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Has anyone on here grown their own hops

Cory and trevor

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I'm going to get at least one variety this year and try it on the side of the house stringing it up to the fascia on the southwest side.  Anyone ever grow hops and/or use fresh hops?  Dried your own hops or anything of the sort?  Haven't even got my little root stick yet but I try to plan ahead and be ready so I'm researching.  Thanks,
 
They need full sun, but the best I can do on my property is a few hours a day.  So mine never did much.  I did get one harvest, but I think I pulled it too early. That or the lack of sun didn't allow the flowers to fully mature. Either way it was a bust.

If you can give them full sun, and keep them fed and watered, you should be fine. Keep in mind though that it takes at least three seasons for them to really start to produce. So don't expect a bumper crop the first (or second) year.

As far as usage goes, without sending them out to be tested you can't be sure what the AA% is. You can guess, but you won't know.  So it would be a good idea to choose your favorite aroma or flavor hop to grow, and keep buying your full-boil hops.
 
I'm growing several varieties.  Only two of them produce in quantity for me (Cascade & Magnum).  I must confess that some of the plants get less sun but my Saaz and Cluster get just as much sun, but aren't as fruitful.  Your results may vary.  Been doing it for about a half dozen years and get more hops than I can use.

Keep 'em watered give 'em sun and a place to climb.  They really only produce cones above 6-8 feet high.
 
I grow 2 varieties, not sure what they are.  Frequency of watering is important as they do not have deep roots, they are rhizomes.  Also, they spread like crazy so corral them with landscape edging; again they don’t go deep so 4” is deep enough.  3 years to decent crop. 

Another tip from the pros is to snip off all but 1 or 2 shoots to let those concentrate on producing cones instead of leaves.  So I have them planted in a line across the back of my house in an area of 12 lineal feet total.  Every 3 feet I let the healthiest looking 2 shoots grow and trim off the others.
 
All good info buys, thank you.  I have full sun area and will string them from the ground to the roof fascia in a v pattern.  I also plan to make untreated lumber boxes to bury around them as a way to help coral them.  bailing twin and eye hooks, buried box to fascia should be 12-24 feet up.
 
I bought them!  cascade, magnum, williamette one other I don't recall at the moment in a four pack from jungseed.com.  now if I can just get some cooperation from the fucking weather!  I'll be stringing the bailing twine soon, got my untreated lumber for the boxes and the eye hook things......waiting....I ...hate ....waiting!  guess I'll go drink one and brew one and watch the snow melt and fall and melt.
 
Your trellis solution is good! Your profile gives no reference to your geographic location to give a clue as to if you can prolifically grow hops. Make sure you have good drainage. New rhizomes don't do well wet by heavy frequent rain. Make sure you don't plant under the eves of the house where you roof will dump water on them. Move them out a bit from the house.

Willamette is an aggressive growing hop. Cascade is moderate to aggressive, My experience with 2 yr. Magnum is that their yield is low. I have 150 hills & produced ~12 lbs dry weight last year, but my own rhizome cutting were quite disappointing last year because of all the rain we had in the North East last Spring & early Summer.

Good Luck (It is labor intensive for me!)
There are a couple of good videos on home hop growing at www.chopandbrew.com
 
saw those videos I'm in Michigan and the tip about the eaves was just in time.  boxes moved.  Thanks!
 
I planted a nugget rhizome six weeks ago and I've now got one shoot about 3 foot long and another 8 inches long. I've strung some twine up a 10 foot metal post I already had in the garden. The twine goes horizontal at the top of the pole and is attached to a tree about 20 feet away.

If it grows OK I plan to put in a couple more plants next year, probably a traditional variety such as mathon or early bird.
 
We finally have more visible ground than snow here, so I'm hoping to get some rhizomes in the ground soon. Where in the Mitt are you located? Michigan brewers represent :)
 
I'm 3 for 4 so far.  Willamette is up with 5 tiny shoot, nugget has 3 nubs showing and cascade has 1 tall shoot I thought was a weed at first.  The first 2 look very similar but cascade is totally different.  Waiting on mt. Hood now.  Got supplies to string from ground to fascia soon.  Got room for 2_4 more varieties next year if his goes well.  Good luck to us all.
 
put a Centeniel rhyzome in the ground two weeks ago and it promptly died...Had green shoots and started to cling to the line, then turned brown and RIP. Full sun (but in Chicago area so not hot)
 
That sucks!  my cascades are going nuts, 8 shoots about 3 inches tall.  the Mt. hood don't look great but the one tiny shoot that is present is green as hell and looks healthy.  the ones I use the most to brew are doing very well.  I'll have to put up the strings this weekend.  hope to take some pictures and post them once I get that done.  we've had a week of 70 degree days here and rain almost every day for at least an hour so its been picture perfect so far.
 
My nugget seems to be doing quite well. It has two shoots. One is now about 9 feet tall and the other about 4 feet.  I had to spray them with insecticide to stop the leaves being eaten by some tiny red spidery things.

If I am lucky enough to get any cones this year I was thinking of making an English style IPA by blending them with challenger and WGV.
 
Update! My Centenial came back fro the dead and is now headed up the pole! using twine strapped to my Purple Martin house pole (20feet). In the fall, I will just lower the pole and harvest...Hope it works out.
 
Roadrocket said:
My nugget seems to be doing quite well. It has two shoots. One is now about 9 feet tall and the other about 4 feet.  I had to spray them with insecticide to stop the leaves being eaten by some tiny red spidery things.

If I am lucky enough to get any cones this year I was thinking of making an English style IPA by blending them with challenger and WGV.
I have 3 nuggets growing in there 2nd year, one is 14 foot already the other 7 binds are not far behind.
 
My first year nugget is now about 15 ft and starting to flower. I didn't expect anything this year so it's a bit of a bonus.
 
My first year Nuggets are have crazy lots of blossoms and the wife likes to see them growing up the side of our old barn . Another bed to go in shortly , cascades if I can get them .
I need to get caught up on some work around the house and the nuggets should be ready to use by then so we will give them a try .
We bought a Food Saver unit to freeze the hops ( and garden produce )  using oxygen barrier bags of course .
 
A friend off mine bought seven varieties (2 pce each of Chinnok, Magnum, Cascade, Willamette, Tettnanger, Nugget and Zeus) for me by mail order. I picked them up in LA in May, and when I came home to Sweden I planted them in pots with good soil in the greenhouse at the summer cottage.  11 of the 14 rhizomes grew and the best ones grew about 20 cm (8 inch) per day. When you grow them in pots you can control the watering and the temperature better than if you directly plant them outdoors. Now they climb on my trellis(?) which has two levels; 4 meter and 5 meters (13 feet and 16 feet). The highest pole is 6 meters (20 ft). Most of the plants have grown to their maximum height. I designed the trellis with two walking bridges so that I easily can inspect and harvest the hops. The summer cottage is located on an island in the archipelago of Stockholm. The picture with me pointing at the 4 meter Chinook is taken in the beginning of August and the other today (Oct 1st). Since I planted the hops rather late I don't expect to get any cones this year, they are like 5 mm long now, so this year I have to buy the hops.  The fastest growers this first year was Chinook and Tettnanger, Willamette is supposed to be vigorous but not for me.



 
haawa said:
The picture with me pointing at the 4 meter Chinook is taken in the beginning of August and the other today (Oct 1st).


Wow.  Is it really October already over there?  ;D
 
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