I'm going to grow Hops

After reading the article concerning the 2008 Hop Shortage in the January BYO, I have decided to grow my own hops.

Where would I get some rhizomes from? I imagine it would be online. Where did you guys get yours (those who grow their own)?

Also, I want to get a few different varieties. Any recommendations on which ones to get? Which ones would be a staple for any homebrewer?

Talley,
Remind me in the spring, I'll shoot you a Nugget and a Glacier. Gratis.

Boston said:

Talley,
Remind me in the spring, I'll shoot you a Nugget and a Glacier. Gratis.

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Hey man, that's awesome of you!!! I'll even pay the shipping!

Thanks!!!

growing hops is so easy. i can't wait to see what our yield is like for the 2nd season!



:rockin:

You'll have two problems growing hops in Vegas, they need real soil and lots of water. Get some dynamite, a jack hammer and a backhoe. Dig out about three feet of the Caliche and backfill with a mix of potting soil and steer manure. Set up drip irrigation.

Worked for roses when I lived there, should work for hops.

[Just looked at the old neighborhood, south of the airport, via Google Maps. Looks like most of the houses are gone.]

david_42 said:

You'll have two problems growing hops in Vegas, they need real soil and lots of water. Get some dynamite, a jack hammer and a backhoe. Dig out about three feet of the Caliche and backfill with a mix of potting soil and steer manure. Set up drip irrigation.

Worked for roses when I lived there, should work for hops.

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Yeah, growing hops in the desert. Good luck with that.

I'm acutally going to grown them indoors (my garage) for the first season (i'll have to take a trip to the indoor weed growing store)...then when we move I'll grow them in the backyard. Believe it or not, many plants will flourish in the desert with the right soil, water and sun conditions.

talleymonster said:

I'm acutally going to grown them indoors (my garage) for the first season (i'll have to take a trip to the indoor weed growing store)...then when we move I'll grow them in the backyard. Believe it or not, many plants will flourish in the desert with the right soil, water and sun conditions.

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I thought of that burning sun out there and if you missed a day or two of watering how they might wilt really fast.

Oh you can be sure that if I invest my time and money in growing Hops, I wont ever miss a watering!

talleymonster said:

I'm acutally going to grown them indoors (my garage) for the first season (i'll have to take a trip to the indoor weed growing store)...then when we move I'll grow them in the backyard. Believe it or not, many plants will flourish in the desert with the right soil, water and sun conditions.

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You do realize that even the first year the hops will shoot several runners 15ft or more. I think you are better off getting them in good soil with an automated drip system. I that heat you can't miss a watering but I'm guessing they will take off like a rocket.
I didn't even water mine this year and got about 2oz off my Cascades and 1oz each off of my Centennial and Chinook. The Willamette grew well but didn't produce the first year. I need to figure out some kind of watering system for them next year. They are a couple hundred feet from my parents house, which is 30 miles away. So I can't baby them every day and I can expect my parents to carry the water they need. I'm thinking maybe a rain barrel fed off the pole barn where they are planted, but I'll need to install a section of gutter. Given the size of the barn it shouldn't take much of a gutter to fill a barrel.

Craig

I think you'll do OK cheese. My Los Angeles LHBS has them in old 6.5 gallon ale pails, one plant per bucket. I guess they take them inside during the brutal winter or something...

Kudos to you home hop growers out there. I love the idea of gardening and growing your own stuff. However, I always find that it's just easier to pay a local grower or company than it is to put the effort and money into supplies and plants. I'd just make sure to ask yourself whether you're trying to save money or enjoy the gardening / additional aspect of brewing. Because IMO the money saved would be minimal if any at all. =/

I'm growing too. You get a decent variety of bittering and aromatic and the cost is one thing, but it's the entire start to finish process of brewing that gets me going.

Shoot, what's next? Growing and malting my own barley? Not that hard core...yet, although the ingredient aspect gets me pumped as much as the equipment part.

cowgo said:

I'm growing too. You get a decent variety of bittering and aromatic and the cost is one thing, but it's the entire start to finish process of brewing that gets me going.

Shoot, what's next? Growing and malting my own barley? Not that hard core...yet, although the ingredient aspect gets me pumped as much as the equipment part.

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You know malting grain is one thing but I guess you could kiln your own speciality grains. I gonna give that a try in the near future.

I have some cascade and nugget growing in my yard but come June they burn out and they're mostly in the shade. But by Mid april they're already 10+' high and getting too much sun exposure. Keep em out of the afternoon sun for sure. If I had my own zone for the drip system just for the hops they might make it.

Not that expensive so worth a shot...

david_42 said:

You'll have two problems growing hops in Vegas, they need real soil and lots of water. Get some dynamite, a jack hammer and a backhoe. Dig out about three feet of the Caliche and backfill with a mix of potting soil and steer manure. Set up drip irrigation.

Worked for roses when I lived there, should work for hops.

[Just looked at the old neighborhood, south of the airport, via Google Maps. Looks like most of the houses are gone.]

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Forget the dynamite, check out a concept in raised bed gardening called square foot gardening. Raised beds, in general, are the way to go when you have lousy soil, but the square foot method makes it even more efficient. Set up a sprinkler that is hooked to a hose timer, and you never have to worry about watering. Take it one step further and install a hose bib fertilizer injector, and you can just sit back and watch them grow.

This is how I grow tomatoes, chilis, etc, and have had great results.

rabidgerbil said:

Forget the dynamite, check out a concept in raised bed gardening called square foot gardening. Raised beds, in general, are the way to go when you have lousy soil, but the square foot method makes it even more efficient. Set up a sprinkler that is hooked to a hose timer, and you never have to worry about watering. Take it one step further and install a hose bib fertilizer injector, and you can just sit back and watch them grow.

This is how I grow tomatoes, chilis, etc, and have had great results.

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I totally agree with rabidgerbil with one exception, the sprinkler. Lay a soaker hose or drip line around the plants and cover with mulch. Soakers are more efficient because you don't lose the moisture to evaporation. I would be surprised if 50% of the water from a sprinkler makes it to the ground in NV during summer.

Putting lots of organic mulch around your hops will not only retain moisture but will keep your hop roots cooler.

talleymonster said:

I'm acutally going to grown them indoors (my garage) for the first season (i'll have to take a trip to the indoor weed growing store)...then when we move I'll grow them in the backyard. Believe it or not, many plants will flourish in the desert with the right soil, water and sun conditions.

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I agree my Mom grew all kinds of plants in Palm Springs. You are right the right soil and a S-load of water. I am thinking in the desert you don't have to worry about all sorts of mold or mildew problems that we have in the south because of humidity.

Nurmey said:

I totally agree with rabidgerbil with one exception, the sprinkler. Lay a soaker hose or drip line around the plants and cover with mulch. Soakers are more efficient because you don't lose the moisture to evaporation. I would be surprised if 50% of the water from a sprinkler makes it to the ground in NV during summer.

Putting lots of organic mulch around your hops will not only retain moisture but will keep your hop roots cooler.

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My mistake, I use micro emitters, and they are little tiny sprinklers, but only target a specific area, so I did not think about what word I was using. I agree, use a soaker hose or a drip system with bubblers, micro-emitters, micro-sprinklers, etc. Much more efficient, and helps to keep the weeds down. Done properly, raised bed and/or container gardening can produce phenomenal results.

Raised beds are fine, except for the 10-30 foot tap root.

rabidgerbil said:

My mistake, I use micro emitters, and they are little tiny sprinklers, but only target a specific area, so I did not think about what word I was using. I agree, use a soaker hose or a drip system with bubblers, micro-emitters, micro-sprinklers, etc. Much more efficient, and helps to keep the weeds down. Done properly, raised bed and/or container gardening can produce phenomenal results.

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I kind of suspected you might know about gardening! Still it is better that it was clarified.

david_42 said:

Raised beds are fine, except for the 10-30 foot tap root.

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Raised beds give them a good foothold, healthy roots, and make gardening easier. Most perennial's tap roots can work their way through almost anything, including a crack in a boulder. I don't know much about NV soil but I'm not sure it's any harder than our Nebraska clay.

Yeah, let me tell you how excited the wife is about me combining the beer obsession with the gardening obsession.

I think I will try to do a wall of hops, like I have seen a few pictures of, go up about five or six feet, and then go out about 20 or so feet, since I am not trying to maximize commercial growing space, I could care less if they go straight up, or horizontal.

We have a deck that has about 5' of trellis under it an have thought about turning it into a wall of hops, it's about 35' long. Any chance this could work?

elicash said:

We have a deck that has about 5' of trellis under it an have thought about turning it into a wall of hops, it's about 35' long. Any chance this could work?

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Is this you: http://elicash.lowkeyproductions.net/

Or are you a Royal Tenenbaums fan like me?

landhoney said:

Or are you a Royal Tenenbaums fan like me?

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Wes Anderson is great. Tenenbaums is one of my favs.

As far as the hops youd probably have to see how much sun that side of the deck gets

Mother in Law just emailed me.....I gues she's ordering rhizomes and she's going to plant Cascase, Willamette, Mt Hood and Nugget Hops for me!!!
It's the best...she plants waters and cares for them, then I just show up and harvest them!

talleymonster said:

Mother in Law just emailed me.....I gues she's ordering rhizomes and she's going to plant Cascase, Willamette, Mt Hood and Nugget Hops for me!!!
It's the best...she plants waters and cares for them, then I just show up and harvest them!

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I have the same situation with my mother-in-law. Mine grow up at their house and she loves taking care of them. The soil its in was brought in from Minnesota. I guess I'm lucky she grew up on a farm...

landhoney said:

Is this you: http://elicash.lowkeyproductions.net/

Or are you a Royal Tenenbaums fan like me?

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Even more.

OMG that Dude totally rips off Peter Tosh.

Not cool.
Igziabeher (Let Jah Be Praised)[youtube]h3AhxUZIW3A[/youtube]

Eli Cash - "Broadcast Distortion" feat. the Jolly Taxpayer
[youtube]vxM_JMKSwE4[/youtube]

Back OT. Mine fried in June and they were on emitters watered vigorously.

I need to get them some shade in the PM.

Out here in the California high desert my plants suffer from the heat as well despite religious watering. I have Willaette, Tettnanger, Cascade, Fuggle, and Hallertauer. If you use containers outside in a hot climate/full sun, make sure they aren't the black plastic ones like nurseries use. I had problems doing that with other plants, not just hops. Four of my plants are in the ground and they still just get too hot in the summer. I need to relocate them to a place that gets at least partial afternoon shade.

Idaho is the 3rd largest producer of Hop in the nation and it can be over 100 in july for two weeks straight and the hop fields get NO shade whatsoever. Also the Yakima valley can get pretty damn hot too, that is where most of the domestic ones come from.

Yeah, but we get around 8 weeks of that 100+... Everything wilts during the day.

Slightly OT.

My wife's cousin has a bunch in their backyard. They didn't plant them and use them as an ornamental. She said I can take all the cones next year.

I realize it will be a shot in the dark but I'm willing to experiment but my question is are there any bad (ie not suitable for brewing) varities of Hops?

Rudeboy

Rudeboy said:

Slightly OT.

My wife's cousin has a bunch in their backyard. They didn't plant them and use them as an ornamental. She said I can take all the cones next year.

I realize it will be a shot in the dark but I'm willing to experiment but my question is are there any bad (ie not suitable for brewing) varities of Hops?

Rudeboy

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Just for reference, the majority of domestic ornamental hops tend to be Cluster...

Brew Runner said:

Yeah, but we get around 8 weeks of that 100+... Everything wilts during the day.

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Usually, you can really stretch out a plant's ability to survive in extreme heat by heavy mulch and drip irrigation. They'll wilt horribly in the day but 'spring back' in the evening. We don't get to the 100's regularly but we do get streches in the high 90's and not a drop of moisture and I can grow just about anything as long as it doesn't need over 120 days. Shade cloth is another consideration as well.

I just want to be included in this thread :fro:

With 128 sq' of food plot in the back yard and yall saying they like a little shade, I got just the spot. C'mon spring!

Blender said:

Yeah, growing hops in the desert. Good luck with that.

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I guess you have never been to or heard of Yakima.....

anderj said:

Idaho is the 3rd largest producer of Hop in the nation

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Could Idaho be talked into separating from the Union..??

We could install a friendly government, and start dividing the.. er, the goods !