What hops to grow?

So this spring I'm going to plant some hops. And I was wondering what hops I should grow. I was thinking maybe 4-5 varieties at most. Centennial and cascade I know I'm gonna plant but I don't know what others I should plant.

Hall, Tet and ? to add to the others.

B

birvine said:

Hall, Tet and ? to add to the others.

B

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I was thinking those for when I do German styles. Maybe some Columbus for IPAs?

Pick your 2 favourites then talk to local growers and see what they recommend. Without doing that you won't know what problems your plants are going to face. Everything in Vancouver molds up so I went with hops with a noted mold resistance but half of my harvest was lost to aphids. If you can't find a local grower, read through the hop union data book and pick some that have a variety of pest resistances. Northern Brewer is the only hop that is noted for aphid tolerance and if I ever add more plants, I'll definitely include it.

I initially started with just 3. Hallertau, Northern Brewer, and Cascade. Then a month later before the wife knew what hit her, I was planting Mt Hood, Centennial, EKG, and Chinook. I harvested a great amount from the Chinook and moderate from the Centennial. The Cascade ended up getting stunted so I got a bunch of midget hops. Nothing else really produced hops but I let them get as big as they wanted to let the roots grow. Next year I will be relocating the hop garden and adding Saaz and Styrian Goldings. You just have to find out what grows well in your area and go from there.

beerloaf