Comments on: Growing Hops

By: Gardening to brew - Page 2 - Brew Plus Forums

Gardening to brew - Page 2 - Brew Plus Forums — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:40:27 +0000

[...] Gardening to brew Hops can be grown in almost every state according to this article: Growing Hops | Growing Hops Yourself The article has a lot of information that is good for anyone just starting to grow [...]

By: Growing Hops

Growing Hops — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:10:31 +0000

Michael,
I would think it would do ok in Kansas. Make sure they water it daily, at least the first year. Have them mulch around it also to help the soil retain the water. Will they be planting in the ground or large container? Is their patio covered with a pergola or arbor? As long as they have something to climb, have them use twine if the bines don’t climb the lattice or whatever is in place. It should provide some good cover.

By: michael callaway

michael callaway — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:57:08 +0000

I mailed a hops plant to my parents in Kansas. Wondering how it will do in that climate. They have a ground level patio open to the south and west that gets lots of sun. I envision it climing up to top then trailing around the perimeter and around the patio providing shade. Is this feasible?

PS
Have not told them what kind of plant it is or given any growing instructions at this time, just mailed it overnite yesterday.

By: Where to Buy Hop Rhizomes | Growing Hops Yourself

Where to Buy Hop Rhizomes | Growing Hops Yourself — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:33:22 +0000

[...] may be willing to part with some rhizomes. Barter a couple of homebrews to your friends that are growing hops for some hop [...]

By: Hops | Growing Hops Yourself

Hops | Growing Hops Yourself — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:30:00 +0000

[...] Lupulus – in July (7/20/2009) status report. It has been a couple of weeks since my last growing hops post. All three hop plants have topped their ropes. The Magnum hops finally made it to the top [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 08:13:36 +0000

I think I know why it’s best to wrap the vines clockwise around the ropes. They’ll follow the sun’s movement from East to West that way.

By: Charlie Bierwirth

Charlie Bierwirth — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:59:05 +0000

I agree with Mr. Velek on the fact that this is a very informative article on growing your own hops. I live in northern California in an area where temperatures can get up to the 110′s in the summer. And i have to say, i was somewhat successful in growing my hops. Here were some of my mistakes that i plan to correct and hope other readers do NOT do when growing their hops:

1. I only bought one rhizome. Although this allowed me to focus only on it, it limited my options and didn’t allow me to expand my methods of growing. I plan to fix this by buying three rhizomes and planting them next spring.

2. I did not water them on a regular schedule. Living in a place where it is extremely hot during the summer, I felt i could water them every day or so. This was not the case. I would hand water my hops, and although this worked, they grew very slowly. I eventually got them hooked up to a hydration drip system, but I had to manually turn on and off the system because I did not have a timer, and my hops still grew slowly. I plan to fix this by Setting them up on a drip system, investing in a timer, and setting a regular schedule starting when I first dig my new holes.

3. My last and final mistake: I did not tell my neighbors. I planted the hops along the chain link fence so that they would have good support to climb on. however, I forgot to tell my neighbors who put the fence up. So, when my neighbors were doing some landscaping, and were spraying the vinca along the fence to kill it, they must have thought my hops were weeds too and sprayed them as well. I plan to correct this by planting my new hops in a raised bed that is not only away from the fence line, but also conveniently right outside my bedroom window so I can view them when i wake up.

I share this experience with the world not for pity, but for all those who wish to do something cool with their life and choose to grow hops may not make the same mistakes I did. You can follow the journey of my hops on my URL, and can also use the links there to buy he hops from the supplier that i did.

Hope everyone has a great day and a great experience with growing hops,

–Charlie Bierwirth

By: Bill Velek

Bill Velek — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:43:47 +0000

Very nice summary of the essential information for growing hops. I will add that if anyone plans to plant hops for the first time next spring, then NOW is actually a better time to begin preparing the soil, although just a few weeks before will be sufficient. Some things — lime in particular — take many months to sweeten the soil.

I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taken the liberty of adding a link to your blog on the links page of Grow-Hops.

Also, if you are not already a member, I cordinally invite you and all other hop growers to join us — over 2,400 members — see my URL.

We’ve been hard to find because search engines don’t list us very well.

Cheers, and I look forward to further additions to your blog.

Bill Velek