Back yard hop farmers

In order to avoid things such as the hop shortage, I am going to grow my own hops. I have ordered 24 rhizomes, and have plenty of room for the growing. But to get the variety I need for my own use, I will have so many plants, and will have extra hops.

Seems a shame to just compost them. I'd like to sell for a very reasonable price, As it will take some time/effort to dry/package. But don't even know how, what where or such. Do I need some kind of license? Can I just sell on a board like this? Is there even a market for someone's backyard hop crop?

First batch will be ready this fall, so I'm really in no rush. Just trying to plan ahead.

Does anybody have a clue of how I should proceed???

I think if you're selling a small surplus you'd be okay listing in the classified. If you plan on producing them for sale you should buy a vendor's license. It's pretty cheap considering you would have a lot of interested clients. Where is Sequim?

Washington State, on the North side of the Olympic Peninsula

Thanks for the advice, while I was searching tonight I found a guy starting a "hope exchange forum" in Seattle. Sounds like he is trying to get folks like me together to trade, and we'll have a greater variety.

If you're planting this year, you likely will not have much of a crop til next year. Hops take at least one year to become established.

There are government subsidies for farmers. I don't know/think that 24 rhizomes will qualify you, but it's definitely worth at least asking an accountant about.

I can't imagine it'd be difficult to at least break even on your growing hobby if you were selling the hops, It just depends on how much time and effort you want to put in, I suppose... and what your time is worth...

Like, for any business, to take deductions, you just have to show that you have a profit motive. A few quickly documented cost calculations and keeping your receipts and that's about all you need. Maybe you'd care to do it, maybe not... but why pay taxes on something that uncle sam will let you do for less?

micsager said:

In order to avoid things such as the hop shortage, I am going to grow my own hops. I have ordered 24 rhizomes, and have plenty of room for the growing. But to get the variety I need for my own use, I will have so many plants, and will have extra hops.

Seems a shame to just compost them. I'd like to sell for a very reasonable price, As it will take some time/effort to dry/package. But don't even know how, what where or such. Do I need some kind of license? Can I just sell on a board like this? Is there even a market for someone's backyard hop crop?

First batch will be ready this fall, so I'm really in no rush. Just trying to plan ahead.

Does anybody have a clue of how I should proceed???

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If you can PM me the relevant info, I may be interested in this. I know it's not good to count your hops before they've grown, but if I have an idea of prices and your location for shipping costs, that might be a nice late-year supplement for me.

Im thinking hop randall for sure

Maybe check your LHBS. They may want to buy them. Of course, the AA's are a little hard to predict from homegrown. 24 eh? wow.

Evets said:

If you're planting this year, you likely will not have much of a crop til next year. Hops take at least one year to become established.

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That's not 100% accurate. It varies by variety. I talked with a local hop grower who is friendly to our club and he said some will produce 50% the first year. Others 75% and still others will produce 100% crop. One thing he did mention was when the start gets about 5 inches above ground, cut it back to ground level and let it start again. He said it helps with production.

TCHDNSD said:

That's not 100% accurate. It varies by variety. I talked with a local hop grower who is friendly to our club and he said some will produce 50% the first year. Others 75% and still others will produce 100% crop. One thing he did mention was when the start gets about 5 inches above ground, cut it back to ground level and let it start again. He said it helps with production.

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Did the hop grower provide an explanation as to why this is so. I'm going to be trying to grow hops in central Texas with drip irrigation and I want to try everything I can to get the plants well established. If I get a crop this year I'll be hoppy but I'm really banking on learning what is necessary for successful plant growth in the summer dry winds and then hope for a crop in year 2.

He didn't really say why. Just that different varieties yield differently. I can't remember what varieties he said did better than others on the first year, but I think I can find out. We have a trip planned to his farm coming up soon I hope and I can ask him then.

My vendor said they would produce the first year, that's all I know. www.midwestsupplies.com

Also, my son is outside right now digging the holes as described at http://byo.com/feature/116.html and I'm off to home depot to get the equipment for drip irrigation. I've been told the first year they CANNOT dry out.

Don't know how to do those stats at the bottob, but I'm drinking a Hefe today, got a Honey Weisen in secondary, and Irish red in the primary. And since I keg with forced carbination, I add the priming sugar to the boil, and get about an extra 1% ABV. Yippppeeeeee

I was looking at rhizome selling websites earlier and one of them - I forget which - mentioned that Cascade does pretty well in its first year. I think that's relative to other varieties, which generally seem to suck until year two. Also I'd expect there'd be huge variation according to latitude and weather, so I expect it's going to be pot-luck for most of us in year one.

[EDITED TO ADD:] Also I notice this from the neat BYO link above: "In New England, where there is a short growing season (sometimes only 50 days), people have had success with almost every available variety, but especially with those that are normally fast-growing and productive such as Cascade, Nugget, Chinook, and Willamette."

Sequim WA is about an hour away from where I live. Hope you have luck with your hops, I'd definately be a potential customer.

Hops will produce in the first year, well at least mine did.
I harvested 4oz of Centennial and 4oz of N. brewer on
my very first year.

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Nice pics. I'm gonna trellis mine along a chainlink fence. All the way around my one acre. I have about 500ft of fence, and are spacing them at 20ft. Washington State master gardeners say they trellis very well. I'm gonna find out.....

MCKbrew -

You're from Silverdale eh? Too bad about Heads-up. Their closure is what got me to start doing this at home. Send me a note at [email protected], and I'll let you know when (or if) I get a crop this year.

- Mic

Good luck Mic. I imagine Sequim has the perfect climate for success. Suprisingly, I never went into Heads up while they were open, but the owner plans on opening a bottle shop in the Bremerton area later this year which will definately be a bonus for this area.

The size and age of the rhizome has something thing to do with how well a particular hop does it's first year.

http://www.freshops.com/rhizinfo.html said:

What is a Jumbo?
Jumbo rootstock in general are much larger and older...
Jumbo rhizomes can become established quicker and are generally quite successful.

What is a Regular?
Regular rhizomes are selected on the basis of viable buds or potential new shoots. We use several criteria to select only viable rootstock...
Regular rhizomes take at least 1 year to become established. The second yr will produce a full crop.

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McKBrew said:

Good luck Mic. I imagine Sequim has the perfect climate for success. Suprisingly, I never went into Heads up while they were open, but the owner plans on opening a bottle shop in the Bremerton area later this year which will definately be a bonus for this area.

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My brother is about half way between you two in Quilcene. He tried to grow some UOH's (Unidentified Ornamental Hops) last summer, but was away much of the time and they probably didn't get enough watering. He didn't get any cones at all. I just got him a homebrew starter kit for Xmas. McKBrew, you've got one of the best LHBS's I've ever seen there in Bremerton. That place is incredible.

raceskier said:

McKBrew, you've got one of the best LHBS's I've ever seen there in Bremerton. That place is incredible.

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Thanks. I definately enjoy shopping there. The owner is helpful, selection is good, and the prices are great.

micsager said:

Nice pics. I'm gonna trellis mine along a chainlink fence. All the way around my one acre. I have about 500ft of fence, and are spacing them at 20ft. Washington State master gardeners say they trellis very well. I'm gonna find out.....

Click to expand...

You can use a chain link but yield will be down as they prefer to climb high. Also harvest will be a b!tch. Best to run 'em up a sisal twine to a strong suport( as high as you can go12-18 ft), then cut the twine and vine. Drag it to someplace comfortable, pour yourself a pint, crank the tunes and begin hop picking. Beats the heck out of being bent over pulling cones off a fence in the blazing sun. Charlie