Hop Growing in Las Vegas

[NoisufnoC]

Is it worth the effort? We've got a pretty big yard with areas of full sun, partial sun, and shade. The temps in my area can get up to the 110's over the summer, and flirt with freezing in the winter. I also have a drip system installed in my back yard, but it waters desert plants once or twice a week.

Can it be done?

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I don't see why not. Sonds like our weather but more on the hot side than me.

 

[desertbronze]

I grow hops in SW Idaho - high desert climate. Hot days, cool nights and no rain in the summer. You should be fine - a lot of American hops seem to thrive in the heat. Your drip system will work fine for watering. The leaves will start to curl or wilt if the plant is lacking for water. Freezing is not an issue - the plants get a chance to rest and recharge in the winter. I say "Go for it".

 

[NoisufnoC]

how bad of an idea is it to order rhizomes tonight, to be planed in a week or so?

 

[NoisufnoC]

i think i'm going to give it a shot and order...whats the worst that could happen? they dont make it and i continue brewing with pellets?

 

[Stratotankard]

I planted this late last year in Arkansas. Didn't get much harvest... only 5 cones from 6 plants, but I wasn't really expecting any. They look really nice this year though. Except for my hermaphrodite plant that decided to become a male last year after I didn't get them watered while on vacation. It'll be cut down this year if it doesn't switch back.

Terje

 

[QueenCityALER]

I grow hops in SW Idaho - high desert climate. Hot days, cool nights and no rain in the summer. You should be fine - a lot of American hops seem to thrive in the heat. Your drip system will work fine for watering. The leaves will start to curl or wilt if the plant is lacking for water. Freezing is not an issue - the plants get a chance to rest and recharge in the winter. I say "Go for it".

+1 Go for it!!! Hops are sun-loving vines anyway. Just keep them watered and you should have good results.

 

[NoisufnoC]

sounds good. what variety of hops would you guys recommend?

 

[JarrodH]

sounds good. what kinds of hops would you guys recommend?

Try the kind of hops you like. Here in San Diego it gets up in the 105-115 range during the summer and my hops did ok. You just want to make sure when its getting that hot that you are giving the hops plenty of water.

 

[NoisufnoC]

cool, i wasn't sure if a particular variety would grow better than another in my climate.

 

[desertbronze]

how bad of an idea is it to order rhizomes tonight, to be planed in a week or so?

Go for it. Hops need about 120 days to grow to maturity. I just clipped back the shoots on some second and third year plants yesterday, and they will have plenty of time to recuperate and grow to maturity - and I'm 500 miles north of you. Your hops should be fine with your long growing season.

 

[NoisufnoC]

well i went and bought my barrels, i got 2 21" for $15/each.

I called Freshops today and they said my order would ship tomorrow. I've been keeping an eye on this one corner of my yard today, sun in the AM but then shade from noon on. I think that'll be a good spot to get them started, and then move to a more sunny area after established. thoughts?

 

[mad_legend]

Let me know and I'll do it too! Oh, wait.. How tall do these things get? In the Sam Adams commercial I think I will be in perpetual shade at that height!

 

[ChadS99SVT]

wow I was actually thinking of giving this a shot too.....

had the same questions about them growing in vegas haha.

post a pic of your setup when you get a chance:rockin:

 

[NoisufnoC]

star has the barrels on sale 50% off

 

[NoisufnoC]

btw, i ordered Cascade and Nugget rhizomes

 

[desertbronze]

btw, i ordered Cascade and Nugget rhizomes

Good choices for your first foray into growing hops. Both are very vigorous and reportedly grow well for lots of folks, including me.

 

[Casey27]

Sounds like you will be able to keep them from overheating with proper placement...but once they really get going the vines may grow where they want to. The hop producing center of the US is eastern WA where temps are very hot in day and cool at night. Just check out the climate data for Yakima or someplace like that and compare them to your climate.

My hops were OK their first year, yielding a few oz. But this year they are about 10 to 20 times larger than they were last year at this same time. Now if I can just keep the aphids away...

 

[ChadS99SVT]

Sounds like you will be able to keep them from overheating with proper placement...but once they really get going the vines may grow where they want to. The hop producing center of the US is eastern WA where temps are very hot in day and cool at night. Just check out the climate data for Yakima or someplace like that and compare them to your climate.

My hops were OK their first year, yielding a few oz. But this year they are about 10 to 20 times larger than they were last year at this same time. Now if I can just keep the aphids away...

just took a look at weather comparison and Vegas is about 10-15degrees hotter on avg. and our lows are quite a bit higher during the summer months. we won't even make it to the 70's at night.

pretty close though.

 

[huntinweizen]

I started my hops garden a month ago. Cascade,glacier,east kent,mt. hood, and newport. The cascade and newport just planted last week. The glacier and east kent, are doing great at about two feet with only a single vine each. The Mt. hood took a week longer to show up and has 10 vines trying to grow. Its only about 9 inches at the longest, so i pinched off 4 of the smallest vines with hopes of the plant concentrating on the rest. Im going the 20" container with an 8 foot stake... Ill let you know how it goes....Heath

 

[NoisufnoC]

well they arrived today, if i have time i'll plant them tomorrow

 

[ChadS99SVT]

well they arrived today, if i have time i'll plant them tomorrow

cool...take some pics

 

[NoisufnoC]

i put mine in the barrels the other day.

quick pic

i'll add string once they start to grow. I wanted to put the stakes in first to avoid damage to the roots.

 

[NoisufnoC]

i had to move the stakes into the ground next to the pots today because they blew over last night. the potting soil isn't deep enough to really support the stakes.

 

[NoisufnoC]

well, my girlfriend noticed a tiny little green sprout in my cascade barrel yesterday.. i'm not sure if its the plant or a weed, but i guess it could be a good sign.

 

[ChadS99SVT]

any updates??

I am thinking of trying to get started..

 

[NoisufnoC]

all dead. fail.

 

[Whut]

I planted Cascade and Horizon in late March this year. I harvested about 1 ounce from the Cascade plant before they succumbed to the heat. However, before they completely died I cut them down (cut them back) and they're still growing in the shade of another bush. Hopefully they'll sprout in early 2010 and will get a harvest from them.

 

[NoisufnoC]

so since i failed epically last season, im going to try again. do you guys have any suggestions when i should plant? and i think this year i'm going to put them in the ground and plumb the area on my irrigation system.

 

[david_42]

Plant as early as you can get the rhizomes, drip irrigate, mulch heavily (3 inches) 2-3' feet around each plant to insulate the shallow roots.

 

[NoisufnoC]

how often should the irrigation run? can you suggest an drip emitter size?

 

[david_42]

1 gph is a good size. Water daily the first year. Start at 30 minutes and then 1 hour once the bines are 4-5 ft tall. If they hit 10' do two hours every other day, you want to encourage deep rooting.

 

[NoisufnoC]

1 gph is a good size. Water daily the first year. Start at 30 minutes and then 1 hour once the bines are 4-5 ft tall. If they hit 10' do two hours every other day, you want to encourage deep rooting.

sounds good. i'm going to put them right in the ground this year, instead of trying to use the pots.

 

[Firebelly]

Anyone have success with hops in Vegas yet?? I feel like it might be too late to plant this year, but looking for input. Just stumbled onto a good deal on some rhizomes while in LA. Really tempting to grab some. Vegas has really awful weather for anything but cacti though.

 

[in_a_days]

Another Las Vegan here, taking a stab at growing hops.

I live in a condo/townhouse so no yard. I have two rhizomes planted in containers on my east-facing balcony. The shade hits at just about noon, so (provided I can sustain something) the plants will be shaded during the hottest part of the day. I plan to run the vines mostly horizontally on a couple lattices around the edge of the balcony.

One of the containers is a 1/2 whiskey barrel. I think it's like 20 gallons. The other container is definitely too small, probably closer to 5 gallons. But I already had it and didn't want to buy a ton of stuff not knowing if I can even do this successfully. If they live through the summer I will get another barrel and transplant. I planted two Cascade rhizomes this past Friday (purchased from freshops.com), and both containers sprouted today.

I set up a very-DIY drip irrigation system. I took a couple water bottles and jugs of various sizes and poked a bunch of holes at different levels, and buried them in the containers to different depths. The clear bottles actually give a pretty good glimpse of the moisture content of the substrate.

I have been watering like crazy. Two or three times a day and we haven't even cracked 100 yet. When the sprouts get to a trainable height I'm going to add two or three inches of mulch to help with moisture retention.

I will try to update, and if I can keep anything alive or get anything growing I'll post some pics.

 

[in_a_days]

I dialed back watering over the last couple days. Much closer to once a day. The sprouts all look great, going to Lowe's tonight to pick up some kind of lattice and some mulch. Things are pretty easy right now, I'm a little nervous to see what happens when we get up around 110-115. At least they'll be in the shade by the point in the day when those temperatures actually hit.