Successfully Growing Indoors

[ASublimeDay]

And now for the conclusion:

While they flowered fast and seemed very happy, the tangled canopy, which is what allowed them to grow indoors, is precisely why my harvest was disappointing. Without the ability to pick through and find mature cones day-by-day and allow for a full season of harvest, I was forced to chop down and harvest in one fell-swoop.

The cones I did get were impressive: big, fragrant, and a beautiful green color with big glands and lightly browned tips.

That said, the harvest was a pitiful 6 dried ounces. While this does make it cost-effective on a monthly basis (it just barely is worth more than the electricity), it isn't worth the trouble or the mild fire hazard.

I'm interested what results others may get (I'm sure somebody as stubborn as me will think they can top the results ), but for me it just isn't worth continuing.

That said, it was an awesome experience and I'm really glad I did it. The three crowns will be separated into self-watering paint buckets (see link below) and placed in my northern-exposure 8x8 foot front window. I probably could've gotten impressive results if I had done this in the first place. I'll be creating another thread for this next indoor project.

The box is easily disassembled and I'm sure I'll find a use for the plywood. The light I may keep for starting outdoor vegetables. Thanks for reading! I'd be happy to answer any further questions.




This is the self-watering container. I use two home depot buckets (total $5) and a cheap tupperware container. They're amazing and plants, especially water-hogs like hops, love them! You don't need a hole-saw if you don't mind a little elbow grease and a knife. The pipe also isn't a requirement. You can just heavily top-water and rest assured the basin has plenty of water. It also works for two rubber-maid bins if you want to do a bigger pot. You could easily make one with two 25+ gallon rubbermaid bins. There are videos on youtube with VERY impressive results (7 foot tall tomato plants!)

 

[MalFet]

Well done! That's about a 50% greater yield than I got.

 

[jester5120]

Yeah its been really cool watching this thread

 

[Denverhoss]

Great project, and well documented!

 

[rudds67]

O wow..very nice...I could see how this could be done..4 by 4 screens. Do just like they use forr mmj..scroging..but u hav to weave the plant in a unaformed manner..would even work in a greenhouse with light shade to force flower and use leds and hps to augm.. 4ent sunlight... hav one type per screen 4 screens per 1000 hps...

 

[GarageDweller]

I think you would benefit from running a vertical bulb and allowing the hop vines to grow up the sides of your box, instead of in a scrog with a horizontal reflector. Instead of using chicken wire, you could staple orange construction fencing along the walls and train the vines to grow up the walls. By using a vertical bulb you will increase the area that is exposed to the sweet spot of the light and further increase the number of cone sites exposed.
I can see just by looking at the final picture of the screen that a lot of those vines are getting choked out by growing along the flat (horizontal) screen. Open up that center space by training the vines to the wall and you will have more air flow through the middle parts of the hop plants. Just a little advice from a few things I noticed.
Great thread!

 

[bhughes]

Yeah, I don't see why anyone would grow hops indoors. 1. hops don't costs THAT much to buy so I don't see how it would be cost effective 2. The only reason people grow pot indoors is b/c it's illegal, hops are legal so why not use the free sun that is outside?

Also, if you are going to grow them indoors, you no need to only leave the lights on for 18 hrs during vegetative stage, you can leave the lights on 24/7 until you are ready to start the budding cycle and switch to 12 hrs on 12 hrs off. And if it's like pot, pot usually doubles in size from the time you start the 12 on 12 off till the time of it's ready for harvest.

Only thing I can see this being useful for would be to start the plants in doors, leave the lights on 24/7 and get them nice and big and then plant them outside once the weather is warm enough. You might would need to slowly acclimate them to the outside but it should work.

Also, since hops are legal, why not just grow them near a window indoors instead of artificial lights? I think it's the temperature more than the length of daylight that would keep them growing, so seems like you could start them in the winter by a window till the summer.

 

[MalFet]

Yeah, I don't see why anyone would grow hops indoors. 1. hops don't costs THAT much to buy so I don't see how it would be cost effective 2. The only reason people grow pot indoors is b/c it's illegal, hops are legal so why not use the free sun that is outside?

I would love to grow hops indoors, simply because growing them outdoors isn't an option for me. Not everyone lives in Fayetteville

Is it cost effective? Probably not. But, then again, nothing I do to make beer really is. It just seems like a fun thing to do.