Could hops be Florida's next big crop?

[passedpawn]

Especially for you Florida growers, this article might prove interesting. Summary: researchers at UF are trying to develop a cultivar that grows properly in FL. The weather is all wrong here, but I can tell you the vines of the invasive variety (e.g. kudzu) do alright.

From the St. Pete Times yesterday.

http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-d...ig-crop-researchers-arent-so-sure-yet/2314441

 

[brewcat]

Seems like a waste of time & resources.

 

[passedpawn]

Seems like a waste of time & resources.

It's Strawberry season in FL right now (the Plant City Strawberry Festival kicks off today!). When the rest of the country is too cold to grow strawberries, FL kicks in and provides fresh ones. We have a yr-round growing season.

That could be an advantage for hops too. They are not perishable like strawberries, but there still might be an advantage in having a new harvest in, say, March. Maybe not.

Anyway, stuff grows great down here, I see only upsides to it.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Seems like a waste of time & resources.

Same thing was said when they were developing Marris Otter.

 

[Setsumi]

They should talk to SABMiller/abinbev. SAB has a hops research going for years in South Africa an area with low daylight an climate challenges. AND if we can believe them.... micro and home-brewed at heart....

 

[slym2none]

Seems like a waste of time & resources.

Why?

 

[brewcat]

Why?

The same reason citrus isn't grown farther north. Climate and yield. It isn't cost effective.

Florida uses a $140,000 grant and gets this...

"The major limitation is climate," Agehara explained. "The plants produce flowers when they are immature (before the plant has enough height and heft to support them), and it's impossible to do a single harvest (which drives up harvesting costs)."

Of course as a researcher I would definitely want another grant.

 

[shetc]

Motorworks brews with Florida-grown hops

 

[2trout]

Possible, but not likely. Its too humid, powdery mildew will run rampant!

 

[FatDragon]

It's Strawberry season in FL right now (the Plant City Strawberry Festival kicks off today!). When the rest of the country is too cold to grow strawberries, FL kicks in and provides fresh ones. We have a yr-round growing season.

That could be an advantage for hops too. They are not perishable like strawberries, but there still might be an advantage in having a new harvest in, say, March. Maybe not.

Anyway, stuff grows great down here, I see only upsides to it.

Strawberries are an interesting example. In the US, strawberries are a summer fruit. In China, they're a winter fruit (and while Wuhan is around Houston's latitude, we still have cold winters). You can go to strawberry farms and pick them yourself starting around late December and they really start to flood the market around early February until late March, and then you won't see many strawberries until next December.

Not sure where I was going with that, I've just always thought it was a really strange thing and since you brought it up, I thought I'd mention it. Anyway, anything that makes good hops even more readily available is good by me! Would neomexicanus work in Florida, or do they need it dry?

 

[shetc]

The strawberries are good this year.

 

[Greatlakeshops]

The same reason citrus isn't grown farther north. Climate and yield. It isn't cost effective.

Florida uses a $140,000 grant and gets this...

"The major limitation is climate," Agehara explained. "The plants produce flowers when they are immature (before the plant has enough height and heft to support them), and it's impossible to do a single harvest (which drives up harvesting costs)."

Of course as a researcher I would definitely want another grant.

Pretty much nailed this right on the head.

They are using all this grant money to evaluate what the rest of the industry already knows. Hop plants may physically grow but they do not produce any feasibly significant amount of yield that far south. Nearly every known variety with a few exceptions grows best right around the 45th parallel. Florida may be able to put in a hop yard and grow a few varieties and even get a small harvest but the input cost vs yield would be staggering. Meanwhile up here in norther Michigan we would have even less input costs to keep the plants happy, healthy, and watered and are getting yields higher then the recorded average.

If Florida was truly interested in the crop, they would be much better off taking the grant money to start a breeding program to develop varieties that will produce excellent yields in southern climates. Perhaps by developing varieties with crosses made from Neo Mexicana type's that originated in the hot southwest.

They just used a ton of grant money to "research" what the majority of the established hop growing community already knows.

 

[yanick74]

I think if it can be possible. I am below florida and my plants at this moment began to bloom, already reached temperatures of 40° C.
Still a lot, but in the right direction my opinion is that it is possible, perhaps with new varieties, because the hops is not even domesticated.

 

[Senormac]

Do any hop varieties grow naturally in Florida? I mean, like in the wild ?
It's not strange at all to come across some full cone hop bines growing on an old building or fence here in Oregon.