HALIFAXHOPS
Senior Member
Growers have problems with rhizomes. This has to do with quarantines out in Washington and Oregon. Because they can't ship plants within their own states, they export them to resellers who then distribute the product. The problem really has to do with the fact that you rarely have any idea where your rhizome actually came from. Freshhops, NorthernBrewer, and a host of other salesman don't actually grow their own plants. Instead they get rhizomes in bulk from the fields out west. They may be fresh and stored well, or they may be stored badly and taken from a diseased hopyard that is 20 years old... You just don't know.
May growers report losses of around 50% with rhizomes. Even though they are cheaper, they also tell you to put 2 to 4 rhizomes per hill to ensure a successful start.
It only takes one of our plants per hill to be successful.
The problems that people had growing rhizomes is actually why we started Great Lakes Hops. Our plants have been growing on site for at least a year, which gives you a product that is likely to yield the first season. Our plants take on average of about 2 - 3 years to mature, which is about a year or more faster than most rhizomes. In addition our propagation is done from visually inspected virus indexed stock. That is something you will never find from a rhizome salesman.
Now that is quality!