Hydroponic Hops?

Thinking of getting into some Hydroponics, how do you think Hops would take to this? Would they continually produce? Sorry, I am just now really looking into both Hydroponics and Hop growing.

I saw a show on discovery about beer where the hop shortage was mentioned. They had a short bit on greenhouse hydroponically grown hops. They said that the hop plants responded well to it. Sorry I can't remember the name of the show. It was the one with the robotics Phd fella looking into other fields of interest. Skinny, nerdy kid. Considering the price of hops it may run a close second to the nations #1 cash crop.

You know I remember that show actually. Would be one very interesting experiment. I have the land and good farming area for a green house, might be worth further investigation.

actully it would work out very well i think... you would have to get the tech down and assure people you were growing pot but i think you could easily produdce a very steady varity of hops and also experiment easily with cross breading... this i find interesting

Cheers

Since they die back to the ground every year I would think that year-round production with good AA content would not be possible. I have no science to back it up, but it seems that the root ball would need some "time off" to take up nutrients and recharge with energy. Keeping a dormant stage in mind, I would think that they could be grown hydroponically with proper timed lighting. But with the investment involved to do this, why not just grow your brewing hops outside in TN(they'll do fine) and set up the hydro for something more profitable?

What would legally be more profitable for the hydro? It was just an idea, wanted to grow some tomatoes hydroponically for awhile.

In the LA area there have been some radio commercials lately for growing hydroponics. One particular shop's ad refers to growing "herbs" and that your "buds" will grow. The whole commercial is full of code for growing the hop's cousin.

I read a blog this guy did on a gardening forum all about growing hops hydroponically. I know he invested a lot of $$$ into it, but the pictures that he posted showed nice results. Only problem was that his last post was awhile ago and you don't get to see if he produced cones or not. I also have been researching a hydro setup. They are not cheap, but you can make your own.

Hydro Hops
Scroll down a bunch and the pics show up.

Don't know if he posts here but I think it was Hydro from the green board was selling a bunch of hydro hops. He had a big greenhouse full of them and pictures looked awesome. Looks like the thread expired though and was deleted...

He happens to be from TN as well...

Edit: ooo found him on another board which has his e-mail listed... and pics:

cuinrearview said:

Since they die back to the ground every year I would think that year-round production with good AA content would not be possible. I have no science to back it up, but it seems that the root ball would need some "time off" to take up nutrients and recharge with energy.

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You are correct in this assumption. Hops require vernalization, which translates to about 4 weeks of cold and dormancy before they can begin growing again. Once the plants begin to break soil, they're also tied to the amount of light they get. When the days start getting shorter in summer is when they start producing cones. Read up on the 'other' hops, the similarities are very close.

Woohoo, I'm talking to some people right now and getting everything together for my aquaponic setup. I'm raising just a couple of fish, but they should be ample for about 30 garden veggies and hop plants. I'm going to experiment with barley, wheat, rice, and oats as well (actually just a final bio-filtration for the fish water). I will start a dedicated thread with my complete build, just wanted to start the talk on a hydro page. Anyone into aquaponics?

Holy hops!

I just mounted a 175w halide (vertically) 4feet over two cascade and two willamette rhizomes in a pair of 5 gal buckets.

If they take off I'll have to (figure out how to) trim and trellis my new hops 'bushes' and hope they don't dry out before June...

background:

I planted them outside last year, only got some 6' bines, no cones. I'm trying to boost the early season growth this year.

They were brought in to the 3.5 season porch (Boston, unheated, sliding doors) for a month till I remembered to bring them to the basement and water them occasionally.

I cleaned off all the leaves (hops, oak, maple,etc.) from the dirt surface, and found 1/4" long, pale white, sprout tips.

I'll let you know how I do.

sprouts are developing a tinge of green to them, all 4 are showing tips.

I've done it. Works great. You have to be careful to make sure you have enough room for all the roots cause they will take over your system.

about 16 tiny sprouts showing. some just peeking, a few almost an inch and developing their growth node - like mini asparagus.

slow and steady BURNS MY CHAPS!

EvilTOJ said:

Read up on the 'other' hops, the similarities are very close.

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No joke, this is probably the best advice you can get from anyone. There is tons of stuff all over the internet about growing and it is VERY good info. Oddly enough them burnt out mo fos are quite good at growing. Also not only good but diligent and some keep very good notes.

been there, burnt that.

a plant needs lots of light, and 'some other stuff', like substrate, water, and CO2. the rest is sharing info.
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btw, with a 5gal bucket, they can try to crowd all they want. 2 -3 years of easy-doing-nothing. and no law suits from neighbours.

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edit: oh, btw, the last time i checked, about 8 years ago, pot was selling for more than the price of GOLD! gold was only $300 an oz, pot was 4. acapoulco WHAT??? yeah!