Soil Volume For A Hop Plant?

[FuzzeWuzze]

So, new house has a giant above ground planter box (22'L x 2'W x 3.5'H) on a cement slab that i am rebuilding because it was rotting and they couldnt tell me which variety the existing hop plants were.

Im wondering though if i really need to make it as tall (3.5') as they had it for planting hops.

Each part of the planter box would be segmented into a 60"L x 24"W x 38"H area in an attempt to keep the plants separate as its 4 different varieties.

Doing some math with google sketchup it comes out to about 30 cubic feet of dirt per 'area', and im wondering if I could get away with cutting the height in half and to give each area 15 cubic feet of dirt. Seems to me like that would still be a ton, possibly more than most plants would need and certainly much larger than any pot or other container...

 

[Build]

Hops can get an amazing root system, roots can grow 10-15 feet deep, and spread. They'll do fine in containers too, but bigger the better. You can get by with halving them, but you may lose some height and cones. Is there a way you can build a raised box on the ground?

 

[Robx]

Hi Fuzze - I think it depends on how you'll water and fertilize the plants and how well the soil drains. If the soil does not drain well and you will be watering infrequently - more soil is better. If you will be watering and fertilizing frequently (multiple times a day through irrigation) then a smaller dirt volume can actually be preferable. You can also start small with some fabric raised beds http://www.gardeners.com/buy/big-bag-bed-raised-garden/8589739.html then expand based on your need. These raised beds drain very well if you're going with the frequent watering method.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPDaiNLloZY[/ame] good video