Texas Hop Garden

[EdWort]

yeah it's worthwhile. I'm working on the hop garden this weekend as a matter of fact. Gonna see how the rhizomes survived our mild winter.

Update this afternoon:

Cleaned out the old vines, snipped them to the ground, took care of the weeds around the raised bed, and spread a thin layer of aged horse manure on top. I noticed buds from two rhizomes peeking out already.

I re-did the lower horizontal line with wire this year and retired the existing hop twines and hooked up the soaker hose to the timer on the faucet.

BEE CAVE BREWERY HOP GARDEN IS BACK ONLINE!

 

[runhard]

I'm just south of Austin and my rhizomes arrived yesterday. I'll prepare the beds today and follow Ed's example of a timer and drip irrigation. Chris Colby of BYO said to throw out anything you've seen about growing hops because it just won't apply to Central Texas. Ed appears to have had good success even though he didn't harvest last year so based on Ed's experience I think we all should be able to do OK. I did read someones comment on another forum that Texas light conditions aren't appropriate and that we won't get cones but after seeing Edwort's bines along with what Chris Colby has accomplished in Bastrop, TX I think the individual was mistaken or I misunderstood his comment. I do wonder if the water from the drip irrigation will be too alkaline as the tap water here is a little over pH of 9.0. I might drench the rhizomes with a mild vinegar solution once a week. Actually, I'll drench 1/2 of the rhizomes with slightly acidic water once a week and the rest I'll leave to only the alkaline drip; could be a cool little experiment.

 

[EdWort]

My irrigation is well water, so I need to test it to see what PH level it is. It is pretty hard water though.

Good luck with your hop Jeffrey!

 

[uuurang]

I feel the need to revive this thread...

Great stuff. Enjoyed reading about this last year. Was going to revive it but you beat me to it, Soperbrew. Good Idea.

 

[quickerNu]

I'm gonna jump into this, too. I live about an hour North of Austin in Harker Heights. I was going to plant some vines to shade the Southwest side of my house. Figure I might as well try hops. I have very rocky soil, and will build raised beds. I do have an agronomy degree, but most of that was focused on turfgrasses! I will order some rhizomes this week. I am going to do a bit more research on varieties. Any suggestions would be welcome!

 

[blacklab]

Ed, did you ever build the brewhouse you reference in the OP? I'd love to see some pics of it, if you've broken ground yet.

 

[EdWort]

Ed, did you ever build the brewhouse you reference in the OP? I'd love to see some pics of it, if you've broken ground yet.

Not yet. I'm still working on plans. I will have a brew hut raising party (kinda like an Amish Barn Raising) with BBQ and Brew (brew after the important work) some time next month I hope.

 

[AnonyBrew]

Update on mine.....Fuggle & Nugget are sprouting right now....5 more varieties still in dirt.

 

[EdWort]

2008 Crop are up and at'em. It's hard to see, but all 6 are peeking out. After this season, I will add a 4th leg to my trellis system and transplant the two Centennial and rearrange the 4 Cascade to 4 quadrants.

 

[AnonyBrew]

All of mine have now sprouted. Question for you guys: What do you anchor the hop twine to the ground with? Simple tent stakes?

 

[AnonyBrew]

Finally got some pics posted online at Picasa.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Soperbrew/SoperbrewHops4708

Can anyone tell me why my Perle has much lighter leaf color than the others? It almost looks overwatered or something. All my plants get the same attention.

 

[UselessBrewing]

EdWort
I did not know you were so close.

Stay indoors this weekend! There will be 20K Bicyclers invading Austin this weekend. Me included!

 

[EdWort]

EdWort
I did not know you were so close.

Stay indoors this weekend! There will be 20K Bicyclers invading Austin this weekend. Me included!

Thanks for the warning. We'll stay at the Ranch this weekend. I have 2 Magnum and 2 Chinook rhizomes that I will start in large pots this year till I get around to building another hop area.

 

[AnonyBrew]

Soperbrew Hops update.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Soperbrew/SoperbrewHops41308

 

[98EXL]

^^ wow that's a neat setup you have there, I really like it a bunch, does wonders for my ADD

 

[runhard]

I'm a little confused with my hops bines at the moment. All but 1 shot out of the ground and grew very rapidly. They reached about 4 feet tall and now seem to have slowed considerably. I'm testing the soil moisture with a hygrometer and I try to maintain the same level of moisture as when the bines were growing so quickly. I paid over $45/yard for the soil I planted them in and now I'm wondering if I should add some compost tea, seaweed, or some sort of organic fertilizer? I don't notice any disease on the plant and so far no bugs. This is my first year attempting to grow hops so maybe this is normal? Maybe I'm impatient. If anyone has any tips for feeding hops with an organic approach please let me know what regime I might look at. Thanks, Jeffrey
Buda, TX

 

[AnonyBrew]

My guess is their energy is being redirected to grow the roots. As long as you don't notice anything else wrong I wouldn't worry about it. Did you change the watering schedule?

I'm in Pflugerville (thanks for the fermentation chiller btw), and planted 8 different hop rhizomes myself this year.

 

[runhard]

My guess is their energy is being redirected to grow the roots. As long as you don't notice anything else wrong I wouldn't worry about it. Did you change the watering schedule?

I'm in Pflugerville (thanks for the fermentation chiller btw), and planted 8 different hop rhizomes myself this year.

Glad to hear that you'll get some use out of the chiller. I have changed the water schedule. I did so with the thought that I should monitor the soil moisture. You have a good point about the energy and the roots. I hadn't thought about that. The soil I bought from The Natural Gardener in Beecaves was so rich that I couldn't believe that I'd need to add a fertilizer this early.
I've got Crystal, Mt. Hood. Centennial, and Sterling. I wanted some Vanguard but wasn't able to get any this year. I'll see how the varietals perform when we get good and hot here in Central Texas.
Jeffrey

 

[AnonyBrew]

Latest hops update for Texas: http://picasaweb.google.com/Soperbrew/SoperbrewHops5708

 

[quickerNu]

My cascade fianlly broke ground yesterday after almost a month in the soil. Centinnial and nugget are 3' or more and growing 4" + a day, and shooting up new sprouts almost every day. Looks like we have 95+ weather coming this weekend- test #1 for Texas hops!

 

[AnonyBrew]

Soperbrew hops update.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Soperbrew/SoperbrewHops52308

 

[98EXL]

Ed, I know you have been busy with the BrewHaus....but what about your Hops? Please tell me you have not forgotten them!

 

[Mike76]

It appears that my friends and I are not alone in growing hops (attempting at least) in Central Texas. I'm looking forward to the update of other hop growers!

 

[quickerNu]

10' isn't enough, even for a first year plant 10 weeks in the ground!

Cones maybe....?

 

[jas0420]

Count me in for the Central Texas Hop Gang. I was happy to find cones on all 5 of my plants a few days ago. All are first-year. I wasn't really expecting much, but they all seem to be pretty thick with cones! I don't know what a "good crop" looks like, but I'm happy none-the-less.

I had in the back of my mind that I'd be harvesting in October, but I'm thinking now that may not apply down south. Any idea when to expect the plants to be ready? I'm out of town for a couple of weeks in late July/August, so I'm sure that will wind up being the time...

 

[EdWort]

Mine are sucking wind in this blazing heat this year. It's disappointing. I think I need to redo my hop garden with fresh soil or something. It's nothing like last year.

 

[jas0420]

Bummer, Ed... They're probably jealous of all the time you've been spending with the hut.

It's definitely been toasty and dry this year. Yesterday was our first rain in I can't remember how long...

 

[EdWort]

My wife's garden is cranking out tomatoes left and right after I intalled a solar screen above them. It even helped them survive a hail storm which did not help my hops one bit.

 

[quickerNu]

Mine are sucking wind in this blazing heat this year. It's disappointing. I think I need to redo my hop garden with fresh soil or something. It's nothing like last year.

Sounds like it's time to work some more cow poo into the soil! Maybe not as much fun as putting the finishing touches on the Brew Hut....

 

[Brewiz]

I will be harvesting some of mine this weekend for a "Fresh Hopped Ale" !!!!

 

[hopboy]

Growing hops in the Hill Country...will wonders ever cease!

Ya'll need to come up and visit in the cool 90 degrees with 9% humidity weather in Colorado.

Hopboy

 

[quickerNu]

1st year Cascades in Central Texas!

 

[yesiamray]

Have you had any luck growing your hops? I live near New Braunfels and would love to be able to grow hops but fear it is too hot and the days are too short during the spring. https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/images/smilies/occasion14.gif

 

[EdWort]

This year has been a complete disaster with the endless heat with no rain, plus my well pump went belly up.

I'm revamping next year to integrate solar screens.

 

[quickerNu]

My cascades are doing great, centinnial are okay, but my nugget can't take the west sun. The eastern facing bines are doing well, but over the last 3 weeks the western front has been absolutely smoked.

 

[EdWort]

Yep, I'm going to have to move my hop garden if I want them to produce next year.

 

[Seabee John]

Yep, I'm going to have to move my hop garden if I want them to produce next year.

All my hops are doing well for their first year... My nuggets are fully loaded with fuggles stuffed full of cones. My Goldings and Cascade were planted later but are well established. However, I too am moving my hops for next year. I've got the ok from the SWMBO to remove some of the landscaping to expand. I'll have cascades covering the south side of the garage (four plants) nugget covering the east side of the garage (four plants) and fuggles & goldings where they are now (3 plants each) Here's to greening up the place!!!

 

[professorbrother]

Those of us in central Texas are under a serious drought, but I was curious if anyone was actually successful in their hop growing this season?

Also, what do you plan on doing differently next year? Full sun or just early to mid-day sun? etc....

 

[quickerNu]

I got about 8 oz dried cascades, 1 oz centinnial, and no nugget. All first year plants. They all took full sun from about noon- sunset. The nugget was potted, but even with tons of water, seemed to be more sensitive to the heat. Not sure if it was the soil temps fluctuating (25 gallon pot, shouldnt be that severe) or the heat just damaging the leaves.

The cascades plant was grown up ropes on a teepee, the other 2 on trellis. I also had more manure in the cascades bed (about 50/50 topsoil/moocow). Next year everything will be on a teepe and have more manure! I'll either put nugget in the ground or send it to somebody further north!

 

[Brewme]

Ed,
You mentioned that you grew hops in UT. I am in Salt Lake and I plan on planning next Spring. Will hops do okay with a south western exposure or will they get too hot do you think?

Also, I am planning on stringing a wire across two trees that are about 40 ft apart from each other, that I will be able to lower. Do you see any issues with that kind of set up? Thanks for the help!