity are important, so do some research an time your purchase before the spring hits, if possible. I purchased my rhizomes fro "High Hops" online and I have been very pleased with my purchase. I paid 10 dollars for each plant plus shipping. If any other brewers have other resources to share for purchasing hops, please share!!!
 
Check out www.greatlakeshops.com. There is a ton of good information on selecting, growing, fertilizing, etc. - look under "Docs". The plants are a heckofalot bigger than HH's and cost less too.
 
Blue Mountain is growing enough Cascade and Centennial for all of their Full Nelson and a couple of their other beers. From what I understand, we've got a pretty darn good climate for most hops, so if you've got enough sun I'd say pick whatever you'd like to brew with.

I'm going to try planting some Kent Goldings in the spring and cross my fingers. My property's pretty shady, but I heard they might be able to manage it.
 
Cascade seems to be the hardiest stock for this climate zone, but I'd love to piggyback on any advice given to DAV3 on successes/failures on growing in northwest VA. I plan on planting a couple rhizomes each of 3-4 different varietals at my folks' property in Winchester, VA this coming spring.
 
Tagging along... Moving back to VA in the next 1.5-2 years and definitely want to plant my own hops.
 
I took my first shot at growing this year. I planted 2 Cascade and 2 Nugget rhizomes at my folks' garden in Leesburg this last April and had good first-year yields for all four plants. About 1.5 lbs of wet hops per plant, 6 lbs. total. I harvested all cones in late August/early September. Looking back, I probably would have done a few separate harvests to make sure that each and every cone was ready. All of the plants were in a spot where they got lots of daylight and I think we had a pretty good weather year for them...aside from those few weeks of scorching temps mid August. Rhizomes were purchased at freshops.com.

I pulled the cascades out of the freezer for a single-hop ale last week and they smelled great. Will be dry hopping with the last ounce of the cascades this weekend. Nuggets are next up once I can figure what grains might compliment them nicely. Hoping to plant some different varieties next spring.

Good luck, looking forward to hearing how yours go.

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A freind of mine grew Columbus this year. Planted the 3 rhizomes in the spring and got 5 pounds of hops. I'm not sure if the weigth was measured wet or dry.
 
Also piggybacking. Going to try Centennial and Cascade in Richmond the spring and maybe Mt. Hood and Kent up here if I get brave.
 
I should add one more thing. With my friends hops I brewed a single hop Columbus IPA with a grain bill based on SN's Torpedo. I bottled this last night and it tastes pretty darn good going into the bottles.
 
I am about two hours down I81 and grew first year nugget hops, and there were definitely really hot and really wet days and months. For a first attempt, I got one healthy bine, the other was waterlogged (due to my overbabying). They aren't kidding when they say it needs to face a south direction! The nugget had bugs, however nothing damaging, just crawling, and no mildew or powder. Nugget seemed to be a good starter hop. Just plant, train on twine, and watch it go.
 
I took my first shot at growing this year. I planted 2 Cascade and 2 Nugget rhizomes at my folks' garden in Leesburg this last April and had good first-year yields for all four plants. About 1.5 lbs of wet hops per plant, 6 lbs. total. I harvested all cones in late August/early September. Looking back, I probably would have done a few separate harvests to make sure that each and every cone was ready. All of the plants were in a spot where they got lots of daylight and I think we had a pretty good weather year for them...aside from those few weeks of scorching temps mid August. Rhizomes were purchased at freshops.com.

I pulled the cascades out of the freezer for a single-hop ale last week and they smelled great. Will be dry hopping with the last ounce of the cascades this weekend. Nuggets are next up once I can figure what grains might compliment them nicely. Hoping to plant some different varieties next spring.

Good luck, looking forward to hearing how yours go.

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Wow, I also live in Arlington and planted hops at my parents' house near Leesburg last spring. I got practically nothing from two cascade and one EKG. Maybe it's because they didn't get full sun.
 
i'm in maryland, so i too am most interested in what has grown well in the area.

I'm going to try planting some Kent Goldings in the spring and cross my fingers. My property's pretty shady, but I heard they might be able to manage it.
according to my handy-dandy spreadsheet, Sunbeam actually prefers partial shade. i would try mixing that in with whatever else you're growing. Bianca (AKA Bianca Gold) is another variety that supposedly does well with filtered sun, but i haven't actually seen it for sale anywhere hence i didn't include it in my research.

based on that research, this spring i am considering Nugget, Perle (or Sterling), Willamette (or Ahtanum) and Cascade. i just hope i can find enough space and time to take care of 4 plants.
 
Piggybacking... I pre-ordered 4 Cascade Rhizomes back in December. I've got a bed worked up in my parent's garden. Been working fertilizer into it every few weeks. I'm interested to see how other people in VA do with growing their own. Blue Mountain over in Nelson, Co. seem to have very good luck with theirs. I helped in the harvest last year.
 
Just pre-ordered 3 Cascades and a Nugget from Great Lakes. Decided to wait on the other varieties until next year. Might have to go the container route to get them south-facing full sun.
 
just put in my order last night: i got one each of nugget, sterling, santiam, spalter select and centennial from greatlakeshops.com. my choices were based mostly on disease resistance (we have both bugs and wilts here), ability to grow in heat, flavor/use profiles (i.e. looked for a variety across my selection) and storability. varieties that didn't make the cut only because of lack of space (i.e. could have been on the list) - chinook, vojvodina, wye challenger, and newport.

just thought i'd share in case anyone was looking to make a choice and wanted some input. then again, maybe i took way too a scientific appraach to this decision. many people have said "just grow what you like", so YMMV.

(yes, i realize i'm not in VA but i live within a few miles of the potomac... MD, VA - it's not that different as far as hops are concerned :mug:)
 
just put in my order last night: i got one each of nugget, sterling, santiam, spalter select and centennial from greatlakeshops.com. my choices were based mostly on disease resistance (we have both bugs and wilts here), ability to grow in heat, flavor/use profiles (i.e. looked for a variety across my selection) and storability. varieties that didn't make the cut only because of lack of space (i.e. could have been on the list) - chinook, vojvodina, wye challenger, and newport.

just thought i'd share in case anyone was looking to make a choice and wanted some input. then again, maybe i took way too a scientific appraach to this decision. many people have said "just grow what you like", so YMMV.

(yes, i realize i'm not in VA but i live within a few miles of the potomac... MD, VA - it's not that different as far as hops are concerned :mug:)

Just put in my rhizome pre-order at the local homebrew shop: 2 each of Cascade, Nugget, Centennial & Brewer's Gold. Going to start planning out my schedule for soil treatment, etc.
 
I planted Chinook, Tettanang, Goldings, Mt Hood and Willamette last year. They all grew well, but the Willamette is the only one that produced - just under a pound of dry hops. I can't wait to see what the rest do this year, plus I'm adding more. I'm in the Manassas area.
 
They all grew well, but the Willamette is the only one that produced - just under a pound of dry hops.

You do anything special, aside from the standard care? I decided against Willamette, because I'd heard it won't grow well here, but you're just down the road....
 
Last year, I had Magnum, Tettnang, and Cascade growing on my apartment balcony. I think the Magnum did the best, but all were strong growers in the DC summer.
 
I've got one each of EKG, Nugget, Centennial, Chinook, and a "funky 70s aroma hop" as it was referred to by the guy from who I got the rhizomes. The first year, 2010, I got a few cones from both the Chinook and the "funky" plant (yes, I know it sounds like you smoke it but I swear it's hops!) and nothing from the others. I also planted a Cascade that year but I'm pretty sure a squirrel dug it up.

I had decent growth on most of them that year. For some reason last summer, the Chinook was the only one that produced and it was really healthy. The others grew thin, short bines & produced nothing. I did not fertilize or anything like that though and I need to move some around for better exposure. I'm gonna get a little more serious about it this year, in fact just this afternoon I piled 'em up with compost.

Anyhoo, what I'm getting at is that the Chinook variety seems to do well here in the Valley but I've not had much luck with any of my others.

I believe Blue Mountain axed their Centennials as they weren't pleased with their production. Their Cascade grows gangbusters.

Btw, if anyone wants to trade rhizomes, I'd be happy to. I'm looking for another Cascade or 2 and would love a Magnum, I'm sure I can provide a Chinook or two.
 
I was just over at Blue Mountain a couple weeks ago talking to one of the brewers. He said they're still growing the Centennials. They do however have a larger area set aside for the Cascades though. By the way hogwash, I'm glad to hear Chinook is doing so well for you. I'm planting a few Cascades this season and hope to plant some Chinook next year.
 
I was just over at Blue Mountain a couple weeks ago talking to one of the brewers. He said they're still growing the Centennials. They do however have a larger area set aside for the Cascades though. By the way hogwash, I'm glad to hear Chinook is doing so well for you. I'm planting a few Cascades this season and hope to plant some Chinook next year.

I stand corrected, I either read somewhere or someone at the brewery told me they were getting rid of them. Must have had a change of heart or I imagined the whole thing!
 
I just ordered some rhizomes to give it a go this year. I think I've got 3 each of Cascade, Centennial, Magnum, and Galena coming my way. It will be interesting to see which ones do well here in Northern VA. From your posts I'm seeing that the Cascade and Magnum will do well, the Cent is iffy though. Anyone had experience with Galena?
 
Awesome stuff. I'll be researching this more as I get more Brewing Experience under my belt.
 
I just went out on my balcony, and it looks as though my Tettnang, Cascade, and Magnum hops are starting to poke their heads up through the soil.

They seem to have survived the DC/VA winter well.
 
I just recieved my hop rhizomes in the mail. Nugget, Centennial, Willamette, and Cascade! Going into the ground today!
 
Also piggybacking. Going to try Centennial and Cascade in Richmond the spring and maybe Mt. Hood and Kent up here if I get brave.

All riIGHT THE RIZOMES ARE FREE IT COST POSTAQGE AND ALSO 0.01 TO GET THE hALIFAX Archery teeam to Loisburg and back, Therere are 24 member Hotels, transportationets. Every donation I will give free from the Cascade rhizomes to if yoy pay postage.
Any one ofe loisville? that wants 20 high scoolers at there house shooting bows Iif not ssgtredhotmail.com also my paypl.

Ray
 
All riIGHT THE RIZOMES ARE FREE IT COST POSTAQGE AND ALSO 0.01 TO GET THE hALIFAX Archery teeam to Loisburg and back, Therere are 24 member Hotels, transportationets. Every donation I will give free from the Cascade rhizomes to if yoy pay postage.
Any one ofe loisville? that wants 20 high scoolers at there house shooting bows Iif not ssgtredhotmail.com also my paypl.

Ray

This might be my new signature :drunk:
 
My Centennials, Chinooks, and Nuggets are starting to poke a few heads through the soil. Nothing from the Goldings yet. I'm waiting on some Magnum, Cascade, and Columbus rhizomes from Brew Master's Warehouse. Hoping for a hoppy fall!
 
Hoping for good things in year two for my cascades and nuggets.

This weekend, I’m going to build a new raised bed where I’m going to plant two centennial rhizomes and two chinook. I just got them from freshops this week. Anybody else in the area who also hasn’t planted yet? In general, when is too late to plant? Sounds like most of you have your rhizomes in the ground.
 
Just went out on my balcony to check on things since I'm working from home today.

Only one Magnum seems to have come back - though two each of the cascade and tettnang came back and they're going apes--t.

I need to go get a trelace from Home Depot, stat.
 
Just went out on my balcony to check on things since I'm working from home today.

Only one Magnum seems to have come back - though two each of the cascade and tettnang came back and they're going apes--t.

I need to go get a trelace from Home Depot, stat.

Do you have any pics of your setup? It looks like I'm going to have to keep mine in containers and am looking for ideas.
 
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