How much sun is too much sun

[aeonderdonk]

I live in NC and want to grow hops next year. I have a 15 foot deck they can crawl up but it is facing southwest and gets direct blazing hot sun for 10 hours a day in the summer.

Will I be ok or should i move them around to the front where they will get 6 hours.

 

[Rick500]

The more sun, the better.

 

[McHandbag]

I live in Dallas and have been growing hops for 2 years now. Summers are pretty brutal here and this summer has been a doozy. We had temps above 100 for about two weeks, and the hops are showing some signs of stress. However they seem to be very resilient when the weather does break. We had a good soaking rain, and the vines that were a little sunburned have sent off side shoots from the main vine and have bracts on them. As far as sun exposure, I estimate that my vines get about 8-10 hours of sun. I'd plant in the sunniest spot first. I've always heard that hops need a certain amount of sunlight per day or they won't produce cones. Keep in mind that your first year harvest will be lousy at best. Last year i had a whopping 5 grams. This year, now that the roots are established, i should get close to half a pound. Pretty dramatic increase! Irrigation is also very important. drip irrigation is best. Hops are prone to fungal diseases from having wet leaves. They need lots of water during the growing season so that you get nice thick vines. Soil preparation is also key. Well drained sandy loam with a high percentage of organic material. It's also a good idea to give some top-dressing of compost about once a month. So to sum up: lots of sun. lots of water at the root level. Good amount of compost or other nutrients. You can always replant the hops next year if you feel they are getting too much sun(but i doubt that'll happen.) Hope that helps. Happy growing.

 

[aeonderdonk]

glad to hear they withstand some high heat and sun. I'll be giving it a try next year for sure. SWMBO is doing it since she has the green thumb.

 

[McHandbag]

I've used this as a reference guide:

http://www.crannogales.com/HopsManual.pdf

It's for small scale farming of organic hops, but it has a lot of good tips ad tricks that the home-grower can apply.

 

[david_42]

16 hours a day isn't too much. The trick is keeping them from drying out. Much less of a problem in NC than Yakima Country or at my place.

 

[Fletch78]

Bumping this old thread, I know... but...

I've got a first year Cascade that is about 5 feet tall, a single vine. It is now planted in a spot that gets 11 hours of solid, unadulterated, searing sunshine a day, and it isn't even the Solstice, it's May. Temps are forecast this week to be 97 day after day.

I've been getting sunscald on some of my other vegetables, so I've moved the potted ones under a dogwood tree.

I can't do anything about this hop vine at this point, except give it some shade cloth, which I do have on hand. I simply planted it in the sunniest spot, and now I can't help but wonder if I've done wrong.

 

[Jagdad]

I noticed in our production that Cascade seems to be more susceptible to scald (leaf seems a little thinner than others) She's a dainty girl. Root zone temps are also important- Cascade sems to do better in the south if the root zone temps a kept cooler by mulching. She doesn't care much for wet/dry cycling either - A high maintenance chick. But she's worth it.

 

[Retrofit]

I should look for some pictures. My house is beige my cascade has the same issue. The sun is like a laser beam and right around eleven feet nothing grows. My plant actually grew past the laser zone and I had a healthy bountiful plant at twenty feet high, nothing but a thin bine at eleven, and then a healthy bountiful plant below eleven.
I felt there is nothing I can do and I stll get hops so I just let my girls grow past the laser zone and fill up. My observation is if the crown is healthy the plant will work around the scald- but a plant naked in the middle is a bit weird looking.