My first hops grow. Open to good advice!

I just finished building a pergola for my hops... Do you guys think this will work as it should? I don't really have the option of doing the big 16' tall lines cause we have close neighbors and a home owners association and we were afraid someone might complain... Im about to order some rhizomes. I've heard alot of people recommend "freshops.com", anyone know a better source? I'm planning on going with cascade and williamette I wanted to get perle cause i saw that was the main hop in the rogue dead guy ale(or a clone of it) but it says it doesn't do well in hot/dry areas and i live in northeast georgia so it gets pretty hot in the summer.. I know im getting a late start... i dont really expect to harvest much this year, I just wanna get it a good start for next year. Anyone got any good advice before i plant? I was planning on using half compost and half PRO-MIX bx and then plant-tone as my main vegetative organic nutrient then bat guano for the flowering season. Will the hops be okay with FULL sun? I hear people say hops like well drained soil... should i add extra sand or perlite?

Looks great! I'm thinking about doing something similar. I don't think the height is going to be an issue. I grew mine on a home depot fan trellis last year which tops ut at about 8 feet. If people can grow them along a chain link, yours will do fine. Have you considered rigging your twine so that the entire bine can be lowered and raised for harvesting?

Well.. i was thinking about putting twine up each post and just letting it grow up that and eventually cover the top like a canopy. Would it be better to run abunch of lines vertically through the middle? The pergola is about 7ft tall so eventually i will have to train them to grow sideways across the top. I was planning on running either some twine or some kind of bird netting on the sides for them to climb... Kinda going for something like this...

So the first year i let all the bines grow? then next year 3-4 per rhizome? I ordered 4 cascade rhizomes through freshops.com. I should get them in the next week or so. If i plant now and give them a good place to grow what can i expect yeild-wise this year?

Just got my rhizomes from freshops... planted them about 2" under the soil with straight potting soil to help give them a good start.

first 2 sprouts popped up the other day... the other two still nothing. If the other 2 don't start I'm gonna send an email to the Freshops guys and see if they will send some replacements... If I do Ill let your know how their customer service is...

Nice setup. You should get some good yield your first year. I'm more north than you but Cascades really take off and you don't have to baby them. I would put a couple of vertical rows of twine to help them get on top of the canopy. With cascades once they get to the top of that thing will start shooting out horizontal feelers and really cover the top. I'd guess keep training them back to the canopy and you'll have a good yield. If the other two rhizomes haven't come up you could probably poke your finder in the dirt to see if they are sprouting. Getting the other two to sprout is very quick. You might just need to water them just a little more of just plain old give them a little more time.

Hey Earthy.... How long after you planted them did they sprout out of the ground? Which ones poped first? Planted mine last Sun. 4/30 so just curious....

WhiteEagle1 said:

Hey Earthy.... How long after you planted them did they sprout out of the ground? Which ones poped first? Planted mine last Sun. 4/30 so just curious....

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I planted them on the 19th and the first ones popped up after about 2 weeks... The other 2 never started... Im about to send an email to freshops and see if they will send me either replacements or a refund. I planted their rhizomes in professional grade soil and gave them excellent conditions and only 2 out of 4 started so i truly believe the rhizomes i got were very low quality. We'll see how well their customer service works...

Got a pretty quick reply and i am pleased... unfortunatly they are running low on replacement rhizomes... is it too late to maybe start some in containers and transplant next year or should i just plant them now? which ones do you guys think i should get?

Earthy,
We are finding that we got some Cascades that were not stored properly and are either not growing or growing poorly as a result. Don't worry about it infecting your other hops. We are now out of good Cascades so cannot replace it this year. You can have a refund, replacement next year or choose from what we do have left - http://www.freshops.com/cgi-bin/sho...to proceed. Hoppily, Dave Wills Freshops[/I]

That's pretty good customer service right there!!!

Freshops.com Sent me two replacement "brewer's gold" rhizomes and they are big and very healthy looking.

I bought my first rhizomes this year as well. Out if 10 rhizomes, 9 worked well. The one that didn't sprout was Chinook. I reordered two more or centenial and only 1 worked. I think it may be best to order early from them as you get better product. That said, your hops look great.

Earthy_Dankness said:

Freshops.com Sent me two replacement "brewer's gold" rhizomes and they are big and very healthy looking.

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Those are gnarly