Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[Northern_Brewer]

It’s behind where it was last year. I’m in the north of Scotland for reference.

Yep, as a regular visitor to Sutherland I'm familiar with southerly places like Ross & Cromarty!

That's why I was careful to frame my comments in terms of England, but just generally I wouldn't use weird years like 2022/3 as any kind of benchmark - last year was weird in being one of the hottest June/Julys of all time (even if August was pants) but with average-to-above-average rainfall rather than the drought that usually goes with high temperatures. So it had great growing conditions for the bines, even if the weather wasn't so great at the critical time for flavour development, particularly of the early varieties. This year has been a bit more normal but still a bit on the early side compared to the long-term averages (in England).

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

It's not been the easiest of years, particularly in Kent, between the warm winter which led to spring dormancy (something the Goldings family are particularly prone to), and the summer drought. Digging it up will only disrupt the root system which protects it against drought, so I wouldn't move it unless there's something obviously wrong with the location. You might want to think about how to give it more water though, so your winter job could be installing some kind of irrigation system, or a better trellis system to support it.

Good tips cheers NB
I’ll keep EKG where it is and give it more love

 

[ChrisD123]

It’s behind where it was last year. I’m in the north of Scotland for reference.

Really interested in starting growing hops myself and in the same area...ross-shire....are they difficult to grow up here?...i have a an area in the garden earmarked with a fencing etc in place for them to grow up. just looking for somewhere to source rhizomes now.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Really interested in starting growing hops myself and in the same area...ross-shire....are they difficult to grow up here?...i have a an area in the garden earmarked with a fencing etc in place for them to grow up. just looking for somewhere to source rhizomes now.

One of your problems is that "full-size" hop plants grow to 20' or more, which isn't ideal anywhere with strong winds. But the only dwarf variety (ie 10-14') available to the public is First Gold, which for ...reasons... is known as Prima Donna when sold as rhizomes to the retail trade. But that's OK, it's a great "starter" variety even aside from the dwarfness, it's tasty and is fairly disease resistant.

Of the tall hops Challenger is a very forgiving plant to grow and is normally another good place to start, but is quite late-maturing. Same is true of many of the "citrusy" varieties with Cascade heritage, and eg Ernest. So it depends a bit on how much risk you want to take with the mid/late-September weather. If you wanted something earlier then Bullion might be a shout, it's more on the blackcurranty end of the spectrum.

For buying your best bet is A-Plus, who also have a bunch of information on planting etc. They like a bit of frost and plenty of water, but they are quite prone to fungal diseases. Traditionally they were planted on a small "hill" to ensure water didn't settle around the base of the stem.

https://www.aplus-hops.co.uk/products/prima-donna-bare-root-hop-plant-pre-order