Hop growing 2019

[chrissyr63]

I know I'm a bit early!

But - my wife bought me a couple of hop roots for my birthday in October and they have just arrived. Look a bit dry but what should I do with them?
I would like to start them off in pots - have a couple of Aldi self watering pots (about 30cm*30*30) would these work for the first year?
Do I put them in now and is a bag of organic compost OK?
Reading through previous post looks like I need to put them in a sheltered position like side of house until the worse of winter is over. In London so not usually the coldest of winters anyway.
any advice appreciated as was a nice present .

C

 

[Dutto]

I planted mine in a big pot that enabled me to cut the bottom out when it was established.

I used Lidl Multi-purpose Compost and it took off like a train; but that was in March!

Here are the first week of progress followed by photographs after it had been moved over to France and buried.

The last one is in June of this year - and unfortunately I haven't been back there to see how it got along or to trim is back 'cos I was waiting for an Eye Operation that took the NHS from June to the end of November to arrange and perform!

I guess that planting it now and keeping it somewhere damp, dark and frost free will see it start to grow about February.

Check out this link ...

https://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/pdf-printouts/Growing_Hop_Rhizomes.pdf

... where it tells you that planting early is better than planting late!

Enjoy!

 

[Honk]

I like the idea of self watering pots but reckon 30x30 a bit on the small side. Having said that I've seen photos of hops growing successfully in smaller pots so you'll probably be ok for year 1. Go bigger if you intend keeping them potted though.
Can't advise on when to plant.

 

[Cwrw666]

You need to plant them straight away - dry root plants will just dry up and die if you don't plant them at once. They won't start growing til the spring of course.
And keep them frost free if you can.

 

[terrym]

There is a large thread on hop growing here with plenty of ideas
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/hop-plants-rhizomes-growing-report.69518/
And this might also be useful too
https://essentiallyhops.co.uk/acatalog/Growing-Hops.html
I planted two Prima Donna (First Gold) rhizomes in early January this year in pots. I used a mixture of potting compost, compost from the composter and John Innes No 3. My pots are 350mm at the top. If you are growing normal size hops unlike my dwarf hops my suggestion is to go for the biggest pot you can cope with. Hops are, apparently, big feeders and mature plants have a big deep root system.
And I would get your rhizomes in the pots asap, and keep them in a sheltered spot, until you put them into their permanent spot. I layed my rhizomes horizontally just below the surface and they both did OK this year, and I got hops off them even though its the first year. The first shoots came up in mid March . I have quite a number of shoots off the cut down stems at present, some nearly 40mm long, whether they last the winter out I have no idea
Finally my big lesson in my first year was that the pot that caught the most sun did better than the one in more shade.
Good luck, and look out for ladybirdv nymphs in mid summer feeding off the aphids

 

[chrissyr63]

Thanks all

Think I will plant them out in the pots and cover the top a bit as we have had something digging out our other pots ( not sure if it is a bird or a fox).

 

[terrym]

Thanks all

Think I will plant them out in the pots and cover the top a bit as we have had something digging out our other pots ( not sure if it is a bird or a fox).

Sounds familiar. I had to cover the top of my pots with netting to stop the blackbirds poking about looking for worms.

 

[chrissyr63]

Well they are in now. Brewers Gold and Fuggles. Need to get some netting to cover.

 

[prog99]

Watch out for squirrels at the moment. One of them has had a rummage around my hop plant with fortunately no damage to the root system.
And in the spring protect from anything that likes juicy shoots.