Growing in Tennessee?

[jamesrm]

Can hops grow well enough in Middle Tennessee (Robertson County, White House area) to bother with it? If so, I have some land and would be very interested in that idea. What varieties do you think would thrive here?

 

[Korben]

Good to see another Tennessean on the boards... I am from West Tennessee (Memphis currently). I am planning to make some hop starters on my apt balcony this year. I am sure they will grow here (could be too hot in the summers, but I they will be ok) Check this out it may help. Hop Growth Cycle. This page is full of useful information.

 

[jamesrm]

Where can you buy plants to cultivate and what to they run for us Korben? What are you planning to grow? Maybe we can do some trading

 

[Csuho]

jamesrm u from white house? i am in springfield. i dont know of any1 else out this far.

as for the rhizomes i think all seasons will have some in spring. i think hop union will also but i am not sure there.

 

[Sk84BeeR]

haha, im orig. from H'ville. Over in Old Hickory now. Definately check with the guys over at All Seasons, they're awesome.

If the Mid TN people are interested there are two clubs in the Nashville area that I know of: Music City Brewers and the Antioch Sud Suckers.

Im thinking of joining up, Anybody part of either of these? (sorry for the hijack)

 

[Korben]

Actually I think I am going with freshops.com. I have heard good things about them on this board. But, if you have someone local check it out. I am not as lucky down here in memphis.

 

[Korben]

But yeah I would be happy to trade hops after I actually get some going... may be a while though.

 

[Gregredic]

You shouldn't have too much problem growing. I am down here in Huntsville, and I know of quite a few people that grow their hops. Not much difference from there and here.

 

[jamesrm]

Cool, I am living in Hendersonville but have land in White House. I brew my beer in Hendersonville, just ordered a brew magic, and brew wine (Have muscadine vines) in my barn in White House. Will be building a house on land there eventually. I am thinking about joining the music city brewers.

 

[bgoats]

Fellow Tennessean here, too. One of the guys at All Seasons grew 8lbs this past year so, despite his having a leg up on us in the equipment & expertise dept., i'm thinking it's completely possible to grow some on our own. And if you guys want to trade afterwards, i'm game!

 

[aekdbbop]

No probs with this.. i have 4 plants going in franklin.

watch out at allseasons though.. uber expensive

 

[jamesrm]

Hey Tennesseans, join the group!

HomeBrewTalk Groups - Tennessee Brewers

 

[ben the brewman]

i live in memphis and had 4 plants growing this year. 2 of them didnt produce anything but grew great and the other 2 made 3oz. its not hard to grow them in tn all you have to do is keep them watered and thats just about it.

 

[Korben]

Hey Ben.. I am down in Memphis as well. Good to know it can be done here relatively easy.

 

[jamesrm]

I pass through Memphis a lot going out to Arkansas and Mississippi chasing storms, will have to stop in for a brew next time

 

[ben the brewman]

any time man. just give me a shout

 

[Boodlemania]

Have you guys had better success with having your bines in morning sun, afternoon/evening sun, or full sun? (I'm in East TN and am planning to do a trial on hop growing this year.)

I have availability of morning, evening, or full sun. Just wanted to know what you're experience has been as which does best in TN.

 

[Korben]

I have heard they need pretty much full sun.. but I could be wrong. I know at least in west tn the dog days are insanely hot and HUMID. Good.. luck.

 

[rorichmond]

No probs with this.. i have 4 plants going in franklin.

watch out at allseasons though.. uber expensive

Franklin County or Franklin in Williamson County? I live in Williamson County(Mack Hatcher and Liberty Pike), and brew with a few friends who live around the Nashville area.

My neighbor and I just placed an order for Cascade, Willamette, Kent Golding and Nugget rhizomes. We'll see how they grow!

 

[yuppiecruncher]

Also a Tennessean, planning on growing some hops this year. When is a good time to plant the rhizome? Cascade rules by the way. LUVIT.

 

[Boodlemania]

My rhizomes are in transit. I'm hoping to plant by this weekend. The beds are ready to go! I ordered Hallertau and Cascade.

 

[yuppiecruncher]

Hah thats great! I did the exact same thing... hallertau and cascade... god love 'em. How are you going to arrange the supports? twine? Somthing new? I was thinking of staking a post in the middle of 2 rows of 3 rhizomes and running twine from the post to a stake in the ground behind the rhizomes... any thoughts? What about watering frequency... the soil here is about 12 inches thick, then you hit limestone and is always waterlogged.

 

[Baunno]

Also a Tennessean, planning on growing some hops this year. When is a good time to plant the rhizome? Cascade rules by the way. LUVIT.

Do it this week! Or as soon as possible. My bines are a couple of feet tall already and I'm hoping to have a pretty good crop this year. Good luck!!

 

[Korben]

just got mine planted a couple days ago.. due to some delays i have a nice couple sprouts from my nugget and my willamette is still to poke its pretty lil head.

 

[Ryno]

I live in Olive Branch (close enough to Memfis), anyway my centennials and sunbeams are up and still waiting for the nuggets.....planted about 3 weeks ago. Hmmmm hmmmm

 

[Boodlemania]

How are you going to arrange the supports? twine?

I made two raised beds, 4' x 8'. In each bed, centered on the 4' ends, I set a 10' 4x4 about 18" in the ground. I plan to run a horizontal trellis between the posts.

I plan on planting two rhizomes (same variety) per bed, near the posts. I'll run twine from the posts down to the rhizomes. Once the rhizomes reach the top of the posts, I'll manually train them horizontally between the posts, one rhizome along one side, the other on the opposite side. This will allow about 16' or so of growth for each rhizome.

 

[ben the brewman]

only one of my 3 plants are up. my cascades are up to about 5feet now my nugget are barley poking through the ground and the magnum isnt up at all.

 

[1602JJ]

Live in East Nashville ordered my hops rhysomes from midwest and they have all started. About 6 inches of growth so far. For you guys in Nashville there is a new shop in goodlettsville. Rebelbrewer that is pretty good. Good prices but odd hours. just google it.

 

[Boodlemania]

I just received my rhizomes last Friday and set them out that evening. All had shoots on them about 2-3" long when they arrived. Hadn't seen any sprouts poking through as of last night.

 

[Crash]

I'm in the Memphis area; planted 2 cascades & 2 Mt. Hoods several weeks ago. I've got 1 cascade about a foot tall, 1 cascade a couple inches, 1 Mt. Hood just broke ground and no signs of life from the other Mt. Hood.

 

[Boodlemania]

Checked mine last night and one of the Hallertau has sprouted. No life from any of the other three rhizomes. Not worried yet as they've only been in the ground a week. Should I be?

 

[Dloucks]

Checked mine last night and one of the Hallertau has sprouted. No life from any of the other three rhizomes. Not worried yet as they've only been in the ground a week. Should I be?

I wouldn't panic just yet. I put 20 plants in the ground last week. I've got 4 that are up and going crazy (between 3-6" each), one plant has three bines up already.

Since none of the other had shown any life I dug up two of them and they both had bines that were close to breaking the surface on their own. I'd just sit tight. I figure worst case scenario they are DOA and there isn't a whole lot my worrying will do about it. I'll replace anything that doesn't make it this year with rhizomes off the ones that do.

 

[yuppiecruncher]

Howdy again, I planted my hops about a week ago now. They are popping up. Two of the (3)Hallertau and one of the (3)cascade. They really seem to love the sun! I've got them in a big field with full sun all day. The weather has been watering them for me, but when that stops, I'll put them on a 30 min/day watering schedule. They don't seem to need much.

 

[yuppiecruncher]

I wouldn't panic just yet. I put 20 plants in the ground last week. I've got 4 that are up and going crazy (between 3-6" each), one plant has three bines up already.

Since none of the other had shown any life I dug up two of them and they both had bines that were close to breaking the surface on their own. I'd just sit tight. I figure worst case scenario they are DOA and there isn't a whole lot my worrying will do about it. I'll replace anything that doesn't make it this year with rhizomes off the ones that do.

I wouldn't sweat it at all... they have to grow down before they grow up. The Rhizomes are likely just getting established before they break soil.

 

[yuppiecruncher]

5 of my 6 plants are popping up! Thanks to the lovely weather yesterday, everything is waterlogged, but I hope that won't slow them down.

 

[Baunno]

Second year hop garden..and so far the Kent Goldings are taking over! The others, Cascade, Willamette,Centennial and Horizon are coming along but no where near the Goldings. Last year I only had the tripods for them but since the Goldings are now over 8feet tall as of 4-23-09 I decided to add the trellis up top. It may shade the tomatoes underneath but we'll see!

My picture link doesn't seem to be working so here is a link of my hop garden on my home page: https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=23165&cat=recent&limit=recent My Kent Goldings (center tripod) are now reaching up almost two feet above the top of the tripod poles. Of course with all the rain they may drown :-(

 

[ben the brewman]

my cascades are 13 feet long now or so and are already starting to put out cones. thats crazy. my nuggets are about 4 inches and the magnum are still barley budding

 

[Boodlemania]

13 ft?!?!?! Shenanigans!

My four 1st year rhizomes are just now out of the ground, maybe a couple of leaf clusters each.

 

[ben the brewman]

im not ****tin my trellis is 9 feet tall and 4 feet wide and they have gone up to the side and over and have reached the other side already. i will get some pics since i got some haters. it has some small cones forming but my other ones are sucking bad.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I'm in Southern Indiana and my hops are 6' now. They are 2nd year. My first year, Zeus, Mt. Hood, and Northern Brewer are all about a foot. My zomes from Freshops are the best I have bought. They were huge when I received them this spring. I planted them the first week of April. Would recommend them. I bought last year from hopsdirect and they were also very good. Bought a few from northern brewer and were not much. Look forward to getting some cones.