I live in central Indiana (zone 5) and have grown Mt. Hood and Cascade Hops with good success in the past. I am now looking to expand my varieties and have a few questions... 1) are there some varieties that will do better than others in this region? 2) are there some varieties that will not do well and why? 3) do I need to worry about cross pollination of varieties? Thanks!
1. American varieties will do well. Chinook, centennial, Nugget, Columbus, Sterling will do well. Probably some others. 2. Goldings and Saaz did nothing for me in SE MI. German varieties don't produce much in a hot dry Midwest summer. 3. You plant female plants from rhizomes. Unless there is a male or hermaphrodite plant in the area you will get no seeds. Planting seeds is not recommended unless you are a hop breeder.
If you don't mind the 'Big Ten' clash with our state schools, you can get a lot of info from the Michigan State Ag website about hops. I'm not a hops grower, but when I have a question on this topic I usually find the answer here: http://hops.msu.edu/getting_started
I went to IU but frequently have to use Purdue's ag site so I'm used to it. Thanks... looks very helpful!!! Sean
Can't get them for another 5-10 years as they are patented strains. I think Simcoe is locked until 2019, Amarillo shortly after that.
I'm growing Magnum, as well as a buddy of mine, and they seem to do quite well in Eastern Iowa. Oh yeah, GO HAWKS!
It was pointed out that those are patented, some other new ones like Mosaic, equinox, and Ahtanum are patented. Edit - if you can buy them at the LHBS or online they are public, plenty of varieties to grow that make good beer.
