Commissioned a Farm to Grow Mine

[Couevas]

As the title suggests, I don't even have to grow my private crop of Cascades this year. I now live in a tiny apartment in Seattle and have no place to grow. My mom, on the other hand, has 40 acres in the redwoods of Northern California. Her and her fiance have always enjoyed my brew, and now they want to grow me some hops I haven't heard how much land (and how many rhizomes) she is going to devote to me yet, but I will soon.

I am stoked :rockin:

 

[Displaced MassHole]

Freaken sweet! I just planted my first rhizome yesterday, cant wait to see how it turns out.

 

[The Pol]

As the title suggests, I don't even have to grow my private crop of Cascades this year. I now live in a tiny apartment in Seattle and have no place to grow. My mom, on the other hand, has 40 acres in the redwoods of Northern California. Her and her fiance have always enjoyed my brew, and now they want to grow me some hops I haven't heard how much land (and how many rhizomes) she is going to devote to me yet, but I will soon.

I am stoked :rockin:

Sweet you are going to be brewing with your own hops in a couple years!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Edit: Misread, thought you were starting your own farm. Doh!

 

[Schlenkerla]

That is cool! - It doesn't take much to keep yourself in a supply of hops.

I usually use mine just for late additions or dry hopping. I use pellets for bittering.

If you have a glut of hops then it won't matter. A few well established plants will keep you in stock for the year. Unless you always use the same hops all the time or constantly brew one recipe with them.

I have cascade & nugget, I use these for a few special recipes. My next recipe slated for these will be a Sierra Nevada PA.

I have two plants right now and that's enough for me. I baby mine quite a bit. Come spring SWMBO thinks I love those two plants more than her.

 

[Couevas]

My original plan was to go with cascades alone. I love this hop and I have used it for bittering before as well as the traditional aroma/flavor.

However, now I am thinking I may want to have them grow a line or two of a nice high-yielding, high alpha hop for bittering....say a magnum?

What do you guys think about a plot of Magnums and Cascades?

 

[Schlenkerla]

I have nugget & cascade both are high yield hops. Nugget is a high alpha hop too.

I don't know about magnum's yield.

 

[claphamsa]

Im actually doing the same thing. I live in DC so no growing here... but my father has a farm in ohio... so ill head out there some time in the next 2 moths to plant!

 

[Couevas]

Edit: Misread, thought you were starting your own farm. Doh!

Well, it is starting to look that way.
Ok, maybe not, but I am going to have quite a substantial pile to deal with when these things get established.

We are going to run one long row, 60 feet long and about 15 feet tall. From this, we will be able to grow about 20 plants. This would yield, by year two or three, anywhere from 10 to 40 pounds of hops per year, depending on the mix. I may be looking at selling hops if anyone is interested. As much as I would like to, I can' brew 1600 gallons/year.

I haven't figured out what I will row yet, but I think a good amount of cascades and some magnums are a definite. Not sure though. I will have to give it some serious thought.

 

[Couevas]

Now I need help deciding which hops to grow.
We are growing 2 60 foot long rows at 18-20 feet tall. It was decided that there will be 4 varieties. I know I want Cascades. I was thinking magnums as a nice all-around bittering hop. What about the other two?

What do you guys think?

 

[TimBrewz]

Couevas, where is the property? I live in Portland, but my folks have acreage East of Redding, Ca in the foothills of Mt Lassen. I am planting the following this year on their property as a test plot, as I plan to expand in the next few years and use up to an acre of the land. A closely related crop grows very well in the area, so I am confident it is a great place to grow hops

I am trying:

Cascade, Zeus, Glacier, Mt.Hood, Goldings,Magnum and Sterling. My goal is to grow hops for every style of beer I like to brew, and those cover it for me...mostly (just wish I could get Simcoe and Amarillo rhizomes!)

I chose some for yield and others for disease resistance. Hopunion has a great PDF document online that tells all about every variety.

Good Luck!

Tim

 

[Couevas]

Couevas, where is the property? I live in Portland, but my folks have acreage East of Redding, Ca in the foothills of Mt Lassen. I am planting the following this year on their property as a test plot, as I plan to expand in the next few years and use up to an acre of the land. A closely related crop grows very well in the area, so I am confident it is a great place to grow hops
Tim

We have 40 acres outside of Laytonville, CA (Pop. ~500) in the Redwoods. It is on US 101 about 3.5 hours north of San Francisco.

 

[TimBrewz]

Cool, I know that area-beautiful.

happy farming!

 

[Schlenkerla]

I haven't figured out what I will row yet, but I think a good amount of cascades and some magnums are a definite. Not sure though. I will have to give it some serious thought.

Be advised that the hops need a little more care than water & fertilizer. You might need to spray them regularly to keep bugs away and prevent molds and other diseases.

Nuggets & Cascade are good tough hop plants. Other strains are very fickle.

I recommend taking it easy the first year. If its too much work with less than stellar results you'll loose interest in this. The 1st year requires the most effort.

If I were you I'd make this a gradual thing.

:fro:

 

[Couevas]

I recommend taking it easy the first year. If its too much work with less than stellar results you'll loose interest in this. The 1st year requires the most effort.

If I were you I'd make this a gradual thing.

Noted....and I appreciate the concern.
The idea started out as a fun favor to me to support my hobby. However, now, I think they might be taking it a little more seriously.

My parents are farmers and have experience growing these types of crops. The 40ish rhyzomes planted initially is "a gradual thing."

They have actually even had a discussion with a buyer from a brewery in Petaluma (no need to name them here).

 

[Schlenkerla]

Noted....and I appreciate the concern.
The idea started out as a fun favor to me to support my hobby. However, now, I think they might be taking it a little more seriously.

My parents are farmers and have experience growing these types of crops. The 40ish rhyzomes planted initially is "a gradual thing."

They have actually even had a discussion with a buyer from a brewery in Petaluma (no need to name them here).

OK - Great! I didn't know mom & dad were hop farmers.

A few of my friends grow hops and they haven't had very good results. I never saw them as being serious about activity itself.

Look forward to your pics. Would plant a few summit rhizomes for me???

 

[Couevas]

OK - Great! I didn't know mom & dad were hop farmers.

A few of my friends grow hops and they haven't had very good results. I never saw them as being serious about activity itself.

Look forward to your pics. Would plant a few summit rhizomes for me???

They aren't Hop Farmers, but they grew similar crops.

We are starting with a 10-10-10-10 split of Cascade, Mount Hood, Sterling, & Willamette.

Cascades for their obvious american prowess
Mount Hoods for their descedance from German nobles
Sterlings for their German/Belgian heritage
Willamettes for their descendance from British nobles

These 4 should be a great cross section for aroma/flavor additions in many styles. I decided to hold off on bittering-only hops for now so that we don't have to get into lab testing yet.

 

[Schlenkerla]

They aren't Hop Farmers, but they grew similar crops.

We are starting with a 10-10-10-10 split of Cascade, Mount Hood, Sterling, & Willamette.

Cascades for their obvious american prowess
Mount Hoods for their descedance from German nobles
Sterlings for their German/Belgian heritage
Willamettes for their descendance from British nobles

These 4 should be a great cross section for aroma/flavor additions in many styles. I decided to hold off on bittering-only hops for now so that we don't have to get into lab testing yet.

Sounds like a good selection. I know what you mean about not going with bittering hops. I use my nuggets at the mid range but use pellets at the 60 min addition. The nuggets still taste good on an all nugget beer.

 

[marley]

Sounds a lot like what I am doing.

Good Luck!

 

[Ragutis]

They aren't Hop Farmers, but they grew similar crops.

Similar crops in N. California....hmmm..... What other crop is N. California known for?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Similar crops in N. California....hmmm..... What other crop is N. California known for?

What about beans? They grow on a rope

 

[Couevas]

The growing of grapes is actually very similar to hops......

 

[frolickingmonkey]

I think it shares a name with some little town just off the I-5 near Mt. Shasta... I think it starts with a "W" ? Gosh, I just can't seem to remember! :cross:

 

[Schlenkerla]

The growing of grapes is actually very similar to hops......

Duhhhh! Completely spaced on that one!!! :cross:

 

[Grahambo]

Last year I planted rhizomes at my sister's farm in western Maso, back up there soon to build a proper trellis. Hopefully this year through NESFI I will be able to grow a couple acres of barley for next years brews conveniently One of my friends owns a coffee roastry