The Nugget bine and Cascade hops bines have reached the top of the ropes. The Cascade hops plant overtook the Nugget and is now the bine height leader by a foot over the Nugget hops. The Magnum bines are still only 8 or 9 feet tall. I lowered the Cascade and Nugget bines 6 feet to allow the hop bines to continue to climb.
Cascade Hop Bines Take the Lead
I mounted hose racks to the side of my garage to allow looping the hop bines off the ground and allow more vertical growth (see pictures). One thing I learned with this setup is the bines blow off of the hose racks in the wind we have had the last 2 days so I had to secure the rope to the hose hangers ( I used tie wraps/ zip ties – Next to duct tape, zip ties are best invention ever in my opinion.
I chose Cascade hops, Nugget hops and Magnum hops because they are disease resistant, high yielding and grow well in my climate (zone 4). Apparently the Magnum do not fair as well, they are behind the Nugget and Cascade hop plants by 6 – 7 feet (I still love them though). The season is not over, anything could happen yet. My experiment on how to grow hops with a pulley system seems to be working well so far.
The bines are sending out side shoots for hops and I can hardly wait. Because they are first year hops, I am not expecting much of a hop harvest this year, although they are exceeding my expectations from everything I have read on the subject and from my hop growing friends. I can’t wait till next year to see what they will do.
Nugget Hop Bines Give up the Lead
The soil innoculant I used “Alive Soil Activator” revived all of my wifes flowers (can’t be hurting my hops either). Like all flowers, they look great when you buy them but after a month or so the flowering fades. I used this unconventionally and just threw a couple of spoonfuls in a watering container, watered the plants and they all look 200% better! Even revived a plant I thought was dead – it is flowering like crazy now!
Anyway, there is my status report on how to grow hops (my version). There is a lot of good information on growing hops out there – find it, read it, absorb it and grow hops like crazy.
Hop bines – Humulus Lupulus (not hop vines) are taking off now. Growing at a rate of 3 to 6 inches a day. 7 days ago the Nugget hops were 7 feet tall – the Magnum hops were 5 feet tall and the Cascade hops were 6 feet tall.
Cascade Hop Bines Gaining Ground
1 week later Nugget hop bines are just over 10 feet, Magnum hop bines are 7 feet tall and the Cascade hop bines are 9 foot 6 inches. In 7 days the Nugget hops grew 3 feet (5 inches a day), Magnum hops grew 2 feet (over 3 inches a day) and the Cascade hops grew 3 foot six inches (6 inches a day)! This is the fun part of growing hops!
The vertical growth should continue at this pace or better and the bines should soon fill in with side shoots and hop cones! The hop flowers or hop cones are the end product we are after. Watching the hops bines grow is the fun part. I have not had to lower the bines yet (soon) as they reach the top of the rope/pulley of the hop rigging. I still need to get some hose hangers or similar contraption to loop the bines on to allow more vertical space for the hop bines to grow.
Magnum Hops are Slower to Start
I mentioned on an ealier post that I spotted a posting on an interesting concept, a upward spiral. I don’t know if the bines would need to be constantly trained or if they would follow the spiral. I imagine there is a magic number of the angle of the rope where the bines would wrap around the rope without daily training. Too slow of a rise and the bine would attempt to grow straight up. I will experiment with this concept next year.
This years pulley rigged ropes with a slight angle is doing great. No sense in messing with perfection. The Nugget bines are within 2 feet of reaching the top so I better start shopping for
Rigging hops experiment for maximum growth with limited height. Ok, here is my theory put to action. As the hop bines reach the top of the rope, I let out some rope and loop the slack off the ground and the hop bines have more vertical space to grow. I am thinking about using hose hangers mounted to the garage wall to loop the rope and bines with room for air circulation.
A hop trellis in my opinion is more for looks than functionality (traditional trellis definition of lattice wood structure – sometimes rope/twine structures are referred to as a trellis, a loose interpretation). Harvesting hops from a trellis requires a ladder or cherry picker to reach the hop cones. Rigging hops with rope allows you to lower the bines to the ground for picking the hop flowers. If you use a pulley or similar rigging system, you don’t need to go to the top of a line/pole/trellis to harvest or drop the bines to the ground. Don’t get me wrong, I love hops climbing a trellis or arbor or pergola. Hops make a great shade cover, look great and aromatic to boot.
As you can see, my hop plants – humulus lupulus have to compete with my wife’s Peonies. It won’t be long and the hops will be towering over their competition. I would rather lose the flowers but that is not a battle worth waging, besides, the flowers were there first.
From left to right are: Nugget hops, Magnum hops and Cascade hops. To give you a sense of proportion, the wooden stake is a foot out of the ground. The hop bines are bout 2 feet tall and growing inches a day, about to take off!
Nugget Hop Bines Starting to Climb
Cascade Hops Growing Vertical
Magnum Hop Bines Racing to the Top of the Rope
The rigging for the hop plants consist of a stake with a hook, rope, a pulley and a tie down (flag pole cleat). The pulley allows for lowering the rope for additional growth and makes harvesting easy – just lower the bines – no ladder needed once installed! It is far safer to harvest on the ground than on a ladder. Especially if you are celebrating the harvest with a few homebrews! Another advantage is you can always lower the bines, harvest the ripe hop cones and raise them again if you have some hop flowers that are not ripe to pick yet.
I didn’t keep track of the cost of the hop rigging equipment (hooks, rope, cleats and pulleys) but I believe it was about $20. I have close to $20 in hop rhizomes and shipping. So for $40 and a little time planting hops, I have a great hobby for years to come, I can watch hops grow! I plan on bartering hops for homebrews from my homebrewing friends (I may even break out my homebrewing equipment and brew a batch), trying some hop sprouts to eat and hop tea to drink and I may try a hop pillow too!
I have about 15 feet for vertical growth and if this works as planned, I could eventually grow 30 to 40 foot hop bines! That’s the theory anyway. I will keep you posted with pictures and stats. This is a design in progress so I will adapt my configuration as I gain additional experience from this setup. Keep checking back for progress reports and pictures!
Growing hops is possible in almost every one of the United States of America. Hops obviously exist in Europe, Asia and other locations but I will stick with what I am familiar with, the USA. To grow hops you generally must be between the 35th and 55th parallel (see diagram below) elevation may make it possible to grow hops at slightly lower lattitudes. Some varieties of hops do better than others in the extremes of this range (some like it hot, some not). Currently, the northwest USA produces the largest crop of hops plants (Oregon, Washington Northern California…).
Hops (Humulus Lupulus) are a fast growing vine that requires large amounts of sunshine and nutrients from the soil to sustain their rapid growth. Hop vines can grow up to 30 ft in length. A perennial, which dies back every winter to the root stock also known as the crown. Hop plants can be grown from hop rhizomes (underground stems) or seed (but usually hops rhizomes – only want female hop rhizomes). Hop plantings are generally grown vertically but can be grown horizontally. Most Hops plants require a 4 month growing season.
Only the female hop plants flower (the flower is the hop). Males are used for pollination to seed the females but generally un-pollinated or seedless hops are preferred for brewing. Beer hops are used for brewing beers and ales to counteract the sweetness of the barley, to provide aroma and also works as a preservative. Hops have medicinal qualities and calming effects but that is out of scope for this blog.
Planting hops requires a nutrient dense, well drained soil with a PH between 6 and 8. Most hop growers go vertical with their plants so that must taken into consideration for planting. Since most people (at least in the cities) have a 1/4 acre or less, use a side of their house or garage or tall poles and twine or rope. Running twine from the ground to a roof line or overhang is very popular. A common configuration is twine from a ground anchor to an eyelet attached high on a pole, house, garage or other building and zigzagged up and down (using a latch hook on the high end for easy removal). If using a single pole, it would be a tee pee configuration. There are many ways to rig the vines but rope seems to work the best compared to trellises when it comes to harvest time.
Soil should be prepared at least a couple weeks before planting to allow the soil amendments to blend together. Soil should be dug down a foot or more to ensure the root stock can grow unimpeded. The soil should be mixed with organic materials (I am an organic kind of guy). Decomposed manure, compost, leaves and/or grass clippings and wood ashes are all good soil amendments for hop gardens. Drainage is very important for hop plants so be aware of slopes and valleys in the ground. If planting against a house or garage without gutters (on the down slope side) beware the roof runoff. A raised mound and drainage paths help in these cases and is a good idea for all hop planting.
Most hops are propagated from rhizomes, so that is what I will cover (besides I have never started from seed). If you have a short growing season, you can start hop rhizomes indoors. Once the threat of frost has passed, it is time to plant. Plant 1 to 3 hop rhizomes in a grouping or mound (1 is usually sufficient), 1 to 4 inches below the soil’s surface (I go 3 to 4 inches deep). Plant buds up and mounds about 3 feet apart, more (minimum 5 feet) if the next grouping is a different variety of hops.
When the shoots break ground and are about 1 foot long, select 1 to 3 of the hardiest hop bines (similar to, but different from vines) and train them to climb the rope in the same direction – most advise clockwise (not sure why). Like everything, there are different ways to go about this, either 1 pole or rope per mound or 1 on each side of the mound (2 ropes/twine) per mound – prune all other bines to focus all the growing energy to the selected vines or bines. Difference between bines and vines: vines send out grasping shoots. Bines use stiff hairlike follicles and wrapping around things to support themselves.
Depending on when you started or when the existing crowns started vines, the hops should be ready for harvest around mid August to mid September. When mature, the hops will be squeezable rather than solid and have a paper like texture. When you determine it is harvesting time, bring down the ropes or poles and pluck the hops from the vines. The hops must be dried, either in a dehydrator, an oven no more than 140 degrees(with the door open) or at room temp spread out on a single layer on a raised screen to allow airflow. Room temp drying is best for retaining flavor and aroma.
Once dried, the hops should be vacuum sealed and frozen for best results or fresh hops may be used immediately (after drying the hops). If not vacuum sealed, at least remove as much air as you can from a sealable freezer bag and then freeze. Shield the hops from light as that will prolong freshness also.
This is a bit abbreviated but gives you enough information to grow your own hops! Read some books on how to grow your own hops and/or do some more Internet research to gain additional tips, tricks, methods and theories to maximize your hop growing abilities. Just say no to hop drought and start growing hops.
