Growing Hops in Containers - New York, any tips

I plan to grow 3 rhizomes but have put off ordering because ive been having a hard time deciding on which 3. Ive been browsing the forums but cant find the right info.

I plan to be brewing more belgian strong ales in the future, (so i considered styrian goldings, saaz and hallertau) but they are all fussy growers. I thought about substituting with Fuggles and Mt Hood and skipping on a tettnang or us saaz.

It also seems that bittering hops are probably not the way to go, unless you dont mind approximating the aau's... for an ipa, i wouldnt mind...

If i plan to do a variety of styles, growing them in the suburbs of New York City in containers.. what hops could you recommend (if limited to 3). *i am container growing for the first season since our house is about to go on the market*

I am leaning toward cascade, fuggles and mt hood. Would these finishing/dual purpose hops be enough of a range to satisfy wheat beers, belgian strongs and ipa/apa's? I would be buying my bittering hops seperately of course. Unless theres a bittering hop that grows well and could fit the bill for a few diff recipes.

Just looking to cover my bases with a variety, add some more stuff to the garden, incorporate more local/homegrown ingredients while shaving some of the cost on my beers. -hops, -yeast, -extract should be a good price cut and help when it comes to those dubbels, tripels and quads.

Any advice or tips from some New Yorkers or brewers from the North East would be extremely helpful!

Thanks in advance!

whatever varieties you choose, be prepared for daily watering on the order of 5 gallons PER plant.

im in a similar situation, i just used a 27gallon heavy duty tote from home depot, using the lid as the base, i drilled the thing out all over the bottom for draining, and put a rhizome in, and its popped up just yesterday, planted about a week ago. Cascade hop.

Im thinking of just getting a nice fat rhizome going for when i go to outdoor planting. A lhbs just gave me a piece he ripped off a giant root he had and whoalla free hops.

Im also going to fabricate a cart to set it on so i can move it later on and will only go as high as my door opening and then bend it down and up as many times as required to keep it going.

should be fun. It will smell nice in the summer.

I only put 1 rhizome in the container, i only want one plant per planter

I went through similar machinations here. I mostly brew low to moderate strength ales in the British, Belgian and occasionally American styles. I wound up planting goldings, mt hood and cascade in some homemade earthbox type containers made from 18 gallon plasic totes and PVC from home depot. They've been in the containers about a month now with some growth finally happening.

The mt hood has 3 strong shoots up, the talles about 6 to 8 inches. The cascade has a couple of 1-2 inchers and the goldings just broke the surface. I've not had to water a single time yet with this setup.

Oh, I'm in central Ohio.

If you make your own tub out of a rubbermaid, don't put the holes right at the bottom. Leave like the bottom 3" of the thing holelesss. You'll store some water that way so your hops don't go bone dry during hot sunny days.

..some motivation to finally convert those big blue drums into rainwater collection barrels!

i was originally thinking about ordering from freshops.com since people on the forums have been recommending it, but if i went with northwesthops.com id go for the starter bundle with 5 rhizomes + twine + free shipping for $20. Are they comparable in quality and service?

If i chose 5 then i would do willamette, fuggle, cascade, centennial and (mt. hood, nugget or golding).

Guess it doesnt matter which i start with, as i can always add more rhizomes, and eventually have 1 of each... then start to cut and transfer as the years go by.

I'm in Kentucky -- I have four second year hop plants I'm growing in 18 gallon plastic storage bins (that I've drilled a bunch of 1/2" holes in for drainage).

I'm growing them in Miracle Gro potting soil, and fertilizing with quarter-strength Miracle Gro for tomatoes every few weeks.

I've just been keeping an eye on the moisture in the soil, and watering as needed...nowhere near 5 gallons a day so far... But it's been pretty easy to keep them healthy.

definitely going to plant ONE rhizome per Rubbermaid bin (those really big gray storage bins with the red lids...

sirsloop: Just to clarify...Are you suggesting holes on the side of the bin rather than on the bottom?

rick500: il be using potting soil and compost (store bought + backyard).. i don't forsee any problems.. maybe a less productive bine, but i rather get them started now, let them grow in "planters" and transfer them next season when i have a more permanent place to plant them. I will also replicate the trellis used by ? from BYO in his interview with James from Basic Brewing. Just the wooden pole with an eyelet and string, allowing you to lower the bine while giving it more vertical space to grow up. Fearing some disease, mold or insect damage... so maybe i will just throw a rope over a nearby tree branch at 25' or so! then i have no worries...

I used the pole and twine setup from the BYO article also, last year. This year, I added a four-foot crossbar to the tops of the poles, and put four eyelets on it, evenly spaced, for four bines per plant. It's worked out great so far.

Here's a pic from a little over a week ago. Some of the bines are up to 7 feet tall now.

I got mine ( first year in Homer buckets) and I might transplant them once I get my community garden spot. How much water should I be giving them per day?. Weather in Denver is in the upper 60's but much cooler at night. Pearls of Wisdom are much appreciated.

Just keep the soil moist. When the surface starts to look dry (you should be able to tell the color is a bit lighter) give them a good soaking...enough to wet the whole volume of soil.

Water them early in the day so that the lower leaves won't be wet by the time dusk rolls around. This will help keep fungus at bay.

I have 2 cascades each in their own pot. One has 3 shoots comming up only after 10 days! The other isn't showing anything yet. Make sure they can get good sun and water. What are you growing them on? Mine will be going around my fence. (Hopefully I can get a more perminent place)
I used a mix of the Mirical Grown potting mix, manure and peatmoss - time will tell on how well they do.

As your varieties, I'd say try a cascade, as they are supposed to be good growers and you should try to grow what you think you would like to use. You probably wont get much your first year anyway. Get them started so next year you'll have a good harvest and good hops for a good brew!

zman said:

I got mine ( first year in Homer buckets) and I might transplant them once I get my community garden spot. How much water should I be giving them per day?. Weather in Denver is in the upper 60's but much cooler at night. Pearls of Wisdom are much appreciated.

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Community gardens plots are not a safe place to plant hops...they will till everything under each season. Plus, Id be surprised if they even let you plant a weed near other peoples' gardens

Decided i'd go with northwesthops.com's rhizome starter kit. 5 rhizomes + twine + free shipping for $20. Going with - (1) centennial, (1) cascade, (1) willamette, (1) fuggle and (1) nugget. Sounds like a lot... but cant beat the price and the variety should come in handy.

Cascade and centennial are so versatile. The nugget will be perfect for bittering (when actual aau can be approximated). Willamette and fuggles are pretty similar so we'l see which grows better (my bets on the willamette) - use one of the other for dry hopping.. the citrussy, floral aromas should be perfect. I guess il be using the willamette for my wheat beers...?

anyone else use northwesthops or their 5 rhizome starter pack? would it make more sense to substitute one or more of those out and double up on something (incase its fussy and decides not to grow?)

i'm in chicago, and have 4 plants in huge pots on our 4th floor rooftop. 2nd year, 3 of the plants are up to about 3-4 ft now. 1 is nowhere to be seen... As 2nd year plants, they are perhaps a foot or 2 shy of where they ended last year, except for perhaps the cascade.

(FWIW, i got 1 oz of dried cascade last year, nothing from 1 fuggles or 2 goldings)

question for you guys who have done this in past years. Do you prune back any of the bines, or just let them all grow up some shared ropes?

eroth said:

i'm in chicago, and have 4 plants in huge pots on our 4th floor rooftop. 2nd year, 3 of the plants are up to about 3-4 ft now. 1 is nowhere to be seen... As 2nd year plants, they are perhaps a foot or 2 shy of where they ended last year, except for perhaps the cascade.

(FWIW, i got 1 oz of dried cascade last year, nothing from 1 fuggles or 2 goldings)

question for you guys who have done this in past years. Do you prune back any of the bines, or just let them all grow up some shared ropes?

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I'm growing four plants in containers too. Last year (first year), I didn't prune them at all, thinking that I'd leave as much foliage on the plants as possible to help grow out the root system.

This year (second year), I cut them all back to four bines per plant. The bines are all now between five and eight feet.

i have several hops in containers; zeus, cascade, brewers gold and willamett. growth has been pretty good for first year hops, but i just realized that i am not sure how to take care of them in containers over the winter. i don't want them to freeze solid outside nor do i want them to dry out in the garage. i live in west central ohio...anyone have experience with this?

I'm south of you, in Kentucky... Left all my container hops in their containers outside all winter, had no problems at all. They were frozen solid for much of the winter.

My Saaz are real fussy growers even in best sunlight my property had to offer...

eroth said:

question for you guys who have done this in past years. Do you prune back any of the bines, or just let them all grow up some shared ropes?

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First year you should train as many as possible. After that you should only train 2-3 strong bines per rope. Otherwise the competition for light will drive them to put out more foliage and cone production will take a back seat.

Is there a limit to how high you should let a plant grow? Is there pruning involved?
I have 3 varieties all in different containers of 3 gallons each and one has gone nuts! She's about 10 feet compared to the others that are 5, and there's no slowing down.

mine are in 4 gallon buckets and i am letting them grow as high as they want. Once a bine gets close to the top of the pole/trellis/twine, let out some slack and allow the bine to climb some more! My plants are currently climbing up twine that is draped over an old basketball hoop (~10 ft). I still need to make a simple trellis which will shade a wooden bench that i have. One pole on each side of the bench attached at the rear legs. Pics will follow once i get over this terrible sinus trouble, and begin construction

schreck said:

mine are in 4 gallon buckets and i am letting them grow as high as they want. Once a bine gets close to the top of the pole/trellis/twine, let out some slack and allow the bine to climb some more! My plants are currently climbing up twine that is draped over an old basketball hoop (~10 ft). I still need to make a simple trellis which will shade a wooden bench that i have. One pole on each side of the bench attached at the rear legs. Pics will follow once i get over this terrible sinus trouble, and begin construction

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If I slack the twine, the bottom of the plant will be on the ground! I don't like that idea. I'll just keep adding twine at the top and hope that she stops before I run out of skyhooks

If your looking into growing in containers, try a sub-irrigated planter. I have been using them and they work great (you can make them yourself pretty easily)

Through the first two years, I get about 1pound of dried hops per plant.

checkout my writeup at

http://brewbot.ca/growing-hops-on-a-balcony.html