Sunday, February 24, 2008

Growing Your Own Hops

I am going to take a shot at growing my owns hops this year.  I know my first year will not yeild big results, but I am hoping my second growing season will yield some good results. 

I've got to admit I am not much of a gardener, but I've been reading that hop plants will grow just about anywhere, and with just a little TLC, they will grown with minimal supervision.

I am going to order them from Northern Brewer, but does anyone else have suggestions or comments about growing your own hops? 

5 comments:

Matt said...

Good luck man! I would have to grow mine in cracks in the pavement, don't think that will work ha ha. Hope you have fun making your own beer.

Anonymous said...

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sonnett said...

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-Sonnett

Anonymous said...

My thumb is FAR from green, and I've successfully grown them - they came up on year two, and I anticipate this year will be perfect for harvesting (the last two produced flowers, but I used them decoratively.)

Hops are tolerant of a range of soil conditions but grow best in a deep, rich, moist soil. They need to have support, and climb by twining clockwise around supports.

Just remember that the first year is all about growing the tap root. It will go down 3 or more feet. And then you need to help the bines grow up - give them tall stakes and/or twine to climb higher.

Also, we read that you should limit the number of shoots allowed to grow. You can trim them back and prepare young shoots like asparagus for your dinner table.

Good luck!

Matt said...

Pubcrawler-

thank you for the information on that. I've got them ordered and am just waiting on them to get here.

I checked out your page as well, great site. I would love to try some Nugget Nectar out of a firkin.