Hops in a Pot ?

[Jim_Holmes]

I live in Illinois and would like to start growing some hops i use liberty for cream ale and it seems pretty popular. looking on great lakes hops site they have plants on sale for 7.75. what im wondering is how deep do the roots need to go to survive a winter i have some 12" deep plant pots that are 14" across would this be enough. i can do the right soil in these where i would need a lot of work to set up a good garden area. I dont have any space in my garden right now and am redoing my deck was thinking of doing a deck box and allow the hops to grow over a pergola just dont know how deep the root system needs to grow

 

[day_trippr]

I've seen hops planted in half barrel planters - which are approximately one kazillion times larger than your tiny pots - and they didn't do well at all for a couple of years, with weak spindly growth.

But then they broke through the barrel bottoms and rooted in the earth - and went effin' crazy, encircling the building with yards and yards of bines, exploding with flowers and eventually cones...

Cheers!

 

[Jim_Holmes]

I've seen hops planted in half barrel planters - which are approximately one kazillion times larger than your tiny pots - and they didn't do well at all for a couple of years, with weak spindly growth.

But then they broke through the barrel bottoms and rooted in the earth - and went effin' crazy, encircling the building with yards and yards of bines, exploding with flowers and eventually cones...

Cheers!

thank you for your answer. i want to plant at the base of the deck to grow up the poles and onto the pergola but wont have the deck done till late summer so i guess ill put it off for a year. or find a place for them and transplant next year as the site states these plants take 2 years to establish. want to eventually have 2 or 3 different hops covering the pergola

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

You should be good for a year with rhizomes. Plants I have tried in a pot and they seem to need much more room. Use a good soil mix, I use PROMIX, It might just be a local product, not sure though.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Those little pots will work to get your plants established and give you some decorative growth, and give you more root stock to transplant next year. I wouldn't think you will see hops of any quantity produced.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

if you do this, be sure to report back so others like myself can learn from your experiences please.

 

[mlafnitzegger]

I didnt grow my hops in a pot but planted them last spring. They grew great. I also live in illinois and was worried as the winter of 2013 was a ***** (pretty much below 10 degrees for 2 months). I checked how my hops were doing after the thaw and was happy to see that they have started to poke out of the ground. Hopefully this is a good sign.

 

[squash1978]

thank you for your answer. i want to plant at the base of the deck to grow up the poles and onto the pergola but wont have the deck done till late summer so i guess ill put it off for a year. or find a place for them and transplant next year as the site states these plants take 2 years to establish. want to eventually have 2 or 3 different hops covering the pergola

Interesting. Deck + pergola is the same approach I'm planning on for growing hops. The deck already exists but the pergola needs to be built. It's going to be built this summer but may not be for 2-3 more months so I've been wondering if I could buy plants now and pot them temporarily until the pergola is built.


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[thaymond]

I used pots for crowns last year and got great results. I used potting soil with a slow release fertilizer, mushroom compost and topsoil. My nugget went beerzerk and gave me 4 dry oz. They did break through the bottom of the pots and root into the ground. This year in made raised beds and planted them in the ground. I used 15 gallon planters.

I went into the ground this time, and will set up a trellis. Nugget is already going nuts and has foot tall bines. It shot out about 20 rhizomes as soon as I un potted it. It looks like I released a tiny purple and white kraken in the mud.

 

[thaymond]

I live in Illinois and would like to start growing some hops i use liberty for cream ale and it seems pretty popular. looking on great lakes hops site they have plants on sale for 7.75. what im wondering is how deep do the roots need to go to survive a winter i have some 12" deep plant pots that are 14" across would this be enough. i can do the right soil in these where i would need a lot of work to set up a good garden area. I dont have any space in my garden right now and am redoing my deck was thinking of doing a deck box and allow the hops to grow over a pergola just dont know how deep the root system needs to grow

My pots were roughly that size and they outgrew them in a year.