What grows in Michigan?

[sablesurfer]

I am really liking my start in the hobby of growing my own hops and I am starting to figure that into my future running away from the rat race plans.

Michigan is on the list of places that look interesting, but I am wondering how hops do up there. Is Yooper really a yooper? Some pretty places up that end of the world and a lake to fish in...

Can I keep my cascades, centennials, magnums, and columbus all happy up there at all?

 

[sablesurfer]

HAHAHA....#5. Hey, it's got turpenes in it and somewhat related plant.

http://norml.org/legal/item/michigan-top-10-cash-crops

 

[Spartan300man]

http://www.hopheadfarms.com/

 

[Spartan300man]

The cherry festival up in the Traverse City area is worth a visit.

 

[Leithoa]

This old growing manual says hops grow best around 35 degrees north. The actual requirements are 120 frost free days and 15 hours of sunlight. You can use this daylight calculator made by the navy to get a better idea of what to expect, but it will depend greatly on your specific lot. As an example, Cheboygan gets +14 hours of sunlight May- early August (~100 days)

I know there are some big hop yards in Wisconsin, so most of Michigan should be fine. Centennial, Cascade, and Columbus are mid-season harvests so they'll probably do better than magnum. But Magnum is an old world rather than PNW hop so it might* handle the cold better. Pick a county and call their Ag Extension, they should be more than happy to give you better info.

*A quick and dirty squint at their annual temperatures show pretty similar trends, summer lows are higher in Cheboygan than Hull (where Magnum comes from)

 

[Yooper]

I grow centennial, chinook, cascade, hallertauer, northern brewer, CTZ, and goldings. They all do very well. Twice I've tried willamette, and it will NOT grow here. My friend who gave me the rhizomes said willamette grows well for him (near Chicago) but that is about 300 miles south of me.

I'm assuming that most of Michigan has great growing conditions for hops- it's a booming business here in Michigan downstate and they all seem to be doing quite well from what I can tell. We're in zone 3, but I think most of Michigan is more like zone 5.

We have maybe 100 frost-free days in the summer, if we're lucky. The hops do fine, even poking up through the snow a bit in the spring.

 

[JB_Brewing2]

HAHAHA....#5. Hey, it's got turpenes in it and somewhat related plant.

http://norml.org/legal/item/michigan-top-10-cash-crops

It's very related. Both Humulus (hops) and Cannabis belong to the same family, Canabaceaae.

 

[Yooper]

Gratuitous photo of our lake, taken last weekend:


And, two from this past spring:



It's great. I love living in a county where there are less than 10,000 people, and one red light in the whole county. And the red light is only "on" on weekdays. But it's not for everyone! It's cold in the winter. And it snows. A lot.

 

[sablesurfer]

Gratuitous photo of our lake, taken last weekend:

Oh yeah...

It's great. I love living in a county where there are less than 10,000 people, and one red light in the whole county. And the red light is only "on" on weekdays. But it's not for everyone! It's cold in the winter. And it snows. A lot.

I'm pretty much viking being mostly Manx and Irish on mom's side, part German on dad's side. Dad's family was Arcadian and started out way up in Canada before being kicked out by the English.

Lived in Florida for about five years, that is a miserably hot place... I could do with some nice clean snow and that silence...that blissful silence when it is falling past a lamp in the early morning or late night.....

 

[Yooper]

If/When you get to the UP, let me know. We will always have a place for you!

 

[GVH_Dan]

Can I keep my cascades, centennials, magnums, and columbus all happy up there at all?

Michigan is at the right latitude and has a good climate for growing hops. I'm farming over in Wisconsin and what will kill us is extreme heat in the summer that they don't have. They're trouble is downey mildew and possible hop aphids from all the fruit trees.

That said, your varieties and many others will grow, especially the 3 C's. I should also mention that small climatic variations will have big effects. We often harvest 2 weeks before another grower who is only a mile away because of the difference in his valley vs. ours.

As Yooper said, there are a lot...A LOT...of hop farms starting up in the lower P. There are also a lot of breweries there.

Honestly, if I were you I would get some land, throw a few plants in the ground to experiment with what works well on your land, do some reading, volunteer at the other hop farms, learn the ins-and-outs but most importantly you should WAIT. Wait about 2 years. I've been doing this since 2005 and we've seen hop farms rise and fall twice. This time, the number of farms going in is insanely high (especially MI), which tells me they will fall hard.

In about 2 years, the market will sort it out and you will be able to buy your picking equipment much cheaper. You'll also see who is surviving and see what they are doing. It will also give you time to develop contacts with brewers, which you will need when its time to sell your hops.

 

[steveoatley]

I had great success with Hallertau in Oak Park, Mi - just out side Detroit.

I had no success with Saaz

my 2 cents.

S

 

[Dfitz]

I'm in S. Mi.' on the Indiana border. A few days ago I planted 4 field plants' cascade, liberty, magnum and saaz. I look forward to next spring and hope to root another vine of each plant if possible and maybe double up my garden. First we'll see how these plants fair.

 

[sablesurfer]

- They're trouble is downey mildew and possible hop aphids from all the fruit trees.
- That said, your varieties and many others will grow, especially the 3 C's.
- We often harvest 2 weeks before another grower who is only a mile away because of the difference in his valley vs. ours.
- There are also a lot of breweries there.
- In about 2 years, the market will sort it out and you will be able to buy your picking equipment much cheaper.

Best helpful internet reply EVER. Thank you so much. I would grow mostly for my own use to see. Then maybe expand to do a 'self pick' kinda think like orchards and pumpkin patches do. Not sure I'd go full time, but definitely considered volunteering/seasonal at a hop farm in MI.

 

[sablesurfer]

I'm in S. Mi.' on the Indiana border. A few days ago I planted 4 field plants' cascade, liberty, magnum and saaz. I look forward to next spring and hope to root another vine of each plant if possible and maybe double up my garden. First we'll see how these plants fair.

Here's how I expanded my crop. The first cuttings in the spring seemed to root very quickly and easily into some water and root stimulator. I made a couple cuttings expecting most to die, but by the time they had all rooted I had to post to the home brew club I had two of each bine ready for someone to take.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Best helpful internet reply EVER. Thank you so much. I would grow mostly for my own use to see. Then maybe expand to do a 'self pick' kinda think like orchards and pumpkin patches do. Not sure I'd go full time, but definitely considered volunteering/seasonal at a hop farm in MI.

A true "self-pick" wouldn't (hasn't yet) work because of the very limited window. You would have to do massive advertising blitzs to get people interested and to get them to come out several times as varieties have different peak times.

Now linking up with a local homebrew club would probably be worth your time. Get with the group and tell them you want experience growing hops before you get into it...you'll grow up to 5 or 6 varieties they want (depending on plant material)...you will take care of growing them...they are on the hook to show up for several different picking events...you'll dry them, unless they want them wet...you/they will be responsible for splitting them up, packaging, etc.

On this, you make no money. Only grow 5 plants of each variety to keep it at 30 plants or less. Tell them you want honest feedback from them and maybe some help weeding, etc.

So for a little bit of work, they get free hops to use as they please.

What you get is a dedicated group of beer geeks ready to tell the world of how your hop yard...that THEY helped build...has progressed. They will see improvement. First year plants don't taste the best and don't produce. So they will see as the years go by how much bigger and better your product is. Now when you are ready to go commercial, they will be sitting in brewpubs around your area telling the brewmasters how awesome sablesurfer hops are and why they need to use them. When a regular barfly/beer geek makes a request of a brewer, they will listen.

So in three years, here's where you sit:

• You understand how they grow and have an idea of how much work it is
• You know which varieties will succeed
• The third crash should have occured so you can pick up affordable picking equipment
• you have a dedicated group of FREE salesmen out pushing your product
• You probably have been drinking all the free homebrew you want as these guys want you to try out the results
• You've had 3 years to save the cash you need for start up costs

Dang, I wish I had thought of this plan a decade ago