This is my first attempt at growing hops and would be interested in any feedback some of you more seasoned growers have. I ordered 12 rhizomes from Northwest hops. 4 each of Centennial, Magnum, Mt. Hood.
I didn't have the soil tested but there was only 3-5 inches of before it went to mostly clay, so I decided to build hop beds. I built two hop beds coming off of our storage shed in the back yard, each is 4 foot by 18foot. I found some used treated lumber off of Craigslist and bought 5 foot metal stakes to hold them up. I wrapped the interior of the beds with landscape fabric to keep the weeds out. For the soil, I ordered 4 cubic yards of screened top soil from a local landscaper and filled the beds in. I'm just outside of Raleigh and the beds get full sun from about 8am to 3:30pm so I'm hoping that is enough.
I then built a frame to match the pitch on the roof of the shed and ran cable to create a 'tent' like backbone. I then draped nylon rope across the backbone for the hops to climb on.
When I planted the rhizomes on 4/5/2011 I created the hills ~2.5 feet apart for the same varietal, and ~4 foot between different varietals. In each mound I dug out a hole ~12 inches deep and filled with potting soil. Then put the rhizomes in vertically with the eyes facing up about an inch below the surface, put a thin layer of top soil and a little more potting soil. The eyes ended up ~3 inches below surface. Once that was done I watered them heavily then left them alone for a few days.
We've had some rain so I haven't had to water them much at all. I've read that a common mistake for new guys is over watering. So I'm going with the approach that as long as the soil a couple inches below the surface is still moist I'm good to go. I have since put some leaves/pine straw on top of the mounds to keep the soil moist. I have a compost pile that I've been working on for a few months but don't think it is ready yet, so I'll have to wait to use that.
Anyway, its been 10 days since planting and i have 4 of the 12 already peaking through the surface so I'm feeling pretty good. New to this forum, but have found a ton of great info here already.
I didn't have the soil tested but there was only 3-5 inches of before it went to mostly clay, so I decided to build hop beds. I built two hop beds coming off of our storage shed in the back yard, each is 4 foot by 18foot. I found some used treated lumber off of Craigslist and bought 5 foot metal stakes to hold them up. I wrapped the interior of the beds with landscape fabric to keep the weeds out. For the soil, I ordered 4 cubic yards of screened top soil from a local landscaper and filled the beds in. I'm just outside of Raleigh and the beds get full sun from about 8am to 3:30pm so I'm hoping that is enough.
I then built a frame to match the pitch on the roof of the shed and ran cable to create a 'tent' like backbone. I then draped nylon rope across the backbone for the hops to climb on.
When I planted the rhizomes on 4/5/2011 I created the hills ~2.5 feet apart for the same varietal, and ~4 foot between different varietals. In each mound I dug out a hole ~12 inches deep and filled with potting soil. Then put the rhizomes in vertically with the eyes facing up about an inch below the surface, put a thin layer of top soil and a little more potting soil. The eyes ended up ~3 inches below surface. Once that was done I watered them heavily then left them alone for a few days.
We've had some rain so I haven't had to water them much at all. I've read that a common mistake for new guys is over watering. So I'm going with the approach that as long as the soil a couple inches below the surface is still moist I'm good to go. I have since put some leaves/pine straw on top of the mounds to keep the soil moist. I have a compost pile that I've been working on for a few months but don't think it is ready yet, so I'll have to wait to use that.
Anyway, its been 10 days since planting and i have 4 of the 12 already peaking through the surface so I'm feeling pretty good. New to this forum, but have found a ton of great info here already.