Growing Hops In Florida Tampa Area

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BrokenArmBrewing

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Location
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So after having my parents succesfully growing Cascade hops in Rhode Island with pretty good first year harvest, I've decided to give it a try in Florida.

I know that this is not the area to succesfully grow, but I do love a challange.
Key West Brewing has gotten it done this year in Key West, so Why not in the Tampa area. I would like also to give a raised pint to Great Lakes Hops,
who I got the 2 plants from. A really stand up company. Tell Amee I said Hi!

Being planted is Fuggles and Magnum

The temperature is still getting in to the mid 80's to 90's with pockets of rain every once in a while. I planted each crown in buckets, each having 2 cuft of flower potting mix. They are in a screened in patio to help keep bugs at bay.

So with out further booring you, here is the progress so far. I want, like Key West Brewing to keep a weekly photo diary.

Just arriving.jpg


Planted Fuggles.jpg


Planted Magnum.jpg


Fuggles Week 2.jpg


Magnum Week 2.jpg
 
i planted 4 rhizomes (magnum cascade pearle and centennial) all are about 5' except for the magnum which hasn't done squat-... in lutz btw.

good job on the patio mine are being eaten away by something. it hasn't been a year yet but i've yet to see any hop cones-... good luck to ya!
 
And I am about an hour North of you on 41 too. I have not had great success this year, but did manage to get a couple of 10 foot bines. Several of my plants fizzled out but I think they really needed a little shade and more nutrients to really thrive well. I;m an amateur gardener and that is pretty consistent with my gardening results so I know it is my failure and not the rhizomes. The plants at Home Depot cringe when we pull up in the lot.... But I will keep trying and learning untill I get better at it and get some results. Might want to shade the plants during the heat of the day and let them get sun during the cooler parts for a better resullt. That is the plan for spring 2103 season for me.
Bob
 
Glad there are some sort of stories out there form guys that are close. I have no green thumb, but its worth a try. They are planted on the east side of the yard. There are some tall trees in the yard behind be so direct sun starts at about 9 till 3 then shade. So far so good. Visible growth every day!
 
Rhizomes are tougher to grow since the plant is trying to grow bines and root structure at the same time. That could be why the sun torched em. Otherwise if you start from crown they seem to love full sun every day. Mine wasnt even bothered by the heat as long as it got the water it needed.
 
Hey guys. I've been following KeyWestBrewer's thread and also posted on there a few times. Since I'm basically across the state from you, I thought I'd share some pics and thoughts on the Cascades that I'm growing. I planted my two rhizomes in late March. They are on the south side of the house, and get sun starting around noon. Here's a photo of what they looked like at the end of April. The brown anole is guarding them from pest :)

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I decided not to cut any bines and just let them grow. It's a good thing I did, because the best growing bine on one of my plants some how got a nick in it and died. Here's what the base of the bines look like now.

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Here's what the top looks like.

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Here's a couple of close-ups I took today. As you can see, I've got cones and and I'm still getting new burrs.

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Here's what they look like from underneath.

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The way I've been doing it is harvesting cones when they are ready. I'm estimating that I've harvested around 3-4 ounces wet so far. Not much, but it's something. I added 1 1/2 ounces wet to a 3 gallon brew I did last weekend. Here's a pic of a small bowl that I picked about a month ago.

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My plan is to keep harvesting hops as long as the plants produce them. I also have a small garden that currently has tomatoes, lettuce, onions and green peppers. I've had one green pepper plant produce peppers year round for two years. I have banana trees that grow year round and produce bananas from time to time. I'm just wondering if hops will grow year round. This is my first year so I don't know if they'll keep growing in the winter or not. If we have a mild winter like last year maybe they will. Any way, I just wanted to share my story and let you know that you can grow hops in central Florida.
 
WOW Stan! Great Job!!! They look great!!! I'll try to take some more photos this weekend. I can't get over how much they grow in one day!! Each of my plants have 4 - 6 bines. All look healthy and all are showing signs of new growth. Some are more troopers than others. I doubt ill get cones this year, but who knows. Like you said if we have a mild winter they may just keep on trucking. We get frost every one in a while in Spring Hill, I wonder how tollerant the bines are....
 
I know what you mean by how fast they grow in one day. It's almost like you can see them growing before your eyes. We also get frost. I guess I'll see how they do this winter. Last winter was really mild compared to the two previous ones. I just got done picking some more. I got about an ounce and a half. Here's a couple of pics. I think the second one is what they use when they triple hop brew Milller Lite. :D

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Get some tape or twist ties and put it up measuring the length of the bines every week. It's pretty sweet, the day to day growth is definitely noticeable. But when you look at the week by week it's frickin incredible. Stan, did your hops have any body when you picked em? I feel like my best harvested cones were the ones that were almost yellow in color, and when squeezed had no resistance and stayed flat and compressed. Your plants look like their rockin out, let us know how the homegrown hopped beer turns out.
 
Also never worry about a damaged bine.... If it gets cut or breaks the bine will send out two new shoots starting from the last leaf set it produced. I did this on purpose with some of the sidearm growth and it seems like it resulted in more cones. Might be worth the experiment to see if it really increases harvest or if it's just a Hoptical illusion.
 
I'm not a hop expert, so I'm not sure what you mean by body. I've read and watched several articles and videos describing when hops should be ready, so I think the ones I picked were ready. I can definitely smell the fresh hop aroma. I drank my hydrometer sample last Saturday and you could really taste and smell the fresh hops. It was really good. Now, what it will taste like after fermenting and bottle conditioning is another thing. But hey, I made beer. :)
 
When you squeeze it the cone shouldnt have any resistance or sponginess. It should stay flat without having to pinch the cone very hard. Sorry kinda late on the response.
 
I'm a little disappointed. My mom grew these in Rhode Island. First time. They were picked too early. Most were still spongy. I dried them and they smell like hops and cut grass. I'm afraid that that's what they'll taste like too
 
So here we are at week 4. Fuggles the smaller one had something chewing the newely sprouting leaves and some of the younger leaves. The plant is still alive and just regrouping. Still sending out new shoots.

Magnam on the hand is on crack! This bine is taller than 6 foot! I have been tracking the weekly growth and its say a rate of just over 12 inches a week. WOW. The day temps here are still high 80's and mornings at low 70's. The days are slowly becoming shorter than the nights.

I still have no idea what to expect from this adventure. I'll just cross me fingers and see what happens!

Cheers!

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Looking good, looking good!!!! Organicide has been a god send for my plants. Got it at home depot and its cheap and easy to use. Keep them hops rockin, they look happy :rockin:
 
And week 5. Whatever was chewing fuggles has gone and its back onto growing. Magnum is a Damn beast! Almost 10 feet high!

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BrokenArmBrewing said:
And week 5. Whatever was chewing fuggles has gone and its back onto growing. Magnum is a Damn beast! Almost 10 feet high!


Very nice. BTW, I have the exact same hose reel. Weird huh.
 
It has been a while! A job change, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It's been a very busy end of the year.

As far as the hops, well... Magnum grew like crazy, got about 12 feet over all. Fuggles had some little bug that kept nibbling at its leaves.

I know that I got them into the ground very late in the year. They haven't grown in over a month now. With the daylight chance, and the weather chance, I believe that this is what stopped them.

After winter I plan to put them in the ground and hopefully get back on track next season.

What have yours been doing since the harvest?
 
Not too much really. I little bit of sidearm growth but mostly just nothing. I figure I'll leave everything be till it dies back on its own. Come late Feb I'll move the crown to a bigger pot and get things started again. Glad to see at least one of your crowns did well... Should be ready for some cones next season. Merry Christmas brother!!
 
Very cool! I just moved from Boston to Orlando leaving behind a decent anual crop of Cascades that grew on my chimney. I thought they couldn't grow south of about 38 degrees latitude. I guess that's just where they are most productive on a commercial level. Have you used them in your brews? How'd they taste? Anyone know which variety would be best in the hot/humid Florida climate? Should you uproot the rhizome and refrigerate it in the winter?
 
Demus said:
Very cool! I just moved from Boston to Orlando leaving behind a decent anual crop of Cascades that grew on my chimney. I thought they couldn't grow south of about 38 degrees latitude. I guess that's just where they are most productive on a commercial level. Have you used them in your brews? How'd they taste? Anyone know which variety would be best in the hot/humid Florida climate? Should you uproot the rhizome and refrigerate it in the winter?

Any of the C hops. They smell and taste like you'd expect. No need to uproot in the winter either. Doesn't really get cold enough to worry about that.
 
Any of the C hops. They smell and taste like you'd expect. No need to uproot in the winter either. Doesn't really get cold enough to worry about that.

I was thinking the not cold enough thing would require uprooting them and putting them in the fridge to ensure they go dormant in the winter. The die back fully down here in the winter? Or is this not required?
 
Demus said:
I was thinking the not cold enough thing would require uprooting them and putting them in the fridge to ensure they go dormant in the winter. The die back fully down here in the winter? Or is this not required?

That's an interesting point I don't know the answer to. So far only a couple of my bines died back. I still have one bine, around 12ft, that's just hanging out. I will say though, most plants can grow year round in Florida. Since the winters are so mild it's pretty much veg and flower lol.
 
Just planted 2012 hope in the ground. I half to say that magnum had thick roots all the way to the bottom of the pot. Each plant had one bine that was still flexable but I cur everything back. There are signs of new growth from the roots and from the below the old bines. I will try to cut all bines back except for the 3 strongest. And will try to update photos as needed.
 
BrokenArmBrewing said:
Just planted 2012 hope in the ground. I half to say that magnum had thick roots all the way to the bottom of the pot. Each plant had one bine that was still flexable but I cur everything back. There are signs of new growth from the roots and from the below the old bines. I will try to cut all bines back except for the 3 strongest. And will try to update photos as needed.

Hell yea, look forward to following the project!
 
BrokenArmBrewing said:
Just planted 2012 hope in the ground.

I just planted Centennial, Galena and Willamette about a week ago, I'm in the North Tampa area. We'll have to compare growing notes to see which plants grow better down here. Got mine from Great Lakes too.
 
lol its not quite the same as nuclear turtle water but fish emulsion will do about the same thing. High in nitrogen, which hops love, and breaks down really fast compared to nutes that have to decay first. Its also good for the bio activity of the soil. To sum it up, its like organic steroids for plants. Water em with some every other week and they will love you for it, especially when coning.
 
So what's the down side to Florida if they grow well? Yield? Pest infestation? I haven't seen too many hop fields down here; must be a reason!
 
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