Hop Growing in the garden

[Tony1951]

Anybody growing hops successfully? I've seen the odd comment about it and thought other people might be like me and just starting to have a go and could maybe do with advice from folk who have already worked out the problems.

I just received three roots of Prima Donna from Willingham Nurseries.

http://www.willingham-nurseries.co.uk/hop.html

They came in a few days and I received three well packed roots. Doesn't look a lot - just a cut off fleshy root and attendant long rootlets. They are in great condition and I put them in the garden under some damp soil to keep them in good nick until I decide where to plant them.

I chose Prima Donna (hop is called First Gold) because it only grows to three meters tops and is probably easier for my situation. I'm intending to enrich the panting place with some good organic matter (half rotted spent grains out of the compost bin) and I will make some kind of trellis to train them up. They will need a good sunny position I understand.

I'd appreciate any advice from experienced or new growers. Growing the hops yourself takes the brewing process one step further towards doing the whole thing yourself. Short of growing your own barley and malting it you have the whole process in your own hands.

Cheers

 

[Tony1951]

I am having a go at growing hops in my third year now. I must admit it is very satisfying using the water from the cooling process, when its cold of course, to feed the hops. it is almost like a perfect end to the brewing process by sending the waste water back to the hop.

Good idea. There is a horrific amount of water used in washing, cooling and cleaning, I've noticed. It's probably twenty pints of water for one pint of beer. Glad I'm not on a meter here. :-o

Of course here in the north of the UK we are not exactly short of water so I have no guilt really.

 

[Tony1951]

I placed a fence post either end of mine then and tied some 10mm rope between then over from the post across the patio. It makes a great natural Gazeebo in he summer and everyone comments on it

What hop are you growing and how many? Do you train the vines laterally along the rope? How strong does the support need to be? Any photos? :thumb:

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Tony 1951, Im a very experienced hop grower, have done for years.
Firstly dig them up, your soil is way too cold and wet to be planting out at this time of year, they will just rot away.
Put them in pots with semi dry compost in a very sheltered position, ideally in a warm position (Side of house, out of rain/snow/wind/green house).
In the spring, move the pots somewhere warmer. Leave them in the pots. About March/April, when the weather warms up, they will start to send up shoots. Still leave them in the pots and grow on through the summer. When they get too big for the pot (check the root ball) re-pot too bigger pots. Next August (yes August) plant them outside, where you want them to grow.
HTH any Q`s please ask as i dont want you to loose your plants.
P.S. How much did you pay for your Prima Donna rhizomes?

Just re-read your post...How far north are you?

 

[johnnyboy1965]

i have about 10 plants as for how do train them to grow laterally I have constructed well what can be best described as a goal net with 12 inch square holes. from 10mm rope. At the top of the posts I continue single lengths of rope and have connected these to the house wall with eye bolts. The hops naturally follow the rope across the patio as the weight of the vine clings and wraps itself along the rope. When they are in full leaf and hops on they look fantastic. I have even been showing my brothers grand children them and they wanted to take some hops to school to show their teacher. At the moment the frame is bare but I could send you a picture if you are interested either of the bare frame or when they are in full leaf.

The trouble with growing hops latteraly (sp) is that they dont set flower as much as if they grow vertically, dont get me wrong, they do produce flowers/cones, just not as many. Hop vines are beasts of plants, 30ft in a season. It is nearly impossible to build a support system to grow hops in our gardens or allotments

 

[mike-os]

about how much dry hops can you get off a plant?.... i am thinking of trying this, just a bit further north than you Johnnyboy

Space for me is really not an issue, like the idea of a green gazebo too

 

[Tony1951]

Tony 1951, Im a very experienced hop grower, have done for years.
Firstly dig them up, your soil is way too cold and wet to be planting out at this time of year, they will just rot away.
Put them in pots with semi dry compost in a very sheltered position, ideally in a warm position (Side of house, out of rain/snow/wind/green house).
In the spring, move the pots somewhere warmer. Leave them in the pots. About March/April, when the weather warms up, they will start to send up shoots. Still leave them in the pots and grow on through the summer. When they get too big for the pot (check the root ball) re-pot too bigger pots. Next August (yes August) plant them outside, where you want them to grow.
HTH any Q`s please ask as i dont want you to loose your plants.
P.S. How much did you pay for your Prima Donna rhizomes?

Just re-read your post...How far north are you?

Thanks for the tips Johnny. I am intending to plant them on a raised bed south facing. It isn't cold or wet at all so I should get away with it I think. They are currently heeled in in a very light peaty loam in a big IKEA type growing bag just for storage right up against the house. They are neither that cold or wet in there. The place I am thinking of planting them is not cold and wet either.

I paid 7.50 each for the three prima donna and about a fiver for postage. Not that cheap, but not so bad either maybe. Obviously the supplier has to make a living.

I live in Newcastle upon Tyne. 60 cm of rain each year (24 inches) and quite sunny. In summer we get very long days, the sun rising not much after 0400 hrs and setting at about 2200.

My reference to putting them under wet soil may be misleading. The soil was damp only and well broken up light stuff that I had used to grow 60 oak trees from acorns. I'm a guerilla oak tree planter. :twisted:

 

[Tony1951]

i have about 10 plants as for how do train them to grow laterally I have constructed well what can be best described as a goal net with 12 inch square holes. from 10mm rope. At the top of the posts I continue single lengths of rope and have connected these to the house wall with eye bolts. The hops naturally follow the rope across the patio as the weight of the vine clings and wraps itself along the rope. When they are in full leaf and hops on they look fantastic. I have even been showing my brothers grand children them and they wanted to take some hops to school to show their teacher. At the moment the frame is bare but I could send you a picture if you are interested either of the bare frame or when they are in full leaf.

I'd love to see a picture of them in full glory . You can post onto the thread.

 

[junior1]

I got 2 hop plants for Xmas one fuggles and one cascade. I've planted both in a good size pot each with good soil they are at the back of my house where they will get the sun from a boy 1130am onwards. The weather is cold and had a little snow and frost should I cover them with anything to protect them

 

[martinjamesford]

Tony 1951, Im a very experienced hop grower, have done for years.
Firstly dig them up, your soil is way too cold and wet to be planting out at this time of year, they will just rot away.
Put them in pots with semi dry compost in a very sheltered position, ideally in a warm position (Side of house, out of rain/snow/wind/green house).
In the spring, move the pots somewhere warmer. Leave them in the pots. About March/April, when the weather warms up, they will start to send up shoots. Still leave them in the pots and grow on through the summer. When they get too big for the pot (check the root ball) re-pot too bigger pots. Next August (yes August) plant them outside, where you want them to grow.
HTH any Q`s please ask as i dont want you to loose your plants.
P.S. How much did you pay for your Prima Donna rhizomes?

Just re-read your post...How far north are you?

I've got some rhizomes sitting in my fridge, waiting to be dealt with.

So grow them in pots until august 2017? Should they be supported in any way in the pots once they start to send up shoots - Give them a wigwam of poles like you would for beans?

 

[Budgie]

I'd love to try this myself, but I think I might be a bit restricted by space. I have a decent size garden, but I doubt the neighbours would be over chuffed with giant hop plants blocking their light out. I could put a trellis on the back of the house which is west facing and gets some decent sun (when it appears in Durham!)

A good it of research to do though I think before I decide what to do.

 

[Math_thomas]

Thought I would add to this post instead of writing a new one because there are people that know their stuff hope that's ok.
So some posts on other forums say you should only let 2-3 shoots grow and prune the other shoots but others say in the first year you should let all shoots grow? Can any one clarify?
Thank you

 

[jceg316]

Thought I would add to this post instead of writing a new one because there are people that know their stuff hope that's ok.
So some posts on other forums say you should only let 2-3 shoots grow and prune the other shoots but others say in the first year you should let all shoots grow? Can any one clarify?
Thank you

I started growing hops last year and decided to let them all grow instead of trim. I'm growing a Cascade, Fuggles and Saaz. They are all shooting right now and am gonna cut the shoots and cook them!

 

[Math_thomas]

I started growing hops last year and decided to let them all grow instead of trim. I'm growing a Cascade, Fuggles and Saaz. They are all shooting right now and am gonna cut the shoots and cook them!

Ok. why did you do that? Did you think it helped make a healthyer plant? I'm a bit confused what to do.
I'm growing a cascade, fuggles and challenger
Thanks for the reply

 

[jceg316]

Ok. why did you do that? Did you think it helped make a healthyer plant? I'm a bit confused what to do.
I'm growing a cascade, fuggles and challenger
Thanks for the reply

I did this because most places online said to. Luckily my wife is an organic farmer/gardener so after asking her she said in the first year the you want the plant to grow; it's not very strong and you want it to develop.

Year 2 the plant is established and you get stronger bines after the first ones have been cut.

Once I cut back my hops after the first year I had to dig by the saaz rhizome, it was huge! I managed to cut off loads and gave them to family and friends to grow their own. I can tell by the shoots this season as well the fuggles rhizome has spread massively.

 

[Richie_asg1]

It seems as though there are some successes here, which is encouraging. Perhaps in a few years time some members could offer cuttings to others.

Would it be possible to grow them in greenhouse base soil, and let them out to crawl over netting on the outside? They could cover the whole thing if they get cut back every year, and would save on shading, and provide a large support.

 

[MyQul]

Just to draw attention to this thread to @johnnyboy1965 as, from reading his previous posts, he looks like he has plenty of experience at growing hops and may be able to answer some of the questions and queries in the above posts

 

[BeerCat]

Where do you buy the plants from? Would like to have my garden full. :)

 

[jceg316]

It seems as though there are some successes here, which is encouraging. Perhaps in a few years time some members could offer cuttings to others.

Would it be possible to grow them in greenhouse base soil, and let them out to crawl over netting on the outside? They could cover the whole thing if they get cut back every year, and would save on shading, and provide a large support.

What I'd really like to do is a rhizome swap; forum members offer their rhizome cuttings. I can swap a cascade and styrian goldings for a tettnang and brambling X for example. So +1 to that idea! If I remember after harvest season (when you can trim the rhizome) I'll start a thread.

Or even if members with fully developed plants (2+ years old) wanted to swap some of their harvest for someone else's, that would be pretty cool.

In terms of growing in a greenhouse, I think that would work at the right time of year. The soil temperature is a trigger for the rhizome to start growing. It might be a shock to the plant if the greenhosue is one temp, then the leaves go outside where it's way colder, might cause problems.

It might be best to keep it in the greenhouse and you could probably grow some varieties which need warmer climates.

 

[Tony1951]

I just bought an East Kent Golding from these folks. These are their English hop varieties:

http://essentiallyhops.co.uk/acatalog/English-Hop-Varieties-ENGLISH.html#SID=7

Best plan is to phone them and talk about what they still have left as it is getting rather late in the season now. [email protected] 01227 830666

I ordered my hop by phone and they were helpful. The package arrived two days later.

Cheers