First Year Hop Growers

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ianskate said:
From a look at the Facebook and eBay pages, it seems like they're currently shipping crowns. Can this really be true? :eek:
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based on a user comment on FB it does indeed appear that they are shipping, but i wouldn't be ordering them yet (unless i lived in florida or hawaii, maybe). you want to plant them as soon as you receive them, and it's too early to plant. so hold off until your frost date has past. there is no advantage to ordering them now.
 
I just bought some from them, three crowns.... But Like Sweetcell said

sweetcell said:
unless i live in florida or hawaii, maybe).
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I do live in Florida so my planting season is now. Plants showed up looking healthy, large root system and still very moist even after being shipped cross country. Great operation they have there.
 
Of course :)

Although I was considering an experimental indoor start, but seeing as how these are already a season old, they probably wouldn't like being transplanted in 1-2 months when the growing season is about to start here.
 
I only planted mine on Thursday and I already have a bine that's 2-3 inches long and little buds shooting up all over the place. I have a feeling once they wake up out of hibernation, they explode. Not sure how well they would do inside for two months, they might get too big for you. But there is really no harm in trying
 
I planted 4 rhizomes along a livestock fence last year, hoping to train them to grow horizontally. Being their first year and the drought conditions, I was happy to get growth out of three of them and a handful of hops from one.
This year, I want to move them to grow on rope trellises up the side of the barn.
My question is: will the radiant heat on the south side of a red barn be too much for them? I'd hate to find out in three years that I'm burning them up and have to start over in a new location.
 
I got to pick some hops growing up the side of a barn way back in the late 80's and from what I remember they almost took the barn over! Actually, the ones that grow up my brick chimney do very well but the additional heat from the brick seem to attract mites in very hot Summers. I don't think you have anything to worry about.
 
i received my crowns from great lakes about a week ago.. i plan on planing them this weekend once i get some more soil to amend with my compost.. they even sent a free one.. all of them look pretty healthy and are just relaxing in my fridge until the time is right
 
did GLH suggest storing them in the fridge? that's what you want to do with rhizomes, i wasn't aware that's what you should do with crowns too.

heed their advice to acclimatize them to the sun slowly. let them spent a few days in indirect sun, the shaded/partial sun. i gave mine 2 days before planting them and they lost all their leaves. they grew back, but it probably stunted their growth for a few weeks. i don't know fir sure it it was the sun that did this to them, or something else, but i suspect it was the change in in lighting.
 
Lots of great info. My backyard is TINY (600sq/ft) and most of that is covered in deck. I'm only at this house for another 2 years, or so... so I'm gonna try to use a GIANT bin to plant my rhizomes from a local hop grower. I'll see if they have crowns, but they don't advertise that.

I was planning on planting Cascade along a fence that faces South and Nugget along my fence that faces West.... Both get 8-10hrs of sun per day.

I'm also planning on trying to plan along a chainlink fence. Plants won't grow high, but they can grow about 30ft along the length of the fence (this is a buddy's yard where he wants to cover the back chainlink with any vine - so why not hops that I can farm! :D
 
sweetcell said:
did GLH suggest storing them in the fridge? that's what you want to do with rhizomes, i wasn't aware that's what you should do with crowns too.
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i was unsure as well, so i sent them a facebook message and that's what they said to do.. they ship their crowns with moist soil in a bunch of rice hulls.. they suggest to remove most of the hulls and wrap the crown/soil with a couple wet paper towels and stick them in the fridge until ready to plant.. they come basically cut down to the soil so i'm not to worried about sunlight shock.. i dont' really have a place to acclimate them so it'll be all or nothing
 
First time grower here. I'm interested in hearing of other's experience growing on chain link. I started a centennial this spring a few feet from a chain link fence, which is also a few feet from a post. I am wondering if chain link is really bad to remove old growth from. As the crown grows, does it spread shoots orstays where initially started? I want to run ropes on pulleys up the singular post and train it away from the fence, or should I let it grow over the chain link?

Also, once the bine dies back, if not removed, what happens the next spring?
 
I am by no means a pro as I just started growing them too. That said, I would think the chainlink would be a PITA to deal with. Also, I think you want to try to get them growing veritcally as much as possible.
 
Good stuff!

I am planting 10 plants this year for my first attempt at growing. I started my rhizomes in potting soil in large pots and will transfer the entire thing to the beds once the shoots are all about 12" tall and I have good root growth to stabilize the potting soil.
 
guru_newbie said:
First time grower here. I'm interested in hearing of other's experience growing on chain link. I started a centennial this spring a few feet from a chain link fence, which is also a few feet from a post. I am wondering if chain link is really bad to remove old growth from. As the crown grows, does it spread shoots orstays where initially started? I want to run ropes on pulleys up the singular post and train it away from the fence, or should I let it grow over the chain link?

Also, once the bine dies back, if not removed, what happens the next spring?
Click to expand...

chain link fence will be a bit of a PITA. the hops want to grow upwards, so once they go over the top of the fence you'll have to manually wrap them around the top.

if you can run ropes up pulleys, i'd suggest doing that.

by the end of the growing season the bines are pretty thick and woody. removing them from a chain-link fence is quite do-able but is a bit of a pain. i had some wrapped around the chicken wire cages i use to protect them, they were too dry to pull in one go so i had to un-wrap each bine manually. i had other ways i could have spent that 15-20 mins per plant :mug:
 
First year hop grower here, waiting on my crowns to come in from greatlake hops, should be tomorrow. Thanks for the shared advice.
 
Ddubduder said:
I only planted mine on Thursday and I already have a bine that's 2-3 inches long and little buds shooting up all over the place. I have a feeling once they wake up out of hibernation, they explode. Not sure how well they would do inside for two months, they might get too big for you. But there is really no harm in trying
Click to expand...

I have a question related to this regarding when to transplant my plants outside?

I ordered two rhizomes when they arrived in the mail, becuase that's what the instructions recommended. One looked like it had a lot of a mold-like substance on it and not surprisingly, hasn't sprouted. The other has sprouted is already going gangbusters... growing an inch or more per day lately. I live in a relatively cold climate in Calgary, and general guidlines for the last frost is about the 3rd week in May.

I'm a long way from that date but I'm worried I can't keep it inside much longer at these growth rates.

Any ideas?
 
sweetcell said:
trim back the plant. you can snip most, or even all, of the bines. they will grow back.
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Agree, if you put them outside too early you may even shock the plant and cause it to stop growing and just stall out. The solution to a stalled plant is the also the same too, cut off the bines and start over.
 
snip all the way down. is your rhizome in soil, in a pot? if yes, snip a centimeter or so above the soil.

if your rhizome isn't planted yet, i'm wondering if you can snip it and put it in the fridge. that would get it to go dormant again, but i don't know if it's a good idea to hit the snooze button on a rhizome that has just woken up. probably the best thing to do is to put it in a large pot with soil and manage that as best you can until you can transplant it outside. bines can be re-wrapped/re-trained around your stings/trellis/etc once you get the plant outside.
 
sweetcell said:
snip all the way down. is your rhizome in soil, in a pot? if yes, snip a centimeter or so above the soil.

if your rhizome isn't planted yet, i'm wondering if you can snip it and put it in the fridge. that would get it to go dormant again, but i don't know if it's a good idea to hit the snooze button on a rhizome that has just woken up. probably the best thing to do is to put it in a large pot with soil and manage that as best you can until you can transplant it outside. bines can be re-wrapped/re-trained around your stings/trellis/etc once you get the plant outside.
Click to expand...

Sweet... thanks again. It's planted in a pot, so I'll just cut it back when it grows to an un-managable height. At it's current growth rate, that should happen by the middle of next week! :eek:
 
Anybody have a pic of what a hop sprout looks like? I've planted 3 hops and there are a couple sprouts coming up, but they're not growing fast and I'm not sure if it's just a weed that got in to my patch or the hop plant. I don't want to pluck the hop plant by accident. :S
 
Here is my first year Willamette after 2 days from sprouting. Don't mind the random grass clippings from me mowing by the mound!

ForumRunner_20130517_084601.jpg
 
Mine have grown to the top of my temporary twine line indoors, so they go outside this weekend.
 
I am a first year off BMC. First year keezer builder first year brewer first year 110 ebiab builder so the next would be a first year hopper grower. It's all my neighbors fault.

image-4232511547.jpg
 
I got a couple of split crowns earlier this spring and planted them after the last frost (mid april). I have Sunbeam, Willamette, and Nugget growing like crazy. I have them training on a small trellis and will need to use some twine to ge the rest trined up high. Ill probably have them growing over the deck bar, use them as some natural shade.
 

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