Hops in Snow

[Owly055]

I planted 6 varieties of hops rhyzomes awhile back. Since then we have had wildly variable weather here in Montana, from 70 degree days to snow, sleet, rain, hail, etc. Our annual mother's day storm blew in yesterday with a mix of every imaginable kind of weather...... and of course I was working outdoors. Pelted with "tapioca" sleet, rain, snow, even hail, interspersed with periods of sunshine, and enough wind to chill you to the bone, I came home to see one of my pet hops poking it's head out of the ground........ A couple of leaves of Northern Brewer courageously poking out of the ground, wondering what it was like outside the cold cold ground. These things are tough with a capital T!!

H.W.

 

[brooksy]

I have yet to see the montana weather do any damage to my plants in the 4 years ive been growing, they are some tough buggers!

 

[PapaBearJay]

Where in MT are you two?

 

[brooksy]

Plains area.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Plains area.

Near Whitefish? I'm not overly familiar with it's geography. Would that put you closer to the Dakotas?

 

[brooksy]

Not too far from whitefish. Between whitefish and coeur d lane

 

[PapaBearJay]

Hahaha, I didn't realize Plains was actually the name of a city. Derr. The things you learn. I have family in Kalispell, I joke that if they started building the trellis, I'll make sure my wife and daughter make the trip.

 

[brooksy]

Haha, yeah.

 

[brooksy]

Oh, and i see you are propagating your own hop verieties. If you want someone to grow a rhizome in the plains area you know who to call

 

[PapaBearJay]

Oh, and i see you are propagating your own hop verieties. If you want someone to grow a rhizome in the plains area you know who to call

Once I get going, I'd be happy to send out potential selections for "regional trials".

Just know that I'll actually need you to do work.

 

[brooksy]

Yes sir! What type of work would you need?

 

[Owly055]

Brooksy and I are not neighbors........ I live 20 miles north of Big Timber in the foothills of the Crazy Mountains at 5000'. We have some wild and harsh weather. Plains is about 360 miles from here....... a nice town along the Clark Fork River with a great climate (for Montana). I often passed through that way on my way to see a friend north of Spokane. Sanders County is as close to a dry county as you'll find in Montana..... The county seat, Thompson Falls, just up the road from Plains has 10 churches, and only one bar!!! It's time to burn some churches or build some bars!!! I always thought it was a pretty town, sprawled up a hillside above a large reservoir, until I started counting bars and churches. There's something deeply wrong there!

H.W.

 

[brooksy]

Well they have several places to drink now, but i get your point. And yes plains is in its own little banana belt as i like to say, but we still have some dramatic weather shifs, especially at the higher elevation where i live (but still not nearly as bad as you guys in the east). Still proves how tough hops are, mine got frosted in the low teens this year and werent phased.

 

[Owly055]

Well they have several places to drink now, but i get your point. And yes plains is in its own little banana belt as i like to say, but we still have some dramatic weather shifs, especially at the higher elevation where i live (but still not nearly as bad as you guys in the east). Still proves how tough hops are, mine got frosted in the low teens this year and werent phased.

Are you one of those guys way up Lynch Creek RD, or Thompson River Rd? or up off HWY 28? There are some folks squirrled away in some of the most gawd awful places in the hills around there, particularly down by Paradise.

H.W.

 

[brooksy]

No, i live out river road past the fairgrounds. Im only a few hundred feet above the river but we usually hold out our cold weather longer than in town. I certainly wouldnt say its god awful