Anyone ever try growing hops indoors, a green house, an aquaponics or hydroponics system. I know its not ideal but I dont have space outdoors, and would rather have some timing to get fresh hops maybe 4 times a year.
Indoor growing
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I don't think you'd get fresh hops more than once a year, indoors or out. They usually flower/produce cones in late summer. I harvest mine in September.
Clonefarmer
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Hops need tons of light to grow. A window probably won't be sufficient. You may be able to grow them using high wattage lights.
They need room to grow vertical or horizontal if trained. Bines can reach 25' in length, but they don't need too much space on the ground. You can grow them in pots on a porch/deck. Unless you live in an apartment or dorm there may enough room to squeeze one or two in somewhere.
bosox
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Yeah, you don't need much overall space, as I've seen people stringing up twine to their house using eye-hole loops going diagonal, or train them horizontally across any fence you may have.
I have an old Brew Your Own Magazine where the last page article detailed a guy who had a hop plant in his cubicle. The picture showed the bine wrapping around the 'box' he worked in. Must have a cool boss. Anyway, that's the only thing I've read about indoor growing. Hops are in the same family as marijuana, right? I've always wondered if I picked up a book on marijuana growing if it might help improve my HOP growing. Just another angle one can use to approach this issue.
Even indoors, I think your cones will be a 'once a year' thing.
Even indoors, I think your cones will be a 'once a year' thing.
I suspect it is similar to marijuana, I just was thinking how they use hydroponics to get multiple harvests in a year, why can't I do the same with hops? I also know someone who wants to have an aquaponics system soon and would probably cherish the moment to grow hops in trade of home brew. Is it possible for the plant to zig zag upwards? Almost as if it were going in 45degree from vertical and changing direction every yard. Im sure if you can do it correctly you can get it to flower faster indoors, and put it through a winter dormant cycle faster than one year. So even if you cant get two harvests in a year, you can set up multiple plants so you get a harvest every two months.
I really want to look into this more, perhaps no one has really experimented much with accelerated hop growth.
I really want to look into this more, perhaps no one has really experimented much with accelerated hop growth.
Clonefarmer
Well-Known Member
You can train hops to grow zig zag.
They are related, but there some big differences. Hops are a perennial, it takes more than one season to mature. Marijuana is an annual that grows quickly and matures in one season.
With some serious lights like metal halide or high pressure sodium at high wattage you may be able to push them. Since it takes about 6 months from sprout to harvest in theory you could get two harvest with no dormant period in between. I'm not sure how important the dormant period is or how long of one is necessary though.
You should be able to force flower them in a similar way using light cycles, but the bine height may be a restriction. The bines on a hop plant take a full season to grow to the length required to produce flowers. Hops tend to produce flowers at a certain height on the bines.
To do this sort of experiment would take a good bit of capital, time, and effort to pull off.
The main reason marijuana is grown indoors is because it's illegal. Since hops are legal it's much easier to grow them outdoors under the sun.
Hop flowering is triggered by the change in day-length. You probably could get multiple harvests by having four separate growing areas with different lighting levels. Lots of work, lots of power for lights and a fair amount of space.
bosox
Well-Known Member
It would seem more practical to just buy 10 hop plants and plant them outside, then to have 3 or 4 indoor hoping to train them each differently...
This is something I want to try. I just want my next project to be building a fermentation closet to keep the temperature constant. When I start the hydroponics hop growing I will start something to show progress and what not.
I am just surprised that no one at all has ever tried this. Im sure people have, it is just trying to find them that's likely the problem. If you have tried, let me know, or have anything else to say, please say it. I want to get as much opinion as possible before I undertake this.
I am just surprised that no one at all has ever tried this. Im sure people have, it is just trying to find them that's likely the problem. If you have tried, let me know, or have anything else to say, please say it. I want to get as much opinion as possible before I undertake this.
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Hops can be grown hydroponically and indoors. At best, you can get 2 harvest a year by training new bines late in the season.
I think you'll find that the reason no one has tried this, is that it is so much easier outside (as has already been said).
I have some experience with indoor growing of weedy plants. The amount of light received by the plant, is inverse to the square of the distance from the light source. If you have a four-foot plant, with lights 6" from the top, the leaves at the bottom get less than 2% of the light that the top leaves get. When you (the plant) are trying to transpire water up that column, your height and vigor gets sapped pretty quickly.
This problem does not exist outdoors. The sun's intensity is the same at the bottom and the top, so it does not limit the plant's height and vigor (other factors will, of course).
Also, the plant has evolved to spend the fall storing energy in its root system, hibernating in the winter, and starting fresh in the spring. Good luck with all that.
I have some experience with indoor growing of weedy plants. The amount of light received by the plant, is inverse to the square of the distance from the light source. If you have a four-foot plant, with lights 6" from the top, the leaves at the bottom get less than 2% of the light that the top leaves get. When you (the plant) are trying to transpire water up that column, your height and vigor gets sapped pretty quickly.
This problem does not exist outdoors. The sun's intensity is the same at the bottom and the top, so it does not limit the plant's height and vigor (other factors will, of course).
Also, the plant has evolved to spend the fall storing energy in its root system, hibernating in the winter, and starting fresh in the spring. Good luck with all that.
I was just looking up costs. To run these lamps first off will be very expensive, could potentially be over 100 dollars a year per plant, depending on how many lights used. Since the plant is so tall, it there is an incredible amount of wasted light, perhaps the only solution would be having it in a room of mirrors that just keep reflecting light until it eventually gets to the plant. (But mirrors are expensive) Also they like to have a decent root structure so you need to have a decent base of soil for them to expand in. So just the equipment to start is well over $100 per plant, plus the excessive room you need to grow it. Its looking more and more like its not a feasible option indoors. I'll try and get a few more exact ideas on costs and post them.
