Forth Year Hop Sprouts
By · CommentsWe have had an amazingly mild winter this year in Minnesota and today I checked and found hop sprouts on my Magnum hop plant. These Magnum hops are the same hop
Hop Sprouts March 13th 2012
plant that almost died last year of a boron deficiency. This is March 13th – 70 degrees today, the earliest these plants have sprouted. The Cascade and Nugget hops have not sprouted yet. I uncovered them from their protective mulch which I probably could have gotten by without this year. We had no -20 or -30 degree below zero fahrenheit temps this winter. Fine by me, I hate temps below 0, even though I have lived in the Minneapolis, Mn area my whole life.
Our normal planting time for less hardy plants here in zone 4A is May 15th. Hops are hardier and mine have survived 20+ degree temps several times. We will probably have a few more freezes and maybe even snow yet. I am not worried. If it does get cold enough to kill the hop sprouts or bines, there will be more to replace them. Many folks cut the first sprouts that grow with the belief that they will come back stronger, you can even cook these hop sprouts like asparagus – another use for hops. I have not tested cutting the hop sprouts out myself, I just let them go (other than cutting the sprouts that are not chosen by me to climb the ropes). If you have solid evidence this helps, hurts or makes no difference, leave a comment.
I should have the earliest topping out of the hop bines yet – these three hop plants – Nugget, Magnum and Cascade have a peak height of 13 to 15 feet (Magnum has the garage peak at 15 feet). The purpose of this blog is to document and share what works and what doesn’t work for growing hops. May 29th is the earliest documented hops bines topping out on this blog (I believe I had an earlier topping out, but apparently I did not document it). At this rate, I could have the bines easily topping out by April 30th – a month earlier than the May 29th recorded topping out.
I had placed a couple articles on other uses of hops – hop pillows and hop wreaths. I don’t want to scare my core audience of home brewers away. Just widening the audience to the beauty and versatility of growing hops during the time I cannot grow or write about my hop growing. The response has been phenomenal. Hops make great cover plants for gazebos, pergolas, arbors, privacy fences… Hops also make herbal teas for relaxation and stress relief, hop pillows as a sleep aid, hop wreaths and any other creative use you can come up with. Hops are very versatile (and good points to sell your significant other on why you should be growing hops!).
Hops Wreath and Other Hops Crafts
By · CommentsA hops wreath is one of the crafts you can make from your hops garden. The hop bines (yes bines, not vines) can be used for any project that uses flexible and fibrous vines or bines. Hop
Make or Buy a Hops Wreath
plants are a relative of hemp plants which have been used for thousands of years for making rope and other strong fibrous fabrics, twine, rope… A single hop plant can produce dozens of bines after a few years.
Hops are easy to grow. All they require is fertile, well draining soil, sunlight, water and preferably vertical space to grow (10 to 20 feet high if possible). Many do have success growing horizontally along fences – it is harder to harvest this way. The easiest way to grow hops and harvest them is to use twine or rope for them to climb. I use a pulley system which makes harvest easy and from the ground – no ladder required after the pulleys are mounted to a building, pole, tree or other structure. Check out the sitemap at the top of this blog for more articles on how to grow hops.
You can make a hops wreath with or without the foliage depending upon the look you are after. Making a wreath with foliage is a bit trickier but doable. You just wrap the bines around a form, usually a circle made of wood or wire, anything your imagination can come up with. Of coarse you can use any shape you wish – a heart, triangle, animal shape, just about anything you can think of. There is no one way to do this, just go with it. The pictured hops wreath above is for sale from Amazon for $200. Maybe you could sell your own creations?
As far as other crafts made of hops, you can make any shaped craft other than a traditional wreath. Make a person, an animal, scarecrow, or anything your mind can come up with. You can make a relaxing hop tea or tincture out of the hop cones. A relaxing hop pillow is another simple project made out of hop cones – they work amazingly at relaxing and helping you to fall asleep quickly – a great drug-free insomnia treatment!
If you are looking for instructional material on making hops wreaths, just Google it, search on Youtube, check on Pinterest and other craft websites. You can use hops for many things, not just making beers and ales. Use your imagination and see what you can come up with. You might surprise yourself what you can do with the hop bines that are usually thrown away by folks that grow hops for home brewing. Find a home brewer or start your own hop garden to supply your new found love of hops wreath crafting with hop bines and hop cones.
Hops Pillow To Help You Sleep
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Blue Moon Hop Pillow from Black Creek Hops on Etsy.com
A hops pillow can help you relax, de-stress and sleep. People ask me all the time what can hops be used for other than brewing beer and ales. There are many uses for hops, as an herbal relaxation remedy, they have been used for thousands of years by herbalists and natural healers. Just smelling hops relaxes you and can make you sleepy, making them a great sleep aid. Hops are one of the more powerful relaxing herbs there are.
When we say hops pillow, it is not a full sized pillow, it is a small breathable bag or sachet filled with hops. Muslin bags work well for these – just fill one with fresh or recently harvested hops or well preserved hops. You can place this under your pillow or near your head where you sleep. Take a few whiffs and drift off into a relaxing sleep. Hops are aromatic and quite pleasant to smell. If you wish, you can add other relaxing herbs to your pillow like Lavender and Chamomile. Personally I don’t like too much flowery scents, I prefer the smell of hops, but that is up to you.
If you grow your own hops, you will have more hops than you could personally use for hop pillows. You can give them away as gifts, or to family or friends that are having problems sleeping. It is a great, drug free way to fall asleep. Great for calming down, relaxing and de-stressing too! If something gets you worked up, sit down and take some deep, de-stressing breaths and center yourself. It can help get you into deep meditative state sooner. If you just want to buy a hop pillow instead of making your own, stop by http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackCreekHops
It is not the growing season here this time of year so I figured I would write about something hops related that might interest some additional folks. There is a lot more to hops than just beer. They also make a great relaxing tea, great looking and smelling cover plants for arbors, pergolas, gazebos, privacy fences, hop bine wreaths and other natural crafts. I will probably write something on each of these uses also until I can start writing about actually growing and caring for hops when the season begins.
There are some good selling points to get your significant other to warm up to the idea of growing hops if they are hesitant or against it for some reason. Just make it a win-win for all involved. They are very cool and fast growing plants that are fun to watch grow. So guys or gals, make a hops pillow for your mate and sell them on the benefits of growing hops!
Hoppy Beer-Ale
By · CommentsOk, I am an IPA guy. I love hops! If you dig hops like I do, you wait anxiously every year like I do for the annual release of Hopslam from Bells
One of the Hoppiest Ales Ever
brewery. Last year, I was not impressed – maybe it was a fluke and I received an abused six pack. (allowed to get warm/light stuck, whatever). Anyway, by the time I had a chance to give them a second chance – it was sold out. This stuff is usually that amazing that it sells out in record time, even at $17 a six pack.
Anyway, if you love hops, you must try this at least once. This is not for pussies – sorry for the truth, but, this is hoppy as shit and at 10% alcohol, not for the weak. THIS IS THE BEER/ALE I STRIVE FOR. Right now – go out and buy this – at least once in your life. If you cannot acquire Hopslam in season, buy Surly Furious. Talk about a manly friken ale - definitely separates the men from the boys. Surly Furious IS MY IPA OF CHOICE. Most are not manly enough to handle it at 100 IBU. If you are a man and appreciate real fricken ale (or a female that can hang with the big boys and/or shame the girly men) – THIS IS THE SHIT!
Alright, you know where I am coming from. Man up and see if you can hang with the big boys and girls. Try Hopslam and Surly Furious and be taken away by a hoppy, heavenly tongue tingling, hop heaven. This is the epitome of the hop experience! Hop on!
Surly Furious
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
