Saturday, May 02, 2009

More on Hops in Containers

On the question of growing hops in containers that we posted on earlier this week, Shane in Santa Cruz, CA says:
"I think hops will do great in a container, if they are deep enough. I've heard you need something like a 1/2 whiskey, at least. The roots can go as low as 9 feet below ground.

I'm on my 2nd year of hops, cascade in nice soil, and brewers gold in what ever was in the ground. The brewers gold did better last year growing 18 feet and providing summer shade to a south facing window. The cascades only went 8 feet. I followed the same watering and feeding (never) for both.

This year my cascades are doing better, they are about 18 inches high so far. The brewers gold only 2 inches. This is in Santa Cruz, CA."
Shane also contributed a very useful link to an article on Growing Hops in Containers. One of the suggestions in the article, for those of us in hot climates, is to grow hops on an east facing wall so that the plant is sheltered from the hot late afternoon sun. As Shane points out this can serve a double purpose--providing shade to cool your casa. Sounds kinda permacultural. Thanks Shane!
Posted by Mr. Homegrown at 7:31 AM
Labels:

9 comments:

  1. I am so jealous. I tried to grow nugget and cascade hops last year and they shriveled, I think from heat and lack of humidity. Thanks for the growing tips!
    ReplyDelete
  2. While I don't have a use for hops that I know of, after seeing the fields when I lived in Europe, I've always wanted to plant them on my south facing wall, which faces the street, to shade my home from the blazing hot Virginia summer. Their rapid growth makes them so very attractive for this. I think it might be too hot here though. Plenty of humidity though.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Im Lucky Im in Vermont once a prime hop growing area .

    My hop Rhizomes are growing really well and I got them from a friend who has a Organic Farm and now hes growing hops in containers to sell at the local farmers market after a bit of prodding from me.
    ReplyDelete
  4. Curious. The largest producer of hops in the US is east of the Cascade mountains in the state of Washington. I lived in E. WA for a couple of years, and it gets very hot -- well over 100F, and it is rather dry. They of course irrigate it.
    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm generally pretty skeptical of growing vines in containers. It can be done successfully, but people fail at it much more often than they succeed. My guess is that hops would work, but the container hops would be put to shame by any hops grown in the ground right next to them. Though, if you only had containers and you needed hops...
    ReplyDelete
  6. Like your site! Want to get going on some hops quickly. Anyone have a good resource to get the plants? Find me at www.whatupduck.com
    ReplyDelete
  7. I had some golding hops from Freshops, which grew exceptionally well. I took a cutting from one plant (not a rhizome) and let it root in water, then planted it in a smallish planter that I had at work (maybe a half gallon). It grew really well, although it never produced any cones while growing indoors. At the end of the season, I cut it down and put it into a cold room to let it experience winter. This worked okay until I had to move - my poor plant spent almost a month in a shipping container, during which time it warmed up enough to put up some shoots, but because it was totally enclosed and dark, they were pretty rotten by the time I unpacked.

    So, my experience was that hops was quite robust as a houseplant, requiring only a small trellis, and frequent pruning to prevent it from taking over the place.
    ReplyDelete
  8. Im growing hops for the first time. What do you do with them in the winter did you bring them inside?
    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous,

    I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that question--I'm in Los Angeles in zone 10 where it seldom freezes. Perhaps another reader can leave a comment.
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)