South Florida Hop Growing

[jaredio]

Hey edecambra. I've been thinking about trying to grow hops down here in South FL so I did a search and found this thread. Guess what? I'm also in Sunrise!

Good to see there is a possibility it can work out!

 

[edecambra]

It can be done! Cool that you are in Sunrise, you should come out to one of our club meetings you might like it: http://fortlauderdaleareabrewers.org/

 

[jaredio]

Sounds good. I'm just getting back into the swing of things after a long hiatus! Brewed 23 gallons for my December 2010 wedding and have really busy since then. I am ready to keg/bottle my first batch since then!

I'm also in a condo situation but I think I got a decent spot picked out. You think planting in the ground is a big advantage to potting?

 

[Puckhead]

Hey Eddie

Nice to see your growing some hops. I'm still trying to meet up with you guys one of these weeks for a club meeting, maybe this month... I picked up those grolsch cases from you quite some time ago. Hope your doing well and hope to catch up soon

 

[Gear101]

Looks like alot of work for just a couple of oz. of yield, hope your second year gets better.

 

[Gear101]

Looks like alot of work for just a couple of oz. of yield, hope your second year gets better.

 

[jrcomito]

Hi there,
I am new to homebrewing but not gardening. I am interested in growing hops in SW Florida. Have you had any success at this, and is it feasible for a small plot garden?

 

[rgarry]

After reading the post from The east coast, I decided to give it a try. I ordered a bunch and should get them in march. From what I have been reading stick with the c's (centineal, chinook etc)

 

[edecambra]

Hey Eddie

Nice to see your growing some hops. I'm still trying to meet up with you guys one of these weeks for a club meeting, maybe this month... I picked up those grolsch cases from you quite some time ago. Hope your doing well and hope to catch up soon

Hey man, glad to see you are still brewing, and I hope you are getting some good use out of those bottles. Hope you can make it to one of the meetings some time, and if you can't make it out the 2nd Wednesday of the month at Geronimo's for our meetings, check out our site: FLAB or sign up to our Yahoo groups page for email updates and chatter, etc.

The work is mostly in the initial time planting. You can put as much or as little effort into training them as you want. At first I was very invested, moving them every day, but now I will just let it grow and trim stray bines to focus the growth. I do hope this year I will get a better yield, now that the roots are established. I think that if I gave it the whole height of my house to grow it would do better, because the cone formation was ample for sure.

And again for those considering doing this, make sure you get the morning sun and afternoon shade to protect from that extreme heat. I think you would have the most luck with hearty C type hops. If my very limited experience is any indication of how it works, Cascades rocked and I had no luck from the nugget, which I might want to trade for some other variety when people on here start digging theirs up!!

 

[edecambra]

Hi there,
I am new to homebrewing but not gardening. I am interested in growing hops in SW Florida. Have you had any success at this, and is it feasible for a small plot garden?

Hello, good luck in your brewing, it is my favorite hobby, EVER!!!

That said, check back a few pages and my other updates. Growing hops down here can be successful if you follow a few rules of thumb, namely protecting your plants from the extreme heat while still allowing them to get "enough" light for growth. I think if you plant them in the ground, even a small plot, you will have more success than if you pot them, and make sure to have good mulch to keep your roots from drying out (not too much of a problem down here) and to help prevent excess weed growth.

as far as the small plot is concerned, I have two plants growing in about 2 foot by 4-5 foot rectangular area, which is pretty damn small. I live in a condo and have some real limits on what and where I can grow but it hasn't stopped me. Rhizomes are super cheap and you can plant them in some good soil with fertilizer for under 20 bucks (more if you want a nice trellis), so there is no reason not to give it a shot.

 

[durandf]

I live in Pompano...just North a couple of miles of Sunrise and am very encouraged about this. I just ordered 5 Rhizomes and plan to plant these....thanks fo rthe post

 

[CourtHouseBrewing]

I too want to try in central Florida. Thanks for the tips. I have the perfect spot picked out if SWMBO let's me have a small spot in her garden. I hear home grown hops have much more flavor than the LHBS can carry.

 

[edecambra]

I live in Pompano...just North a couple of miles of Sunrise and am very encouraged about this. I just ordered 5 Rhizomes and plan to plant these....thanks fo rthe post

Glad to hear you are inspired, let me know which varieties produce cones. As Ive mentioned in the thread my cascades have grown like gangbusters but the nuggets did squat.

Morning sun and you should be gold, especially with cascades, they grow like weeds.

 

[CourtHouseBrewing]

Glad to hear you are inspired, let me know which varieties produce cones. As Ive mentioned in the thread my cascades have grown like gangbusters but the nuggets did squat.

Morning sun and you should be gold, especially with cascades, they grow like weeds.

Yes I have read your posts and think I have the perfect spot. I just ordered from Williams.
2- CASCADE HOP RHIZOME
2- CHINOOK HOP RHIZOME

I had them shipped USPS so I hope I get them in good condition.

It sounds like I should get them in the ground soon and give the roots some time before the hot days of summer. I also hope I might get a jump on the growth cycle as the days are changing soon. I think most of the cold snaps are behind us now.

When would you plant in my case?

I have a second floor balcony above the garden I can throw a line down 14' for them to grow up. But,
I like your idea of weaving the trellis and keeping everything easy to pick.

 

[edecambra]

Honestly, I would do the line down from the balcony. The only thing easy about picking my hops is that they are all in front of me. When you pick them it seems best to chop them down and pick the hops after you have chopped the bines, and a line would make that super easy. Untangling the hops off the trellis is not a huge pain, but not cake either. I just don't have a way to tie the lines to the roof, and I didn't think my HOA would like long bines up the side of the building (in a condo)

I would go ahead a plant them now. I let them grow through the "winter" and just cut them back a few weeks ago. I've yet to see any growth but I know they are healthy and kicking, the crown is HUGE underground.

 

[CourtHouseBrewing]

Great, Thanks I'll let you know how it works out. I should have them this weekend I think.

 

[sweetcell]

When you pick them it seems best to chop them down and pick the hops after you have chopped the bines, and a line would make that super easy. Untangling the hops off the trellis is not a huge pain, but not cake either. I just don't have a way to tie the lines to the roof, and I didn't think my HOA would like long bines up the side of the building (in a condo)

dunno if it's different for a nice warm place like FL, but i've read that it is best to leave the bines in place after harvesting. once they've done flowering (and we've picked the cones), the plants get ready for winter by storing up energy in the roots. the bines will eventually die back, and can be cleaned up once they're mostly wilted. if you chop down the entire plant at harvest, it won't have time to transfer energy from flowering to root storage.

but maybe your warm location the plants don't hibernate, so they don't need that post-harvest-store-up-for-winter period?

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

im born in raised in south fl and ive done plenty of landscaping. the thing that works so well about our growth patterns is that they tend to stay vegetative almost year round with multiple flowering periods for certain plants..... so all in all, im not surprised as a fellow floridian it could be done. But thank you for proving it and giving me the inspiration to follow suit

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

also as a tip....the starbucks down here has a basketin their shop with bags of coffee grounds labeled 'Grounds for your Garden'......its all the coffee grounds they go through and they GIVE THEM AWAY 4 FREE. They are really good for your soil for many reasons and did i say free?

 

[Thejiro]

I would like to chime in i also am growin in fl i had luck getting sime cascades to grow and produce. Not as good as op bc of a few mistakes in judgenent i made which i am rectifying this year.

@ keywestbrewer
I grew up in kw myself i sent some rhizomes to my dad but he didnt plant them till like may or june and had very little growth out of them. Im interested to see how they do this year.

 

[rgarry]

Got my hops, in the ground this weekend

 

[CourtHouseBrewing]

Got my hops, in the ground this weekend

I'm still waiting for mine to arrive. They said they are not shipping till the 22nd.
Where did you get yours?
I’m really looking forward to brewing with home grown hops. I hear they are much more intense than the hops that have been shipped around and are old.

 

[rgarry]

I'll let you know when I get home. It was a site that I saw recommended here. I bought mostly c hops and will hope for the best

 

[organ]

My rhizomes arrived earlier this week; purchased from www.thymegarden.com

 

[edecambra]

So I just finished my gardening for the year, and dug up the original nugget rhizomes. I was absolutey amazed how huge they were when compared with the tiny ones I planted. Like I've said in the thread, the nuggets did squat so they are gone and i split up the cascade roots and am looking to do all the same plant, for consistency and a larger yield with my limited space. I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

Also if any of you local guys want a bit of cascade cuttings and/or those nugget crowns, you can have em!

 

[edecambra]

Ok as promised some photos of my roots.

Two on the right are nugget and the one on the left is half of the cascade.

Nugget

Cascade

And my puppy

 

[rgarry]

I planted cenntinial, cascade, nugget and williamette. Will see what happens. If they grow, ten I will start makinging a trellace.

 

[whis121surfing]

I am really stoked to see some others growing hops in FL. New breeds here we come! I grew 7 different types of hops last year and one thing I learned from it is to have something strong for them to climb on. I am going to use rope this year as the main support and let the coir twine spiral up it for the hops to get a good grasp. Hard rains and birds tore through mine. I guess the birds like to make nests with it or maybe it was the squirrels. I'd come out to find my twine in knots.
The pics above were from the first year which I first planted them in June of 2011 and most of the plants grew to about 15 feet which is the top of my trellis. I used all new soil from a nursery and a bunch of mushroom compost from bags. I went too deep with a couple of the rhizomes I think because this year when I went through and cleaned up the hop garden I found them down below in the same place I put them rotted and wet. That that was only 2 of them though.
The ones that grew well were Centennial, Mt. Hood, Nugget, Brewer's Gold, and Willamette. Northern Brewer was the only one that didn't make it. The roots on all the rest were CRAZY. These suckers love to grow. The ones in the pots went right through the bottom of the pots into the ground.
Another thing I wish I had done was to take out all the grass where I put the box bed and dig down a little then put a weed screen then all the dirt and compost on top of that. The guy at the nursery said with the amount of dirt and mulch I was putting down it would smother out the grass but guess what..... I HAVE FREAKIN BERMUDA GRASS ALL IN MY HOP BED, JERK. Finally I got it out to some people I am sure would sympathize with my anger.
I attached some pics for you to check out. I can't wait for year 2!

 

[edecambra]

I hear you, it is like the last frontier.... well maybe not.

I am positive that you are in even a different climate than us down in South FL, and glad to hear that you can get some buds on the Nuggets, as they did nothing for me. I would suggest some cascades if you are interested. I heard on the Brewing network interview with a farmer that they are one of the heartiest varietals and can withstand most extreme conditions. My first yield was proof positive of that. i

Just like you I can't wait to see the second year yield, I got my sprouts starting as we speak.

 

[edecambra]

Also, it looks like you are in more of a swamp than us down in the big swamp!