How much hops could I expect (container growing)

[Diablotastic]

So I've got 1 Cascade Rhizone and I'm planning on picking up 1 Centennial. I'm going to pick up two 20" pots and get planting within the next week or so. I'm going to follow the intructions in the Aussie BYO article.

Has anybody else planted with containers and what type of yeild can I expect with just 2 pots and two rhizones?

I'm asusming it's going to be minimul as it will be 1st year but I'm just curious on what to expect if I can get these baby's fairly healthy in the 1st year

 

[rsmith179]

I would also like to know what to expect... First year growing hops and got the idea from BYO as well. Four rhizomes so far. I'm hoping we'll be able to get at least some hops in the first year. Can't wait to make a "harvest brew" at the end of the summer!

 

[JarrodH]

It depends on the variety. Cascade I have heard does really well with container growing, but my Tet (which is a lower producing variety) produced about half an ounce to a ounce and my Northern Brewer produced about a quarter of an ounce. (first year) I am sure that your growing conditions may produce different results as my hops got a bit nitrogen deficient before I figured out what was going on. That may of stunted their growth a bit. I know a bit more now and they should do better in their second year.

 

[Danek]

FWIW, my first-year Challenger and Target both yielded about an ounce of dried hops each. But now their roots are massive, and they're already a couple of feet high, so I expect year two will be a little more productive.

 

[david_42]

Sunshine, deep watering 2-3 times a week and a good high-nitrogen fertilizer and you might have an ounce or two the first year. I planted five pairs of rhizomes the first year and got a total of 2 ounces. Last year, it was so cold that even the third year plants didn't produce.

 

[Danek]

...a good high-nitrogen fertilizer...

+1 to that. Hops can really suck all the nutrients out of the soil, so if you're limiting the soil they can access by keeping them in a container, you will need to keep it topped up with the good stuff - of which nitrogen seems to be the most important part.

 

[cuinrearview]

The one thing that the article in BYO didn't include was yield expectations. The pictures showed a lot of plants and they didn't look all that healthy to me. If I were to grow that way I'd expect an ounce tops per plant if everything went perfectly and they didn't get burned from lack of water or incorrect fertilization. And as stated in the article a couple of years is all that you can expect to grow one plant before it needs to be split up. I'm digging my first mature plant up this year and I'm going to dedicate the good part of a day to it because I expect to be fishing roots out for quite a while. It just seems like that much growth above ground would need even more root material below. My $.02

 

[clemson55]

I had 3 plants in pots last yr and they got shorter than desired amount of sunlight each day because I'm on the wrong side of the building, they also suffered from me going away for 3 day weekends several times. But I still got about 1/4 oz out of the cascade and would have gotten it out of the others except for the water shortage on the long weekends kept drying out the baby hops. I would say 1/4-1/2 out first yr with good conditions.

 

[johnnytaco]

I have planted a large rhizome/root (20+inches)from some wild local hops that I found. I have it in a ten gallon pot. I planted her right before it would have started growing in the wild. We had a late snow storm in May, so there were just a few bine starts on it. The transplant took a week and a half to do anything, but has blown up since. There are two bines off of the main root that are over six feet tall as of today and the side rhizome has four smaller shoots popping out of the ground. I have no idea what strain they are, but I know they're used to mountain growing and that they make one heck of a lager. I'll post my yield this fall if I remember.

 

[kesslerr1]

I gots some free rhizomes (cascade and nugget) 3 years ago and have had them in 20 gallon bucket since. I am finishing up grad school, living in apartments and am waiting and anticipating the day I can stick them in the ground. However, until then they will have to sit in their pots. Each year around the time they start to put out shoots I replace all the soil with new potting soil and a light dose of fertilizer (10-10-10). The past 2 years I got a gallon size zip lock bag packed to the brim from each plant. They turned out great and I use them for dry hopping and finishing.

 

[johnnytaco]

Thanks Kesslerr.

 

[Crucial-BBQ]

I know that this is an old thread...

...but 1 oz. or less seems rather low even for the dry weight of a first year's harvest.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Think of it this way, a mature plant under optimal conditions will produce .75 to 2 lbs of PROPERLY dried hops. (Others will argue that a single plant can produce 4lbs, but that's not using a final moisture content of 10% ish like the commercial growers and your recipes call for.)

Typical expectations are that a 1st year plant will produce 10% of final maturity. So a 1 pound (16 oz) plant will give you 1.6 oz the first year...assuming you don't screw anything up and get nothing. In a planter, you will see almost identical results.

Where the impact is felt is in subsequent years because the plant gets root bound. Then production really falls off.

So...the first year, only slightly less than a normal hop plant, which is still around 1 oz, and after that much less than desired.