Hops on north facing fence?

[skoodog]

Hey yall,

Newbie here who is in his first home in Austin and ready to embrace the exciting world of hops growing. I've been growing herbs and veggies for years but would like a little assistance from the pros as I plan for my six new Cascade and Chinook rhizomes to arrive.

My backyard is surrounded by a 6 foot fence and design wise the most optimal place to grow is a 30-40 foot stretch of empty wood fence that unfortunately faces due north (as opposed to the preferred south facing). The other side of the yard has heavy shade due to a lot of tree growth so its a non-starter to try growing there.

The question is, will the north facing fence work from a growth perspective? My t-beam posts will clear 10 feet so the horizontal growth will be in south facing sun, my only concern is until it gets above the fence line.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

[McKnuckle]

I don't have an answer but I'm interested in what others have to say. I have a similar situation; I'd like to plant on the north side of an outbuilding. The hops will have to climb up and over the roof, at which point they'll hit full sunlight and terminate at the roof peak. I just want to know how tough it will be to have them grow in the shade until they hit that point.

 

[brewmasterorr]

Hey yall,

Newbie here who is in his first home in Austin and ready to embrace the exciting world of hops growing. I've been growing herbs and veggies for years but would like a little assistance from the pros as I plan for my six new Cascade and Chinook rhizomes to arrive.

My backyard is surrounded by a 6 foot fence and design wise the most optimal place to grow is a 30-40 foot stretch of empty wood fence that unfortunately faces due north (as opposed to the preferred south facing). The other side of the yard has heavy shade due to a lot of tree growth so its a non-starter to try growing there.

The question is, will the north facing fence work from a growth perspective? My t-beam posts will clear 10 feet so the horizontal growth will be in south facing sun, my only concern is until it gets above the fence line.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Well I don't know about the climate in Texas but if you don't get enough sunlight you will never get above the fence. I have some hops on the south side of a fence in my yard where there is a lot of shade from mature trees and after 2 years they still only grow to a small Bush. You really need a lot of sun.

 

[PGEduardo]

I think you'll be fine, but may have to experiment with different varieties. Some grow better in the shade.

I live in Albuquerque and south facing is just way too hot. Partial shade and even full shade seems to be better for my cascades... But it was my first year.

I think indirect summer sun could work.

 

[BrewHound]

I'm in Texas and have Cascade and Crystal on their 3rd year. They really want that sun. Maybe an idea for you: I put up trellises for mine to grow on so that they can shade part of the veggie garden from the late afternoon sun. 9 foot trellises are working but they'd like to go higher.

 

[skoodog]

Thanks for all the replies so quickly! The north facing fence basically casts a 1 to 2 foot shadow in the morning sun but once the sun is overhead around 11-noon it's full sun until mid afternoon when the sun starts hitting tree line. So it gets full sun for a good 3-5 hour window with indirect sun for pretty much the entire day.

More thoughts encouraged and thanks to all who've posted!

 

[bu_gee]

I've not grown hops specifically, but I have the same situation as you for growing other sun-loving plants.

I live at a higher latitude than you do, so you'll have to adjust (for the better) from what I do:

1. I use raised beds. If you can raise the level by a foot, you have one less foot to go to clear the fence. You also get better drainage, but that may not be a concern for you.

2. Calculate the height of the sun mid-day in the early season and plant away from the fence so that the fence doesn't cast a shadow. In my case:

39°N = 90-39=51. This the angle at the equinox which was on Friday. I target May 1st which adds roughly 15° so 51+15 = 66.

So time to bust out the trigonometry and do tan(66) = 2.25. So, now if you know the height of your fence, 6 feet for me, 6/2.25 = 2.66 ft. So, I plant 32 inches from the base of the fence and that gets me enough sun at the right part of the season to start off the growth.

3. Use a trellis to grow back towards the fence. Once you plants clear the critical shadow line, you can train them back towards the fence so they don't cast shadows on other things or take up too much of the yard.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

IF you get say 3-4 hours of direct sun and then the rest of the day indirect you should be fine. I would plant Cascade or Magnum since they grow the fastest for me. I am assuming it is a stockade fence not a chain link.

 

[skoodog]

Thought I'd write up a quick update that maybe other hop growers might appreciate.

1) south facing is a MUST. I planted two on an east facing wall in pots and one got about maybe a foot tall at best. Lots of small growth and side branches, but no hops on the one that actually gets the most sun. I'm getting a resurgence on the other that seems to be doing okay and even is fruiting finally, but looks to be super limited yield (like maybe 10 cones) - we will see what happens.

2) Indirect sun is fine, and beneficial in high heat climates. My chinook went crazy from the get go as did one of my cascades. Great growth and healthy bines (until now - which leads me to)

3) Don't tweak. I decided to add fish emulsion on the healthy bines which screwed them up.

4) Trub is not fertilizer. I may have perms-killed my healthiest cascade by dumping all the Trub from a brew (post fermentation Trub) into a bed. Not a great idea.

All anecdotal of course, but these are my findings.