Growing Hops Near Chicago

[TheBreweryUnderground]

FYI I've had no response from Northwest Hops but I'm looking into Greatlakes Hops, they don't do rhizomes but starters and crowns which are more reliable and don't require double planting to get more yield the first year. Also they are right across lake Michigan so it's not far for shipping and I appreciate supporting local growers.

Thanks for the info everybody, here's some I've collected for reference:

-marigolds are great to surround your hops as it protects from the things trying eat them, human hair also works really well as animals will detect the scent and be scared off
-nitrogen is good for green leafy growth (first part of the season) so using nitrogen fixing cover crops like beans are great as well as my preferred method of liquid gold, how else are you goin to get that piss flavor from your hops?
-phosphorus is what you need for cone growth at the end of the season if anyone has any natural suggestions for this I'd love to hear it
-build mounds for your hops to get good drainage and cover them to prevent evaporation and freezing in the dormant winter months
-there's lots of guides on hop websites about everything related to growing
-pruned hop bines can be put into salads

I'm thinking about taking a larger dive than expected into this after being inspired by the Michigan Hop Alliance, I'd definitely like to see more in the Chicago area.

 

[TyTanium]

Good info, thanks. I've heard really good things about Great Lakes Hops - sold on eBay, right?

I'm very excited for this hop growing season. Time to start building my lattice!

As for phosphorus, one of the more readily available sources is bone meal, but I don't like buying stuff. Most compost has more than enough phosphorus (especially if you're composting your spent grain!)

 

[cyclogenesis]

I got mine from Midwest Supplies
Hop Rhizomes - Hops - Brewing Ingredients

 

[Randar]

FYI I've had no response from Northwest Hops but I'm looking into Greatlakes Hops, they don't do rhizomes but starters and crowns which are more reliable and don't require double planting to get more yield the first year. Also they are right across lake Michigan so it's not far for shipping and I appreciate supporting local growers.

"starts" may be more reliable in "surviving" transplant, but they have less stored energy and growth potential in their first year and I believe they will take longer to form a full-on crown (although I don't have direct experience with starts, only going from my understanding of it and the fact that commercial operations plant rhizomes and not starts)

Thanks for the info everybody, here's some I've collected for reference:

-marigolds are great to surround your hops as it protects from the things trying eat them, human hair also works really well as animals will detect the scent and be scared off
-nitrogen is good for green leafy growth (first part of the season) so using nitrogen fixing cover crops like beans are great as well as my preferred method of liquid gold, how else are you goin to get that piss flavor from your hops?
-phosphorus is what you need for cone growth at the end of the season if anyone has any natural suggestions for this I'd love to hear it
-build mounds for your hops to get good drainage and cover them to prevent evaporation and freezing in the dormant winter months
-there's lots of guides on hop websites about everything related to growing
-pruned hop bines can be put into salads

If you want companion planting and beneficial insect information, fattymatty and I compiled the following google docs spreadsheet (he used it to help plan his hopyard, IIRC):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aitc3OdxDO-WcHBCTExuaVBqTTZKc1l3TnJlTmhZVXc

 

[Randar]

As for phosphorus, one of the more readily available sources is bone meal, but I don't like buying stuff. Most compost has more than enough phosphorus (especially if you're composting your spent grain!)

Hop requirements for phosphorous are really not a consideration if you have anything but the most barren soil... Nitrogen and potassium are the critical factors dealing with growth and cone production, respectively.

This is a link I keep at the ready for this forum:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/fg/fg79-e.pdf

 

[TyTanium]

Hop requirements for phosphorous are really not a consideration if you have anything but the most barren soil... Nitrogen and potassium are the critical factors dealing with growth and cone production, respectively.

This is a link I keep at the ready for this forum:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/fg/fg79-e.pdf

Cool, thanks. Great info. I tend to not add anything to my soil other than leaf mold & compost. 1) it's free and 2) I don't know what I'm doing, so better leave it up to nature. Good to hear that should be sufficient.

 

[Randar]

Cool, thanks. Great info. I tend to not add anything to my soil other than leaf mold & compost. 1) it's free and 2) I don't know what I'm doing, so better leave it up to nature. Good to hear that should be sufficient.

Unless the builder in your area scraped and sold off the top soil, generally our dense black soil is naturally high in all of N, P, and K. You just need gentle feedings of slow release nitrogen and if you are really anal some potassium shortly before the plant sets flowers.

But, some top-dressing in the spring and once in mid-summer is all you REALLY need around here.

 

[TyTanium]

Haha...we have great soil...cherry tomatoes grew like grapes last summer! No production from my 1st year rhizomes last year, but hoping for some this year. Thanks for all the great info.

 

[Jagdad]

Quote -starts" may be more reliable in "surviving" transplant, but they have less stored energy and growth potential in their first year and I believe they will take longer to form a full-on crown (although I don't have direct experience with starts, only going from my understanding of it and the fact that commercial operations plant rhizomes and not starts)

That's just not accurate- of the nine largest growers & Co-ops in Michigan; ALL are planting hop plants -not rhizomes. I am quite sure of this because I am their grower/supplier. Their plants are growing as we speak and will produce a crop first year. (The experienced growers seem to have had their fill of planting diseased rhizomes dug from old hop yards.) The guys out west DO use rhizomes- usually because they already have acres of their own hops to propagate from. They can afford to put up to 5 rhizomes in a hill to get one good plant.
Just to help clarify, Great Lakes Hops produces 3 different size grades - "starts" (4-6week), "field grades" (10-20 week) and "crowns" (a plant that has already produced cones) The biggest difference between GLH plants and rhizomes is that the hop plants are certified and virus indexed - rhizomes are not. It is critical to commercial growers to start "clean" to get maximum yields- which is the difference between making or losing money. You can find Great Lakes Hops site and check it out for yourself . . . Brew on!

 

[AnimalHouseBrewery]

Resurrecting as I recently moved to the Chicago area from South Carolina, where growing hops is nearly impossible. Wandering if anything has changed in 2 years with growing hops in the area.

I have a plan for my trellis, about 15' tall, and a spot picked in my yard which gets about 6 hrs of sun spring to summer and faces west.

Planning on growing Cascade, Mt Hood, Centennial, and Nugget; 2 mounds each. Any suggestions would be great, or if anyone is growing these in there area already and would like to share some cuttings, I would much appreciate the help.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Resurrecting as I recently moved to the Chicago area from South Carolina, where growing hops is nearly impossible. Wandering if anything has changed in 2 years with growing hops in the area.

I have a plan for my trellis, about 15' tall, and a spot picked in my yard which gets about 6 hrs of sun spring to summer and faces west.

Planning on growing Cascade, Mt Hood, Centennial, and Nugget; 2 mounds each. Any suggestions would be great, or if anyone is growing these in there area already and would like to share some cuttings, I would much appreciate the help.

Thats a lot of space requirements, you should keep a 5 foot gap between plants at a minimum , can maybe be a bit smaller if you plant the same variety next to eachother...but separate varieties should be kept way apart...i'd say if your planting that many you'll need probably 30 feet of space minimum, 40 would be better.

 

[JPFuller]

I live in Chicago, and last year got two crowns each of Santiam, Mt Hood and Centennial from Great Lakes.

Created a slightly raised bed and combined my soil with a combination of potting soil/garden soil/peat moss, digging holes about 18" in the bed and filling with the same mix-if you don't know already, we have heavy clay soil here underlaying the top soil, and hops aren't crazy about getting their feet wet.

Planted the crowns in an area of the yard that gets between 6-8 hours of sunlight depending on the month, which is a bit less than ideal and amended the soil twice during the summer with fertilizer.

Upshot? Centennial did the best, growing to a height of 23-25 feet by the end of summer, (outgrew my trellis) and left me with a very nice first years crop. Good luck to you this summer

 

[AnimalHouseBrewery]

Thanks for the info JP, a few followup questions.

When did you put them out?
Do you have any pictures of your trellis/mound setup?
What type of fertilizer did you use?

 

[JPFuller]

At work so I have no photos but as far as when I planted them if you were here you might remember we had some unseasonably warm weather in March. Put them in the ground and then some cold weather came back and I thought they would die. They didn't, although I have no way of saying if rhizomes would have been as tough.

My trellis is two 10 foot lengths of 3/4 pipe with about 30 inches sunk into quickcrete. So may 17 and half foot tall. At the top of the posts I have a tee fitting which I suspended my horizontal lines from, and from these the vertical lines were tied up to give the bines something to climb.

I read and reread this forum a bunch of times and what I did (which seemed to work) was to NOT overwater the crowns, expecially in the beginning when they have a lot less demand, and for fertilizer I used a judicious amount of a higher nitrogen type.

There are many good gardeners on here that could be much more specific, but basically, I let nature take its course and could not have been happier. I bet you will do fine also.

 

[AnimalHouseBrewery]

Anyone in the NW Chicago suburbs planning to do some pruning and willing to share some rhizomes?