Has anyone grown Neomexicana hops?

Dave Sarber · Mar 18, 2020

Well, I live at 2000 ft, which means hotter. Summertime temps average 110-115°. Actually get a fair amount of rain from july-september. As I mentioned above, soil here is baked clay, excellent for making adobe, if you are so inclined. I usually plant in barrels or large pots, raised off the ground, for good drainage and to keep grubs (immature Palo Verde beetles) from migrating up thru the bottom. They like roots, and water too.

CodeSection · Mar 18, 2020

Dave Sarber said:
Well, I live at 2000 ft, which means hotter. Summertime temps average 110-115°. Actually get a fair amount of rain from july-september. As I mentioned above, soil here is baked clay, excellent for making adobe, if you are so inclined. I usually plant in barrels or large pots, raised off the ground, for good drainage and to keep grubs (immature Palo Verde beetles) from migrating up thru the bottom. They like roots, and water too.

How much are you watering?

In my avatar, you can see a portion of my front yard...lots of palo verde trees. We generally are in the 100s and occasionally get higher than 110F. As you already very well know, the desert floor reaches 120F-140F+ depending upon the outside temperature and where you are.

Dave Sarber · Mar 18, 2020

CodeSection said:
How much are you watering?

In my avatar, you can see a portion of my front yard...lots of palo verde trees. We generally are in the 100s and occasionally get higher than 110F. As you already very well know, the desert floor reaches 120F-140F+ depending upon the outside temperature and where you are.

Usually once in the morning, and once in the evening. I have a couple Palo Verdes out by my leach field, but other than that, all mesquite.

CodeSection · Mar 18, 2020

I have been reading as much as I can about growing hops. One item I have read over and over again is people trim/cut the initial bines that sprout because these bines are considered "bull" bines which are hollow and can break more easily along with producing less hops.

So, does this mean every initial new growth either from a rhizome, 1 yr old plant, 2-3yr old plants, etc. should be cut back after reaching 4"-6" in height? Would that be true with @Dave Sarber 's plant below?

B-Hoppy · Mar 18, 2020

Until they're well established you ought to let everything grow to allow for good rootstock development. A lot of commercial growers will wait until the third season before they begin crowning. What you can do is to take a wait and see mentality at the beginning of your second season. If you have growing conditions that the plants really like, you'll see a bunch of frisky initial growth which will be followed soon by a bunch more shoot emergence. If you monitor this, you can keep lopping off the earliest growth and then rely on the second or successive growth to what you train to make the cones for you. Each individual growing situation will be different so you'll have to go through a few growing seasons to determine your own status and how much cutting back you can normally do.

CodeSection · Mar 18, 2020

B-Hoppy said:
Until they're well established you ought to let everything grow to allow for good rootstock development. A lot of commercial growers will wait until the third season before they begin crowning. What you can do is to take a wait and see mentality at the beginning of your second season. If you have growing conditions that the plants really like, you'll see a bunch of frisky initial growth which will be followed soon by a bunch more shoot emergence. If you monitor this, you can keep lopping off the earliest growth and then rely on the second or successive growth to what you train to make the cones for you. Each individual growing situation will be different so you'll have to go through a few growing seasons to determine your own status and how much cutting back you can normally do.

Thank you so much for going into detail. So, if I buy the plant below, it is probably too young for crowning and the same would be for a 2-3 yr old plant in a one gallon container?

B-Hoppy · Mar 18, 2020

That is definitely not a candidate for cutting back. The reason I mentioned that it all depends on the individual situation as to when and how you perform cultural practices on your hops is that all plants have requirements that will determine their overall health. The further away you move from their optimum growing situation will potentially create much different 'best practices' as to their overall health. Hops are plants that produce huge root systems (when grown in their happy place) and need room to allow this to happen or the plants' growth will be stressed and most likely cause it to deviate from it's normal growth pattern. So growing a plant that normally produces a huge root system in a 1 gal (or even a 50 gal) container will necessitate that some changes be made in the 'normal' cultural practices that are normally performed on it, what changes- I can't say. This is only one variable that can and will produce changes in how the plant performs, now you add into that equation the reduced hours of daily sunlight, soil depth, structure, texture etc, temperature and moisture deviations from normal and you may never find the right answers to your question? Just hoping you'll think about some of these other factors that come into play when trying to grow a plant out of it's normal environment. Everyone's results will be a little different.

CodeSection · Mar 18, 2020

B-Hoppy said:
That is definitely not a candidate for cutting back. The reason I mentioned that it all depends on the individual situation as to when and how you perform cultural practices on your hops is that all plants have requirements that will determine their overall health. The further away you move from their optimum growing situation will potentially create much different 'best practices' as to their overall health. Hops are plants that produce huge root systems (when grown in their happy place) and need room to allow this to happen or the plants' growth will be stressed and most likely cause it to deviate from it's normal growth pattern. So growing a plant that normally produces a huge root system in a 1 gal (or even a 50 gal) container will necessitate that some changes be made in the 'normal' cultural practices that are normally performed on it, what changes- I can't say. This is only one variable that can and will produce changes in how the plant performs, now you add into that equation the reduced hours of daily sunlight, soil depth, structure, texture etc, temperature and moisture deviations from normal and you may never find the right answers to your question? Just hoping you'll think about some of these other factors that come into play when trying to grow a plant out of it's normal environment. Everyone's results will be a little different.

Thank you again for going into detail. I should have been clearer.

I will be buying three plants from Great Lake Hops like in the above picture. I'm not sure what the size of the plant is but what I understand is they all will fit with in a USPS box. Also, I will be buying six 2-3 year old plants that are each in one gallon containers. I plan on planting all plants in 10 gallon grow bags.

It sounds like I'm in for an adventure in growing hops in my area. Hopefully, they will grow in the area I picked out. At least I will have the option to move them after the first season since they will not be permanently planted in the ground.

If you have any tips, please pass them on. I've read conflicting information on whether to lightly fertilize or not during the first year. In the past, I've used https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Soluble-Seaweed-Extract-Fertilizer/dp/B00NIZ6KEO and Miracle Grow on indoor plants and vegetables. I wonder how those would work with hop plants.

Dave Sarber · Mar 18, 2020

CodeSection said:
Thank you again for going into detail. I should have been clearer.

I will be buying three plants from Great Lake Hops like in the above picture. I'm not sure what the size of the plant is but what I understand is they all will fit with in a USPS box. Also, I will be buying six 2-3 year old plants that are each in one gallon containers. I plan on planting all plants in 10 gallon grow bags.

It sounds like I'm in for an adventure in growing hops in my area. Hopefully, they will grow in the area I picked out. At least I will have the option to move them after the first season since they will not be permanently planted in the ground.

If you have any tips, please pass them on. I've read conflicting information on whether to lightly fertilize or not during the first year. In the past, I've used https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Soluble-Seaweed-Extract-Fertilizer/dp/B00NIZ6KEO and Miracle Grow on indoor plants and vegetables. I wonder how those would work with hop plants.

Consider a portable screen of shade cloth? I use good organic garden soil, and don't use fertilizer at all. YMMV.
Remember, these plants are adapted to a high desert climate, usually a riverine environment, (think cool and shady) and typically sandy, volcanic soils. Stress good drainage.

CodeSection · Mar 18, 2020

Dave Sarber said:
Consider a portable screen of shade cloth? I use good organic garden soil, and don't use fertilizer at all. YMMV.
Remember, these plants are adapted to a high desert climate, usually a riverine environment, (think cool and shady) and typically volcanic soils. Stress good drainage.

That is a great way to put it for the neomexicana hops. It sounds like Gate Pass area in the Tucson Mountains would be ideal.

Good recommendation about using a portable screen. I plan on using 30-40% shade cloth that will be portable as well as the whole trellis system.

Dave Sarber · Mar 18, 2020

CodeSection said:
That is a great way to put it for the neomexicana hops. It sounds like Gate Pass area in the Tucson Mountains would be ideal.

Good recommendation about using a portable screen. I plan on using 30-40% shade cloth that will be portable as well as the whole trellis system.

Yeah, I live in northern Avra Valley, west of Marana about 10 miles. Lots of caliche here. Used to live in Marana, nice sandy river soil there.
I think Gates Pass would be an ideal location.
If you check out the hops growing thread, there was a guy growing Neomexicana in Las Cruces, which is high, dry, hot, and windy.
I actually selected neomexicana because I figured it was the only hop variety that would do reasonably well here.

CodeSection · Mar 19, 2020

Dave Sarber said:
Yeah, I live in northern Avra Valley, west of Marana about 10 miles. Lots of caliche here. Used to live in Marana, nice sandy river soil there.
I think Gates Pass would be an ideal location.
If you check out the hops growing thread, there was a guy growing Neomexicana in Las Cruces, which is high, dry, hot, and windy.
I actually selected neomexicana because I figured it was the only hop variety that would do reasonably well here.

I read about university studies that indicated hops starting with "C" do reasonably well in hot climates. I'm going to try to grow Amalia, Willow Creek, Multhead, Cashmere, Comet, Chinook, Fuggle, Cluster and Tahoma. We'll see what grows and survives!

Northern_Brewer · Mar 19, 2020

From what I've heard Fuggle (and most European varieties) will probably be unhappy in your conditions, but you never know until you try it.

CodeSection · Mar 19, 2020

Northern_Brewer said:
From what I've heard Fuggle (and most European varieties) will probably be unhappy in your conditions, but you never know until you try it.

What would you suggest as a replacement?

EDIT: I considered Cascade at one time, but a client of mine grows Cascade in Wyoming and I get plenty from him.

Northern_Brewer · Mar 19, 2020

I'm the wrong person to ask as my local conditions are the exact opposite of yours, you seem to be going in the right direction with lots of neomex and US varieties. Depends a bit on what you brew - perhaps one of the more lagery US varieties like Mt Hood, Sterling, Ultra or Liberty?

Dave Sarber · Mar 19, 2020

Northern_Brewer said:
I'm the wrong person to ask as my local conditions are the exact opposite of yours, you seem to be going in the right direction with lots of neomex and US varieties. Depends a bit on what you brew - perhaps one of the more lagery US varieties like Mt Hood, Sterling, Ultra or Liberty?

I want to try the Neo-1 in a tripel, for a lemony taste.

Sylvain · Mar 19, 2020

my boy Neomexicanus

Sylvain · Jul 16, 2020

Kaz15 · Aug 24, 2020

I finally have something worth contributing to this thread... I live near Denver, Colorado. I received and planted my Multihead on July 9th, 2020. So about 6.5 weeks ago. The plant was passive for the first 4 weeks, while it adjusted to the new environment. In the last two weeks one bine has grown 8 feet. She is obviously pleased with her current situation. Here is my current setup. Not expecting any crop this year, but excited for next year’s harvest!