• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Growing Hops

C

cruland

I'm thinking of trying to grow hops in my backyard, but I can't really find any good resources on how to do it.  I'm not even sure if I can - I live in southeast Michigan, where the soil has low acidity and high clay-content, and the winters can be pretty harsh at times.  Does anybody know anything about growing hops, or where I could find a reliable resource where I could learn about it?
 
Here is a link to a recent article in BYO magazine about growing hops in containers. This may work well for you as you do have harsh winters --- come Fall you just cut the plant off right at the ground and move the container into your garage or somewhere its not going to freeze solid.

http://www.byo.com/component/resource/article/1926-growing-hops-in-containers

We live in hop heaven (Oregon Willamette Valley) and we are still going to use containers for flexibility -- potting soil mixed with a bit of sand and those ubiquitous 5-6gal buckets found in hardware stores like HomeDepot or Loews. Drill 1/2" holes for drainage - maybe a quickie cedar box around the bucket and put a 10ft 2x2 attached to the box. 

We've been growing Cascades for years just because they are such pretty vines -- but I've bought Willamettes - Goldings - Mt Hood - Pearl - and Tettnager

Check out this hops video
http://www.oregonhops.org/


Good Luck  --- FYI we stopped by a field (about 20 acres) of Willamette hops -- the plants were just reaching 4 - 5ft
 
You should be good to go. My buddy grows hops in Milan, MI.  He is technically pretty brilliant, but I doubt he is doing anything special.
 
Yeah I think your OK also, just select some robust varieties and then in the winter, mound up some mulch to protect the rhizomes from your winter "permafrost".
 
Along with Googling "growing hops" and reading everything I could on the internet, I bought The Homebrewer's Garden.  Only 1/3-1/2 of the book is hops related but I thought it was a great resource and a good deal at only 10 bucks.
 
Back
Top