Growing Hops in planters

[Alaskan_Brewer]

cram,

thanks for the suggestions. I ended up getting a second whisky barrel instead of the horse trough - figured the roots might tangle with two plants in the same container. When I pulled my hops up they didn't seem root bound, so I'm pretty sure my problem was watering/ fertalizing. the planters live in a spot in the lawn which is south facing, and gets pretty much all day direct sunlight. Last year they were going gangbusters during the spring, then petered out in the summer. I always forget to water, though - you figure living in Seattle you'd get enough rain, but it was dry June - August. My lawn also looked like garbage - I'm a bad gardener.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

cram,

thanks for the suggestions. I ended up getting a second whisky barrel instead of the horse trough - figured the roots might tangle with two plants in the same container. When I pulled my hops up they didn't seem root bound, so I'm pretty sure my problem was watering/ fertalizing. the planters live in a spot in the lawn which is south facing, and gets pretty much all day direct sunlight. Last year they were going gangbusters during the spring, then petered out in the summer. I always forget to water, though - you figure living in Seattle you'd get enough rain, but it was dry June - August. My lawn also looked like garbage - I'm a bad gardener.

Just buy one of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004INGS8S/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

And a short bit of drip hose from your hardware store and call it good, even the most incompetent person can keep up with watering

 

[cram]

+1 on FuzzeWuzzee's suggestion--those are the exact watering timers I use. The Orbit ones have given me no problems over several years of use. They even make a model with two ports you can program separately and a lever where you can bypass to still use the hose. They are awesome if you have a hose bib nearby. Hand watering takes up a tremendous amount of time and commitment, especially if you live in an are that gets no rain...

 

[Alaskan_Brewer]

no good... my hose is hooked up to one of these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000071NUS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I really appreciate the idea, but in addition to an aspiring brewer and gardener, I am also a foot soldier in the land war with the raccoons. I'll figure it out. I think I'm better at gardening than I am at getting rid of vermin.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

no good... my hose is hooked up to one of these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000071NUS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I really appreciate the idea, but in addition to an aspiring brewer and gardener, I am also a foot soldier in the land war with the raccoons. I'll figure it out. I think I'm better at gardening than I am at getting rid of vermin.

Why not both? You can get a Y splitter at Home depot for a dollar or two. Just turn the water on and when your racoon deterrent kicks in it can do its thing but the Orbit controller can still turn on the drip hose when it needs.

 

[aaronthechamp]

I planted Chinook and Saaz crowns in planters for the first time this year. I believe they are 18'' planters, which are smaller than recommend but haven't had a problem thus far.

While the chinook is still growing as a good hop plant should, the saaz actually bloomed quite early and I have quite a number of ripe hop cones right now. I've picked much of the papery onces and dried them out but I don't think the lupulin production on them has been very good. They don't smell like the whole cone saaz I can get at my local homebrew store, and mostly just give off a tea-like aroma. Anyone have any experience with this? Is this due to the early harvest of them? Or could it be due to my the size of the planters? I'm hoping that the chinooks work out a bit better, but want to know if there's more I can do.

You can see the development of my hops at the following:

www.caskalela.com/category/grow-hop/

(Also, this is my first post.)

 

[user 337943]

Has anybody tried growing hops in a planter? I am interested in starting some rhizomes this way, and maybe leaving them permanently in large pots. Is this futile?

I have approval from SWMBO to rip out the shrubs in front lawn and plant hops there.

PROST!

Kuddos on the german salutation