Virus and Disease Free Hops
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Hop Diseases and Deficiencies
A little information on virus and disease free hops. Generally you do not need to worry about virus and disease free hops. If a hop rhizome or hop plant vendor sold a diseased product, how long do you think it would take in today’s connected world for word to get out? There is an actual disease free / virus free hops product out there, but they only come from the Pacific northwest – Oregon and Washington states – nowhere else at the present time to my knowledge. These VF (virus Free) plants are certified by Washington State University.
Hops, like any other plant are susceptible to viral, bacterial and fungal diseases as well as pests and nutritional (to the plant) deficiencies. Here is a list of hops diseases. If you chose to buy a virus free varietal, make sure it has documentation to back it up. Some unscrupulous vendors have been claiming their hop plants to be disease and virus free because they are created from cuttings as opposed to rhizomes – THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DISEASE FREE PLANTS. Below is an excerpt from an actual hop farmer who knows what he is talking about.
For those of you with questions regarding potted hops. We have noticed some people are selling potted hops as virus and disease free. They have claimed that the plant is virus and disease free because it comes from a cutting and not from a rhizome. That is not true. You see, the diseases that they are talking about are systemic. This means it is and will be all throughtout the plant or as stated in the dictionary: Systemic = “Relating to or affecting the entire body or an entire organism”. Always. So any new growth will have these diseases. Namely hop stunt viroid (HSV), powdery mildew, and vert wilt.
If the claim is that the cutting is virus and disease free then it has had to come from a plant that was certified virus free(VF). The only people in the country offering those, to my knowledge, is the Washington State University Hop clean program. And these have only been offered to individuals in the Pacific Northwest.
The other consideration is the fact that almost all of the propagated varieties come from the northwest. Many of them from the Oregon State, and Washington State Universities hop programs. I know the OSU Hop program has been developing varietals at least since the 1960′s. So i’m wondering. Where did these people get their plants from? Almost certainly from rhizome stock. And guaranteed from the northwest.
Buyer beware. Ask for proof of VF lineage.
In conclusion, don’t be fooled by individuals selling hops as “clean and virus free.” And certainly anything that is “certified” will have paperwork. Don’t be afraid to ask.
Stephen Hollingsworth
Northwesthops.com
Homebrew – Why We Grow Hops
By · CommentsHomebrew- that’s what we do with our hops. Hops can be used for other purposes as well, such as
Homebrew Wort
herbal treatments, hop pillows, hop tea, hop bine wreaths, privacy fences, cover for arbors, pergolas, gazebos… Hops as an herbal ingredient has relaxing qualities that can be combined with other relaxing herbs to create stress reducing teas and supplements and sleep aids. In this high stress world, who couldn’t use a little help relaxing, de-stressing and sleeping?
Stress Reducing Herbs
- Hops
- Camomile
- Kava Kava
- St. Johns Wort
- Lavender
- Valerian
- Skullcap
- Schisandra
- Motherwort
- Catnip
- Lemonbalm
- Passionflower
- Ashwaganda
- Red Clover
- California Poppy
- Many More herbs
Homebrewing
Back to homebrewing and the major focus of this blog, growing hops. Hops counteract the sweetness of malts (sugars) used in the making of beers and ales. That is the bitterness factor of hops. They also add aroma, clarity, head retention, anti microbial and natural preservative properties. As you can see, hops are very important to beer/ale making. Hops are one of the 4 must have ingredients of beer – hops, malt, water and yeast. German beer law – Reinheitsgebot, also known as the beer purity law or purity order, demands only water malt and hops – yeast was acquired naturally from the air or added as a sample of wort from a previous batch of beer or ale.
Variations of the amounts and types of malts, hops and yeast (and sometimes, other adjuncts), create the almost limitless styles, flavors and aromas of ales and beers. The possibilities are almost endless when it comes to making your own beers and ales. Unless you have your hops analyzed for bitterness (alpha and beta acids), you never know for sure how they will turn out. Variations in weather and nutrients can alter these properties year to year. To me, that is a good thing, something new and different each year. Like fine wine, some years will be better than others.
We grow hops to further our experience into home brewing. Saving money on growing our own hops, avoiding shortages, sharing hops with homebrewing friends are some of the benefits. As an avid gardener, I simply enjoy growing them and watching their daily growth – up to a foot a day! Hops are easy to grow. All they require is direct sunlight, water and fertile soil and something to climb (rope or twine is best). Hops are inexpensive to grow on a small scale and once established, come up every year for up to 50 years of producing hop cones!
If you make your own beer or ales or are considering it, grow some hops. Depending upon the styles of ales or beers you want to make, determines what type of hops you should grow. Basically, you want at least one bittering hop and one aroma type hop – more hop varieties are better. A basic instruction on growing hops can be found here ==> growing hops . That is why we grow beer hops – to homebrew.
Overwintering Hop Plants
By · CommentsProtecting Hops From Winter
Protecting Hops From 30 to 40 Below Zero Temperatures
Here in Bloomington Minnesota, the winter temps can reach 30 to 40 degrees below zero fahrenheit. Hops are hardy plants, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. When the ground has an insulating layer of snow, there is no issue. Where I have my hops alongside my garage, the wind can roar through and blow away that insulating snow leaving the ground unprotected from a hard freeze. I lost a Fuggle container hop this way – the wind blew away the mound of snow I had surrounding the large container. Left exposed, the Fuggle root stock hard froze and died.
Insulated Hop Plant
I leave the hop bines up after harvest so the leaves can gather additional energy for next year’s growth. I use a pulley system to lower the bines for harvest, then raise them again. The energy is stored in the root stock also known as the crown. After a couple of hard frosts and the leaves die off. then I cut the bines off just above ground level and bury the hop mounds with compost then cover with grass cuttings and leaves from fall mowing / leaf bagging. This extra insulation has helped to keep them alive through a couple of winters so far. They come back stronger and with more hop sprouts each year.
The leaves and grass also break down with the compost and supply some organic fertilizer for the hops. After my run in with a boron deficiency this year that almost killed my Magnum hops, I have and am going to supplement the soil with kelp and other organic mineral and trace mineral supplements to prevent any deficiency conditions. I also noticed that when I sprayed the hops bines with an iron and boron spray, the leaves became huge – up to 10 inches across! Apparently they have been deficient since day one even though I have had decent harvests.
If you live in a cold winter area, it wouldn’t hurt to do this your hops as extra insurance. Who knows, it may help keep a critter from digging up your hops root stock. The added nutrients will help too. That’s about it for this year’s growing hops updates. Unless of course my award winning hops win another home brewing competition – you’ll hear about it then!
Hops Harvest 2011
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Nugget, Magnum Cascade Hops
Hops harvest 2011 was delayed a little due to our strange growing season this year. A cold wet spring, a wet hot summer and dry September made for some challenges. I believe all the rain led to leaching the soil which caused a boron deficiency for my Magnum hops. Luckily I diagnosed the boron deficiency just in time – sprayed the sickly hop bines just in time to save them. They did not reach the top of the rope as the bines were stunted to 10 feet. Some laterals managed to climb an additional 4 feet almost reaching the top (the center hop bines).
We harvested a total of 4.25 lbs between all 3 varieties. This year I trained 5 bines per rope. I think I will fall back to 3 bines per rope next year. I think they do better with 3 bines – not too crowded. I gave all my hops to my friend that has far surpassed my brewing abilities. This spring he took 2nd place for an American IPA using my magnum hops (see Award Winning Hops ). In return for the hops, I get to try many styles of beers and ales (he has over 100 batches under his belt).
Due to the issues I had this year, I am going to fortify the soil next spring with more compost(top dress), composted manure and
Conjoined Hop Cone
kelp. This should address any deficiencies. Notice the gigantic leaves mixed in the bines – especially the Nugget (closest)? Those huge leaves are a result of the Bonide Liquid Iron + micro-nutrients – containing: magnesium, boron, copper, iron, manganese, zinc. It seems they may have been deficient all along? Some of these leaves were 10 inches across! I will also give them another spraying of the Bonide product as I have some left. I try and stay as organic as possible – these are just minerals so I consider them still organic.
I get one or two of these conjoined hop cones each year. They are pretty cool looking and I look forward to finding them each year. It was pretty dark by the time we finnished harvesting as you can tell by this picture (with flash). Of course the friggen mosquitoes were eating us alive once it got dark. Luckily it didn’t take us much longer after dark to finish harvesting this years hops.
That’s it for this year. If I come up with any news or advice, I will post it. Otherwise we will see you next year. I hope everyone had a good year for hops. Feel free to update us with your comments on this post.
Cascade Hop Cones On The Bines
2011 September 6th Hops Update
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Cascade Hop Cones
September 2011 hops update – approximately 2 weeks before harvest. The hop cones are getting big and plentiful. They are still wet and cool feeling when they are squeezed and do not compress much when squeezed – in other words they are still wet and not ready to harvest.
Hops should be fairly dried out on the bine before harvest. When they are dry (relatively speaking – they still require additional drying once harvested), you should be able to almost squeeze them flat without much resistance. They should feel “papery” and light and spring back to the size they were before you squeezed them.
This has been a weird growing season in the Minneapolis, Mn area where I am located. A cold, wet spring and hot, humid and wet summer. By the looks of the hop bines and cones compared to last year’s pictures, it will be a comparable hop cone harvest. Probably light on the Magnum hops due to the boron deficiency experienced earlier in the year (see previous posts).
Magnum Hop Cones
Nugget Hop Cones
