Another Homegrown Hops thread

I had a small crop my first year - it really wasn't enough to brew with, though I did throw them in along with whatever else I had going into whatever brew I had at the time.
You can trellis on just about anything - the bines will grab hold of anything they can to climb.
Depending on your area, and what side is facing, you can set up anything from a single pole, or an arbor, or anything else - I use a double A-frame, joined across the top (think an older style swingset.) Mine uses legs 12 feet high, the plants go right up and over pretty easily.
There are a bunch of places online with hop-growing specific sub-forums - I'm also a member at Homebrewtalk.com, they have a pretty active hop-growing section.

 

I'm sure there's more to it than just hop variety, but in my garden the only one I'd say made a substantial number of cones the first year was Nugget.

 

I used rhizomes. Sorry, it's been a while...no clue about the vendor.

 

I got some rhizomes for free many years ago and thought I'd give it a go, mainly as you're saying, as a kind of decorative thing on a large pergola. I also grew some against the house, but that's another story, although similar. On the pergola they grew up each of the four posts and did a great job of covering them, but then they just wanted to go upwards and wound around themselves until they were too heavy and fell back down - which didn't look good. I trained them to run along the beams inside of the pergola but the same thing happened, and I got loopy vines hanging down. If I'd had enough beams in the center of the pergola it might have worked, but to be honest, it was really too much work to try to get them to do what I wanted in the first place. They grow rapidly in strong sunlight and you need to tend them everyday, and even after that they're reaching up which isn't all that attractive. Hops want to grow high, they don't want to stop at 6 or 7 feet.

Another option, that I didn't do, but have seen done, is to use grape vines. A neighbor had a great pergola that was probably close to 20' x 20' and completely covered in leaves in the summer so that there was shade underneath. In fall you could just pick grapes off of it.

 

Chinook and Columbus are heavy producers. Columbus was full on year one.

Arbor for a trellis would be great. I plan on having mine climb our porch cover once I get it built.

I suggest using a compost tea and/or miracle gro. I got quick and full growth on mine

 

What are your thoughts about an arched trellis?

 

Great Lakes Hops is fantastic. You’re going to pay more because they are live plants (unless you plant 2-3 rhizomes per hill like some people suggest, then GLH is actually cheaper)... pretty much all varieties will produce something in the first year, and at the same time pretty much all of them will not produce enough to use, unless you grow a lot of plants obviously. I think at the end of the day you just have to decide which variety you will want to use if in a couple of years you have enough cones to amount to anything.
As for limited space, you could plant them in whisky barrels. This will keep the side shoots (which is where the rhizomes come from) at bay. This will however limit the length of its taproot and potentially keep it from producing to its full potential (but you’ll still get plenty of cones). If you’re set on planting them in the ground, just be diligent about cutting back any bines that pop up as a result of those side shoots. After the second year you could even dig a trench around the plant, about 3 feet out and pull out any rhizomes beyond this point and plant them elsewhere or give them to friends.

 

Yes indeed. About 60 bucks from Amazon.

If you want to build your own that is good too!

Cheers!

 

The best part of their plants is they claim to be disease free (I only say claim because I don’t know what kind of testing process they go through and who judges them to be disease free), meanwhile it’s hard to know what kinds of diseases rhizomes might be carrying, even from reputable hop yards. I don’t know specifically about your climate in North Carolina but disease prevention and control is important with hops no matter where you are, and it’s nice to start with clean healthy slate.

 

I use rhizomes and have around 35 bines. Composted manure is excellent and should be dug in a year before, but this year would be fine.
I run rope up 18 or so feet , but it sounds like you are going to be more decorative.

Neem oil is a good organic control and should b sprayed once a week as soon as plant emerge. Stop spraying when the burrs stat to form.

Chemical control is a whole mother issue which can be too envolved for this post.
Have fum

 

I use neem oil and copper... but yes, I only mentioned disease control and didn’t go in depth because you could teach an entire college course on hop maintenance... but also, resources are readily available online with a simple google search

 

Try calling around any of your LHBS. They might carry rhizomes or know of someone who grows/sells them. The two plants I got were from different LHBS from two different sources. Worth a shot.

A benefit might be getting rhizomes already acclimated to your region.

 

You have multiple hop yards in NC and Virginia If one is close I would contact them and see what they suggest for your area (they might even give you a deal on some rhizomes or plants they are changing out). GLH is good, I got most of mine from them. If you are not buying in bulk, I question their shipment method as the few extras I ordered after my main order can in small bags and most did not survive to fall. Also I had some that came stressed. I would say it was me, but the plant on each side of the problem plants I had did fine... I also realize that it is a growing thing, so nothing is certain. Also, yes they sell plants, but it does not guaranty that they are a year old unless you buy the ones that says it is crown. Most of what they sell has been grown for three months and once you get past their 30 day DOA timing, they are not that helpful about things. At the same time I have never had issues with any of the Rhizomes I have bought. My first ten were in large planters, and did very well. Even at one rhizome per planter, they took off. While most places say to cut back the bull shoots, for first year plants, I would almost suggest allowing them to grow to help the plant develop its roots.

I am redoing my deck this year and making a patio instead. With the removal of some trees it will be too hot in the summer for my northern blood, so I plan to make a trellis and have more hops grow up it for shade. I have a coonhound so animals tend to stay out of my yard for the 100' that her tie out goes.

Almost any hop plant will have cones on the first year. There are a lot of dependent variables to it though. Last year I planted 156 plants, and only one of the ten verities did not produce any hops but I knew it wouldn't (Canterbury Goldings AKA EKG). Cascade and Columbus were my top two with Comet a close third to Cascade. I had two pounds of Columbus dry, 1.6 pounds of Cascade dry and 1.5 Comet dry. All my others were in the .5 - 2oz range. Keep them watered, and have a good amount of fertilizer (I used rose fertilizer) and they will be happy.

 

I've done rhizomes and plants both, and plants always do better than the rhizomes the first year. I also use an arbor along with some other ghetto structures just to get them off the ground. Centennial always is my big producer.