1st attempt at growing hops

[dan125]

Inspired by the hop growing exploits of other forumites I wanted to give it a go this year and thought it might be interesting to start a thread showing progress, and give more seasoned growers a chance to chip in with some advice when I make the expected mistakes, as I'm not an expert gardener by any means.


I took delivery of a healthy looking cascade rhizome about a month ago from Smiddylad for a bargain price :hat: and as recommended have started it off indoors in a pot. It broke the surface a couple of weeks ago and since has gone from this;



To this




I'm in Kent so hopefully have a decent climate for hop growing, and I've had the pot outside during the day during the recent mild/sunny-ish spell.

The only space I've got to grow it is probably too small as the bed is only about 2ft wide, but I've dug it over, weeded and added some compost -




And I'm planning to train it along the fence, where there is plenty of space;




So the first big dilemma is - when to plant out?
Not for a while I know, but its growing pretty quickly!

:

 

[Bodleigh Head]

Excellent, I have three rhizomes coming in the post
EKG
Cobb
Fuggles

I am just going to stick them straight in the ground and see what happens. Lots of powdery mildew here so they might just keel over and die ... £28 for the three rhizomes, so it will not be fun if they don't grow ... but it's got to be better than putting money on the horsies.

 

[dan125]

�£28 for the three rhizomes, so it will not be fun if they don't grow ... but it's got to be better than putting money on the horsies.

Ha, you're right there. I think aphids will be my problem if the dogs don't dig it up within half an hour of planting :lol:

 

[Honk]

Mine arrived a week ago and went straight in the ground outside, I've got a sort of bubblewrap cloche over them to protect them a bit.

Prima. Donna has gone in a mock beer barrel pot in a nice sunny spot against the shed and EKG in the ground to hopefully trail along the fence. I read an idea that as they prefer to grow upwards you can suspend twine and keep letting more out before they reach the top so I may try this to start with.

Regarding Aphid's certain plants are meant to be good at repelling them, I think a type of mint is one so I may plant in a pot nearby, need to relook this up though for exact details. May amend this post or update thread later.

 

[braziliain]

Watching with great interest. At homebrew club last week there was a chap who grew his own and his beers made with them were excellent. I felt quite inspired to try and I have a south facing garage wall that could be a good spot.

 

[Honk]

The link below has a list of plants that should help repel aphids.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=318822

Be great if a few of us could exchange different types of hops later in the year and also cuttings / rhizomes.

 

[marlon]

Great idea for a thread Dan, you're a star - again!! I never thought of starting them off indoors, be interesting to follow your progress. Can you post a few pictures as the season moves on?

I planted a Phoenix late last year - April - outdoors in a large pot. It grew pretty fast, similar to a runner bean plant. It got attacked by egg laying Comma butterflies. I didn't notice until my healthy, sturdy looking hop was covered in striped cattapillars. I peeled them all off and sent them on their way and figured that I was lucky that I wasn't away on holiday at the time.
This year I bought a Fuggle rhizome to keep the Phoenix company.

 

[TartanSpecial]

I think I planted mine out in April last year, and covered them with fleece when there was any risk of frost.. Dig over your 2foot by X foot bed and incorporate some compost/organic matter. That size bed should be fine. Might be useful to put some trellis or wire mesh (wilko do a good green plastic covered wide hole wire mesh) or something for the bines to cling onto, or run some thick natural fibre twine lengths up the fence in a fan shape and attach them to the top of the fence...thats probably the cheapest option. I used sisal natural fibre rope from screwfix...worked fine though will need to buy a new roll this year sinc eit naturally degrades.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/sisal-natural-rope-light-brown-6mm-x-30-5m/62423
I'm pleased with my First Golds and Cascade.... they are not vacuum packed, only in sealed plastic bags in the freezer but they have worked fine in the beers I've brewed with them

edit: correction it was the 9.5mm sisal rope I used not the 6mm
second edit:..too much beer the first time...its the 6mm sisal from screwfix I used...just bought more today for the coming season

 

[Jamie93]

Might be an idea to bring them on in a greenhouse or box until end of May-June as the uk weather is so unpredictable. Take it from me I'm a gardener

 

[foxbat]

I've got Target, Fuggle, EKG and Challenger. All now in their third year. The best tip I can give is that they need as much sun exposure as you can give them and keep them fed and watered during dry spells. They will naturally grow directly towards the sun so if you're planning on training them along a fence then start the plant at the end of the fence further from the Sun so they'll naturally want to grow in the direction you want. They grow extremely quickly. Seriously, look away for five minutes and that's another foot.

You can take cuttings even in the first year to make more plants. I chose to allow 3 bines on the plant to grow fully and used others for cuttings. I must have planted 8 or 9 cuttings in about May and at least 6 took off and I had to give them away to other people in the village. Our local pub even took two Fuggles for their beer garden!

 

[dan125]

I read an idea that as they prefer to grow upwards you can suspend twine and keep letting more out before they reach the top so I may try this to start with.

I'd heard that they'll probably need to be regularly wound round the twine when growing more horizontally and like this idea thanks, but will have to think about how I could suspend the twine - was just gonna run some diagonally across a few panels into some screwed in eyelets.
:

 

[dan125]

Watching with great interest. At homebrew club last week there was a chap who grew his own and his beers made with them were excellent. I felt quite inspired to try and I have a south facing garage wall that could be a good spot.

Glad to hear the beers were good - it would be great to get enough cones in year 1 for a green hop brew, but maybe wishful thinking.

 

[dan125]

Great idea for a thread Dan, you're a star - again!! I never thought of starting them off indoors, be interesting to follow your progress. Can you post a few pictures as the season moves on?
.

Thanks Marlon - Yep, that's the plan - right up to brewing with at least a few cones in the autumn hopefully.
Did you get any usable hops last year?

 

[marlon]

Thanks Marlon - Yep, that's the plan - right up to brewing with at least a few cones in the autumn hopefully.
Did you get any usable hops last year?

Nah, not really. There were a few small ones, but not enough to do anything with, so I left them on the bines. Hoping for better things this summer.

 

[braziliain]

Glad to hear the beers were good - it would be great to get enough cones in year 1 for a green hop brew, but maybe wishful thinking.

The same chap said it was year 3 before he was getting really useful crops I'm afraid to say. Worth the wait though! He had a green hopped beer with him that was delicious.

 

[Robin54]

The same chap said it was year 3 before he was getting really useful crops I'm afraid to say. Worth the wait though! He had a green hopped beer with him that was delicious.

I really fancy a green hopped beer. I tried one at a festival with forumite (Simon) and it was delicious.

 

[foxbat]

So the first big dilemma is - when to plant out?

Plant out after the last frost of the year. If you get caught out and there's a frost forecast then simply make a tent out of a large plastic sack for the night so that frost doesn't settle on the plant.

 

[Fil]

having been attempting horizontal hop training for 3 years now, The plant isnt too keen on playing ball, as it will allways concentrate growth at its highest point.

to get the best result zig zag twine down the panel left to right so you can always train/wind the bines around an upward heading line all be it at an angle and hopefully maximise the growth capacity too. be prepared to unwind and rewind on a daily basis too.

When it comes to harvesting in the 1st 3 years DONT chop the bines down to harvest, but pick off the bine leaving the leaves and bines intact to gather sunlight and feed the rootstock until they go brown n dir and then do chop back

dont fuss over em either even if it looks like its dead and not gonna sprout 1 year leave it alone and it probably will eventually.. fwiw i was an intended job away from digging up my 'dead' hops before they sprouted for a bumper crop in yr 3 :)

even with ideal soil and conditions it can take a few years to establish a plant..

 

[Druncan]

Got two cascade roots acclimatising buried in the garden. Going to transplant into pots. (too windy up here) and move into conservatory. Adding mint and nasturtium to control aphids.

 

[dan125]

I think I planted mine out in April last year, and covered them with fleece when there was any risk of frost.. Dig over your 2foot by X foot bed and incorporate some compost/organic matter. That size bed should be fine. Might be useful to put some trellis or wire mesh (wilko do a good green plastic covered wide hole wire mesh) or something for the bines to cling onto, or run some thick natural fibre twine lengths up the fence in a fan shape and attach them to the top of the fence...thats probably the cheapest option. I used sisal natural fibre rope from screwfix...worked fine though will need to buy a new roll this year sinc eit naturally degrades.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/sisal-natural-rope-light-brown-6mm-x-30-5m/62423
I'm pleased with my First Golds and Cascade.... they are not vacuum packed, only in sealed plastic bags in the freezer but they have worked fine in the beers I've brewed with them

edit: correction it was the 9.5mm sisal rope I used not the 6mm

Thanks TS, I was thinking to wait until April before planting out - it might need some support in the pot before then though.

I happen to work a 2 minute walk from a 'master ropemaker' so though I would buy local and was gonna use this:

http://www.master-ropemakers.co.uk/coir-plant-twine-p-969.html

And as luck would have it there's a brewery halfway between my office & the ropemaker if I need a rest on the way back :whistle: