Did my hops die? (heat/sunlight related)

[ShartAttack]

Hi all,

I moved to central Texas a couple years ago and decided to give growing hops a shot. I got 3 rhizomes each of Cascade, Centennial, and Crystal and picked them up at Austin Homebrew Supply around May I believe.

Anyway, 2/3 Cascade, 3/3 Centennial, and 2/3 Crystal all started vines. Unfortunately, none of them ever got to be more than about a foot long. I was diligent with daily watering and planted them in a shady corner of the yard, but then the city removed some trees in my neighbor's yard and it got hot and that appears to be all she wrote.

Even with daily watering, all of the Cascades and Crystals withered up and most of the Centennials look like they are about to go that way. These are first year hops and I've heard wildly varying stories about how they grow (my first/only year hops in Iowa grew great!) and thought I'd get some feedback here. My suspicion is that they are all just dead and I shouldn't expect to see them come back next year but I wanted to tap the experience here.

Next year I think I'll try again while researching more heat resistant strains and/or working up some shade/drip irrigation but unless somebody tells me otherwise I'm guessing my current plants are toast.

 

[bleme]

Sad to hear about your hops. Here in Central California, we have a pretty similar climate but we still have several gardeners that have been able to get Cascade to thrive. What kind of soil are you working with?

I remember seeing a thread a few months ago where growers below a certain latitude had problems getting their hops to cone. I remember Florida and Texas seemed to be the most affected.

If you can get ahold of them, NeoMex varieties might do better.

 

[Sbe2]

Look into neomexicana hops, if you are interested in growing a heat tolerant variety

 

[ShartAttack]

Ahhh thank you for the advice on neomexicana hops, I had no idea that this was a thing. Would really fit with my desire to get something new/different out of this project as well. I mean Cascade and Crystal are fun but it would also be nice to do something weird. Looks like somebody sells them online, I'm messaging them now to see when I could try to plant them next.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Cascade is pretty heat tolerant and hops like full sun provided they are watered enough.

How is your soil quality? If you have shallow, light, sandy soil, the water may be drying up before the plant can soak it up. Where I live, the soil is heavy clay, so I have the opposite problem - I have to be careful to avoid drowning my plants. A good layer of mulch helps keep water in the soil.

 

[bleme]

Ahhh thank you for the advice on neomexicana hops, I had no idea that this was a thing. Would really fit with my desire to get something new/different out of this project as well. I mean Cascade and Crystal are fun but it would also be nice to do something weird. Looks like somebody sells them online, I'm messaging them now to see when I could try to plant them next.

Great Lakes Hops has 4 varieties for sale: Amalia, Multihead, Neo1 and Willow Creek.

http://www.greatlakeshops.com/shop-now.html

 

[Vellum]

I live in central texas, right outside of Austin. I grow cascade, centennial, Chinook, crystal, williamete, amalia, medusa, neo1, and willow creek.

I put them on drip irrigation to get them through the summer. So far the best performing have been cascade and willow creek with a close second of Chinook, crystal, and neo1. Try putting them on a drip system to help get them through the summer.

Let me know if you have any other questions

 

[ShartAttack]

Hi Vellum, I might have to get back to you on that. My suspicion is that this year is a wash, but next year I'll try again and I'll definitely looking into drip irrigation and any other advice you'll have ☺️

 

[Vellum]

Are your hops all dead? You might be able to salvage a first year harvest from them if they are still alive and just struggling. Last year my hops continued to produce into November.

If your hops aren't dead it might still be worth it to try and coax them along this year just for the sake of having them be established for next year.

A drip system is really easy to put in. You need:
timer - I like the orbit single faucet on amazon for $20
1/2" hose - $13 for 100 feet at lowes
1/4" hose - $7 for 100 feet at lowes
emitters - $6 for 10 emitters at lowes
so if your hops are still alive, for less than $50 you can hopefully keep them alive through next year

 

[B-Hoppy]

Hi all, . . .

Next year I think I'll try again while researching more heat resistant strains and/or working up some shade/drip irrigation but unless somebody tells me otherwise I'm guessing my current plants are toast.

There are definitely many factors that have a bearing on how they will grow, but when you realize that about 75% of the US hop crop is grown in the Yakima valley, which is a desert, I don't think the temperatures are a big factor in your situation. Here's the type of weather they've had over the last month. It is a little bit warmer than average this year, but that place is a friggin' desert, really!! https://www.wunderground.com/histor...statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=

In that type of climate, water is very important and also the fact that they tend to cool off a good bit during the over-night period. This is really critical for the plants as they give it all they can during the day so they really benefit from that cooling at night.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

There are definitely many factors that have a bearing on how they will grow, but when you realize that about 75% of the US hop crop is grown in the Yakima valley, which is a desert, I don't think the temperatures are a big factor in your situation. Here's the type of weather they've had over the last month. It is a little bit warmer than average this year, but that place is a friggin' desert, really!! https://www.wunderground.com/histor...statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=

In that type of climate, water is very important and also the fact that they tend to cool off a good bit during the over-night period. This is really critical for the plants as they give it all they can during the day so they really benefit from that cooling at night.

I might be screwed, here near latitude 0 !

My Cascade rhizomes will sprout and look healthy, then kind of die back a little, then come back.
No vines yet.

Been in the ground less than a year.

Rhizomes from a quite viable crop in Georgia where I used to live.

Excellent volcanic soil here, elevation @ 7880 ft.

Warm breezy days and cool nights, ( right now), with an approx 3 to 3.5 month rainy season, ( just passed).

Diligent watering, well drained soil, occasionally watered with a gallon of water with a tbs. of Epsom salts, ( Magnesium Sulfate), and compost added occasionally.

Have cages around them just now, as neighborhood cats ate the leaves off of the plants one evening!

 

[B-Hoppy]

Second paragraph mentions about poor yields when grown close to the equator: http://faculty.agron.iastate.edu/fehr/HOCP/27HOCP.pdf. Maybe you can get some SA germplasm. They've been using some day-neutral plants to come up with varieties that will do better in short day length scenarios.

 

[magee_b]

I might be screwed, here near latitude 0 !

My Cascade rhizomes will sprout and look healthy, then kind of die back a little, then come back.
No vines yet.

Been in the ground less than a year.

Rhizomes from a quite viable crop in Georgia where I used to live.

Excellent volcanic soil here, elevation @ 7880 ft.

Warm breezy days and cool nights, ( right now), with an approx 3 to 3.5 month rainy season, ( just passed).

Diligent watering, well drained soil, occasionally watered with a gallon of water with a tbs. of Epsom salts, ( Magnesium Sulfate), and compost added occasionally.

Have cages around them just now, as neighborhood cats ate the leaves off of the plants one evening!

See if you can give them a bit of extra light - I'm around 13 degrees latitude, and have some security lights around the property that come on at night. Did a test and planted some cascades near the light, and others just out of range of the light - The ones under the light grew, flowered, and gave me multiple harvests until I finally cut them back (they are regrowing now). The ones just outside the range of the light did more what you described - Grew a bit, died back a bit, grew a bit more.... never flowered. SAB uses lighting on their hop farms in South Africa as at 32-34* latitude they are just outside of the prime growing range.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

I'll scope out a coupla' grow light bulbs on my next trip Stateside!

Thanks!

 

[B-Hoppy]

By the looks of it, you can use 100w bulbs for the job: https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/2450/hopcultivars/21187.html