Hops is a plant that's essential to
brewing beer but it's also a beautiful
ornamental accent for the garden I'll show
you how to plant them. Hops are native to
Europe, Asia and North America. The plants
are hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8. They like
deep sandy loam soil the best and they
like a pH of 6 to 7.5. Full sun is ideal.
Hops are planted from rhizomes like this
root cutting and this ensures that you
have a female cone bearing plan which is
a clone from a proven performer. If you
grow hops from seeds you'll get some
male plants that don't bare cones and
make the female cones seedy which is not
good for brewing. Plant your rhizomes in the
spring as soon as the soil can be worked.
in my area that's February or March, they
can be planted as late as June in cooler
climates. See these little bud eyes
these need to be pointing up. Build
a mound about six inches tall. Dig a
trench in the top of your mound and lay
the rhizome on its side in the trench.
Cover with one inch of soil and two to
three inches of mulch. The mulch helps
keep moisture in the soil. You don't want
the hops to dry out but you also don't
want to over water. Over watering can
rot the roots. Hops typically don't
need much fertilizer but they can
benefit from a spring application of a
high nitrogen, low phosphorus fertilizer
and most fruit tree foods have an analysis
like that.
Hops can grow over 20 feet in one season
so they're going to need something to
grow on. Hops are not vines they are
bines. Vines climb using tendrils to
reach out and grab but bines climb by
wrapping around something, clockwise in
the northern hemisphere and counter
clockwise in the southern hemisphere. A
simple and effective trellis is to have
a ten-foot pole with several heavy duty
strings attached and stapled down to the
base of the rhizome. Rough twine like this
hemp twine makes it easy for the bines
to climb. When your bines are one foot
tall, start training them onto your
trellis. Wrap the strong shoots clockwise
around the twine or trellis and allow
two bines per string and then repeat the
training three times about two weeks
apart. The first year your hops will be
putting more energy into their roots and
give you about half of a normal crop. The
next year expect 75% and the third year
a full crop. In winter usually around
January or February brush the dirt away
from your mound and prune the roots.
These rootlets are now the hops spread. In
order to control them they need to be
pruned back annually. The cuttings can be
used to propagate more hops. Cut back the
surface roots with a sharp knife or
pruner and leave the crown. While I'm
waiting for my hops plants to mature
we're going to harvest out here at Sierra
Harvest's Food Love Project where they
have a teepee full of hops. Cut off any
other shoots you see and snip off any
low lateral branching. The hops bines
will grow lateral branches and that's
where the cones will be born.
Air circulation is important because
hops are susceptible to Downy mildew. Hops
are harvested in August or September. The
cones are ready to harvest when they're
springy and dry and a little sticky to
the touch.
You should be able to see the yellow
Lupulin. An immature cone will feel moist
and not have a strong aroma. It will not
bounce back into shape if you squeeze it
or poke it.
You can either do several hand pickings,
which is what I'm doing, as the cones
become ready. The other way to harvest is
to wait until they're all mature and
then just cut the twine and the bines
from the top and bring them all down to
about one foot from the ground. If you
choose to do several pickings you will
still eventually have to cut down and
remove the bines. I suggest composting
them or you can use them to propagate
new hops plants. Hops need to be dried or
they won't store well and they could
mold.
You can dry them on a window screen but
a dehydrator is much more efficient. Your
dehydrator should be set to about a
hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit and
it'll take about 12 hours.
The hops should be done after about 12
hours.
Properly dried hops should be springy
and the Lupulin should fallout easily. The central
stem should be flexible.
you can bag your hops and put it in the
freezer over the winter. I'm using a
Shield n' Seal to bag mine which is a
vacuum sealer. That way it will stay fresh.
Grow this beautiful and easy to grow edible
and grow organic for life.