The Shade Trials

[ObsidianJester]

Well first off some back ground..

I live in the woods. Literally in the woods. I have a meadow type of front lawn that mostly wildflowers and wild strawberries grow on. I have some area right next to my house that will grow some peppers. If I water them. Tomatoes and such that love full sun grown out in the yard.. just don't do well. (The damned deer and squirrels don't help them any either..)

So why would I even mention this in a hops growing forum? We all know hops like full sun...

Well I had a Glacier crown from Great Lakes hops. I split an order with a friend, have a couple plants growing an hour north in the future sister in law's yard as an experiment there. So, here I thought if I planted the crown in the ground right close to my front porch and have a warm spring the hop might grow enough to get it's own sun before the trees leafed in.

Well, turns out I live in Minnesota. And they don't have spring here. It goes straight from Winter to Summer. (The last two years anyway)

It also turns out I won some free hop rhizomes during Lucid Brewing American Home Brewers Association meeting on May 3rd. So I had more hops..

So I thought what the hell, I'll pot two of them up that have shown promise and try to run them up a tree at the edge of my "yard/clearing/meadow"

This is going to be an expected challenge or fail. But who cares? Costs me little to nothing and may prove conventional wisdom wrong. I'll get some pictures posted up here soon of the progress. Mind you the only thing that I expect to actually possibly produce is the Glacier since it is a crown, as opposed to the Centennial and the Cascade (And if it survives the Columbus too..) which are way behind due to the cold weather and being in small pots.

I suppose that the yeilds will be way down but I'm willing to give it a shot to see if they will at least take shaded environments.

Next year I hope to transplant the two in pots to a friend's house. At least one of them but if there is enough success and interest here I may keep one for as long as I'm in this house for followups.

Again I'm not expecting a whole lot here, just to see if something can grow in less than optimal situations. Yes I know they love/need full sun. I also know that being in a wooded environment may make them susceptible to molds mildew and other problems. I'm just taking a shot here to see what can be accomplished so that if nothing else everyone here can learn or observe.

 

[jmw22]

Cool trial...I'll be checking back to see how they do!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Home Brew mobile app

 

[jekeane]

Does your roof get sun? Or an upper window? Not sure if hops would grow down or parallel but it's just a thought.

 

[JohnSand]

I think you'll yield some hops. I've grown tomatoes in partly a shaded yard with good results in sunny years.
My Cascades grow on the SW side of the house, near shrubs and partly shaded by a tree. First year they produced less than an ounce dry. They are only in their second season, but have grown impressively. Mine were not free, I think I paid $15 for 5. Four grew. If I ever pass a pound of hops altogether from them, I'm ahead. Plus, it's fun!

 

[ObsidianJester]

So if everything works well, this is two views of the yard from opposite ends. In one picture you can see the string running up to the eaves of the roof where the Glacier is planted. In both you can see a pot next to a tree (A Mulberry no less) that has the centennial rhizomes planted in it.

More pictures to follow if all goes well!

 

[B-Hoppy]

I wanna live where you live! Dude, you'll do fine. I've got a hop plant growing literally at the base of a 60 foot Norway Spruce that made about 15 feet last year. It puts out very healthy growth yet only gets filtered sun from about 3-6pm during the growing season. I took a cutting and moved it to a sunnier location to see what happens. Hop On!!