thinking about growing my own hops, and i have some questions.

[SupaR]

i live in israel, and here the hops is much more expensive(about 30$ per lb.),

so i thought about growing on my own, i have some previous experice with plants (red hot peppers, red sweet peppers, some tomatoes, watermelons).

is it possible to grow it in place as hot as Califonia? About 95-100f (65~80% moistness, i live nearby the sea)at summer and about 50-62f at winter.

if it is possible, where can i buy rhizomes that ship international?

Thank You For Your Help!

P.S:what is the difference between flowers to pellets?

 

[SC_Ryan]

You can absolutely grow hops in those conditions. The key is making sure they have plenty of water when it is hot. Hops are a seasonal plant so you will want to plant your rhizomes in the spring. You harvest in the early fall then the plant dies back entirely until the next spring. Don't expect a lot of hops until at least year two or three though.

I don't know of a specific place that ships internationally but I'm sure if you did a little research on the internet you could find one.

The difference between flowers and pellets? Flowers are the whole hop cone. Pellets are flowers that have been ground down and compressed into a pellet form.

 

[Randar]

i live in israel, and here the hops is much more expensive(about 30$ per lb.),

so i thought about growing on my own, i have some previous experice with plants (red hot peppers, red sweet peppers, some tomatoes, watermelons).

is it possible to grow it in place as hot as Califonia? About 95-100f (65~80% moistness, i live nearby the sea)at summer and about 50-62f at winter.

if it is possible, where can i buy rhizomes that ship international?

Thank You For Your Help!

P.S:what is the difference between flowers to pellets?

Hops need a cold dormant cycle and are usually only grown successfully north of the 30th parallel (which you are). But because it is so moderate in the winter, it may or may not work for you depending on where in Israel you're based.

As for hops suppliers, you're likely to be better off trying to find a source in Europe, although the varieties that grow in Bohemia and Bavaria have a much different climate than what you are growing. Not sure if US growers are allowed to ship internationally due to powdery mildew quarantine.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Hops need a cold dormant cycle and are usually only grown successfully north of the 30th parallel (which you are). But because it is so moderate in the winter, it may or may not work for you depending on where in Israel you're based.

As for hops suppliers, you're likely to be better off trying to find a source in Europe, although the varieties that grow in Bohemia and Bavaria have a much different climate than what you are growing. Not sure if US growers are allowed to ship internationally due to powdery mildew quarantine.

Not true. The seed needs vernalization not the rhisome.

If your statement were the case then hops would not thrive in tropical clime such as many asiatic regions thus negating the need for rigourous quarantine of imports.

 

[Randar]

Not true. The seed needs vernalization not the rhisome.

If your statement were the case then hops would not thrive in tropical clime such as many asiatic regions thus negating the need for rigourous quarantine of imports.

Thriving as a purely vegetative plant (like Kudzu) is much different than trying to grow for flower production.

It's not an issue in my region so I've not really looked into it, but is it the vernalization or the light cycle that triggers flowering (or a combination)?

 

[Randar]

This link suggests a minimum of several weeks of 35-50 F degree weather or colder with a preference of 6 weeks at soil temps at or below 38F

http://www.jackofallbrews.org/documents/Hop Garden.pdf

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

IIRC, othe light cycle triggers the flowering of hops. And vernalization of the seed is only needed to set the plant in motion.

I could be misinformed. there is a lot of mis-information out there.

Well, that would be the first article that cites scientific reference to vernalization needs of hops. Most are mere rhetorical regurgitation. Too bad there is no reference to the source material.

 

[Randar]

IIRC, othe light cycle triggers the flowering of hops. And vernalization of the seed is only needed to set the plant in motion.

I could be misinformed. there is a lot of mis-information out there.

Well, that would be the first article that cites scientific reference to vernalization needs of hops. Most are mere rhetorical regurgitation. Too bad there is no reference to the source material.

Yeah, agree that article is a bit vague. You have said "seed" a couple of times. Are you using that term to disqualify hops from vernalization requirements since we are dealing with rhizomes and female-only plants, so no seeds are involved in the process? I have seen documentation of other rhizome based species that require vernalization, so I do not think it is a phenomenon unique to seeds.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Yeah, agree that article is a bit vague. You have said "seed" a couple of times. Are you using that term to disqualify hops from vernalization requirements since we are dealing with rhizomes and female-only plants, so no seeds are involved in the process? I have seen documentation of other rhizome based species that require vernalization, so I do not think it is a phenomenon unique to seeds.

Not suggesting that it is unique to only seeds. Just hops.

But as mentioned, available resources for the homegrower are usually extremely vague and often presented by people having no expertise in the study of the plant species.

 

[SupaR]

thank you for your advices and opinions,

i think i will try it out, does any one knows this online store?:

http://ebrew.com/beer/hop_rhizomes.htm#top

is it reliable? did any one bought from it?

 

[deanpowers]

Supra, I live in Israel also. Did you succeed in growing hops? Where do you get your rhizomes?

Regards Dean
0525361098
[email protected]

 

[deanpowers]

Hi,

I live in Israel also. Did you succeed in finding a source of hop rhizome.

Regards,

Dean

[email protected]

 

[CBRent]

I have purchased hop seeds from around the world from eBay. There is a lot of hit and miss with seeds. Then again I'm paying a few bucks for a bunch of seeds. My biggest investment is time.

 

[Jipper]

Hey All,

Just stumbled upon this thread and thought I'd chime in that our hop rhizome presale has started, and we're now taking pre-orders. The available varietals can be found at the following link:

http://morebeer.com/category/hop-rhizomes.html

Unfortunately, shipping rhizomes internationally is illegal as they're considered a live plant. Also, even if it were legal, I don't know how well they'd survive that long of a shipping time. Sorry for the bad news, but good luck on your search!

Cheers,
Matt