Outdoor Kratke Hydroponic Hop Growing

[Owly055]

There are a significant number of articles on the net about growing hops hydroponically, but they are all oriented toward indoor and greenhouse growing, and are also oriented toward conventional hydroponics.

Though I'm no longer brewing and only drinking about one beer a week, I was deeply "infected" by homebrewing. I quit for health reasons. Not that I had any specific healthy issues.... aside from high blood pressure and weight gain, but because I could see impending health issues. I DO NOT DOCTOR, nor do I take drugs for anything. I take responsibility for my own health.. directly. I have not been to a doctor in over 10 years. I've lost about 40 lbs since I began my fasting program ( mostly 3-4 day water fasts ... today is a dry fast as a first day of a 4 day.... no liquids at all for 24-30 hrs)... my 78th fasting day out of 109 total days... blood pressure is down where it should be).

I got my neighbor infected with the brewing bug while I was brewing, and eventually sold him my equipment and supplies such as they were. I still get together with him to brew occasionally and my single weekly beer is often one of his brews. I also transplanted all my hops to his yard.

I've been growing salad greens and herbs and microgreens indoors hydroponically as part of the lifestyle / dietary changes I've been making, and plan to do my entire garden in hydroponics this year using the Kratke method.

The Kratke method uses no pumps, and no aeration, and thus has no evaporation, and no need to test TDS PH, and constantly adjust. The plants are planted in net cups over a reservoir of hydro nutrients, and their roots grow down into them slowly drinking the liquid down... The air space thus created provides root aeration without bubblers, etc. The plant starts out with the amount of liquid needed for it's life cycle (ideally), and you never add to it..... Though the reality is that you may miscalculate, and have to add.

I just ordered two Columbus rhizomes. I will plant them in 6" net cups in 5 gallon buckets under peat moss or some other medium, and briefly use air stones until the roots are established down into the liquid. When summer proper hits, I will move them outdoors to my neighbor's hop wall. Projected growth rate is about double what it should be in soil.... Only time will tell if this works.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

I finally got my two Columbus rhizomes yesterday.....now I have to figure out how to do this..... For the moment they are in a plastic container in soil on a seedling mat until they develop some growth.... Once I get some roots I'll knock the soil off the roots, and lay them in my net pots with the roots projecting down through the plastic grid so they will touch the hydroponic solution.... then I'll probably gently cover them with clay pebbles in a thin layer, encouraging the shoots to come up between them, adding more later. The liquid level will be set so it just touches the bottom of the net pot, and the roots will grow down as the liquid level goes down.... I estimate that it will cost about 25 cents in hydroponic solution for each hop through the summer if they grow well.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

My two rhizomes were absolutely dead. They had no life at all and refused to sprout...(in soil) ......There is always next year.

 

[Drewed]

Try Great Lakes Hops. They ship live plants.
https://www.greatlakeshops.com/