1st year Hops in NC

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lkj7295

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Joined
Apr 15, 2011
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Location
Raleigh
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.

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I definitely wasn't excited about using the 'chicken wire' but i need something to keep my dog out of the beds.
 
Very nice setup! I use nylon rope and it works great - strong, mold and rot resistant and hop bines hold on very well. One thing to watch and stay on top of is dis-similar hop variety bines crossing over and intermingling - time consuming to separate (I know, my bines jumped from rope to rope and bines intermingled. My problem was the lowering ropes from the pulleys at top acted as gateway/jumping point over to the other bines - if I move my tie cleats on the outside of the bines, it should not be a problem). The tie cleat I shared for the Magnum and Cascade lowering ropes was the issue - the Cascade will get it's own.
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The Magnum bines (center) and the Cascade (right) inter mingled (about 4 siding boards down from the peak) by laterals jumping to the lowering rope and across to the other bines.
 
Thanks guys, Its been about 3 weeks since i planted them and all 12 have broke the surface. Two of them are almost a foot, so I'm pretty happy. Here are a couple pics of the 'leaders', these are Magnums

by the way, we just bottled a batch of Irish Red ale last night and initial aroma/color/taste looks promising. Can't wait for to crack a cold one of them in 10 days.

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Hey guys, just at 6 weeks and i have 11 of 12 climbing. 2 of the Magnums are going strong at about 4 feet. Here is the updated pics. Obviously i need to do a little more weeding, but I have pulled anything close to each of the plants.

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Here we are just into June and the girls are doing well I've cleaned up the weeds and put in some mulch. It also looks like a few flowers are coming in on the magnums as well.

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ikj7295- I'm practically your neighbor- here in Graham NC (actually Swepsonville)- have grown hops in this spot since 2006- it took until 2009 to have a real usable crop and to see aggressive vine growth- i tilled and composted individual hills next to my garage (really high 20 ft tall walls). when i lived in southern illinois (basically as far south as we are here, believe it or not) i had 'problems' with hops of different varieties planted somewhat adjacently intermingling- in a few years they can travel ten feet! for a long term plan, i would keep them in distinctly different areas. there is great pleasure in picking a fresh, resiny hop cone and breaking it open, smelling it, chewing it:tank:
 
Saccharo - I'm from IL too, used to live up in the far west burbs of Chicago. We are down here in Johnston Co (still Raleigh, go figure) now. Yea, I've read the stories about different varietals being too close, etc. What i plan on doing this fall is putting in a barrier between the different varietals, maybe even between each plant? I was thinking of just using some sheet metal or tin, cut to size, and slide it down between the plants.

I'm definitely pleased with the progress so far. I did lose one of the Mt Hood plants, but the others seem to be doing well. I'm thinking I'll get some production from a couple of the Magnums this year, but not getting my hopes up for a good yield on the other plants. We will see, but it has been fun for sure.
 
Nice garden man! In a few years you'll be harvesting by now. I just harvested Cent, Sterling and Cascade near Raleigh. They are 1-3 year old, so not a huge harvest, but enough to dry hop 15-20 gal.
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