Took a couple days vacation to spend time with friends visiting from NYC and was inspired to start documenting my attempt to grow hops here in Austin, TX. I've read a few stories about growing hops here in the central to south Texas area. Most have ended in tragedy.
The common source of failure seems to be the wicked central Texas summer. Temperatures commonly reach (and stay in) the 100s during July, August, and part of September. Sometimes this can start as early as June. To compound the problem, multi-week droughts are also common during this time of the year. Cloud cover is minimal.
To make things more interesting, I also decided to plant the hops in pots. This adds more potential problems: proper soil mix, drainage, overheating, dry-out, nutrients, root bound, etc. Planers were chosen not to make growing easier, but instead to add to the decor of our beautiful new cedar deck we had built earlier this spring.
First i'll address what steps I've taken to mitigate the both the coming central Texas summer heatwave and the growth in planters issues:
All hops were ordered from http://www.freshops.com
Wish us luck!
The common source of failure seems to be the wicked central Texas summer. Temperatures commonly reach (and stay in) the 100s during July, August, and part of September. Sometimes this can start as early as June. To compound the problem, multi-week droughts are also common during this time of the year. Cloud cover is minimal.
To make things more interesting, I also decided to plant the hops in pots. This adds more potential problems: proper soil mix, drainage, overheating, dry-out, nutrients, root bound, etc. Planers were chosen not to make growing easier, but instead to add to the decor of our beautiful new cedar deck we had built earlier this spring.
First i'll address what steps I've taken to mitigate the both the coming central Texas summer heatwave and the growth in planters issues:
- Use really big pots (24" diameter, hold 3 cubic feet of soil).
- Used a 2:1 mix of Miracle Grow Moisture Control Potting Soil to Composted Soil.
- Drill multple holes in the outer base of planters.
- Plan to add mulch on top of soil after bines are trained.
- Water twice daily (morning and evening).
- Add miracle grow liquid fertilizer once per week.
- Start growing ASAP to harvest cones as early in the season as possible (before the heatwave comes!)
All hops were ordered from http://www.freshops.com
Wish us luck!