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hops
Sept 2, 2008 5:32:11 GMT -5
Post by ohiorganic on Sept 2, 2008 5:32:11 GMT -5
Anyone else grow hops. I was under the impression that hops could not be grown well in Ohio/Indiana but recently was informed that the northwest part of Cincinnati was a huge hop producing area about 75 to 100 years ago which makes sense as Cincy used to have something like 150 local breweries back in the day.
Our hops are spectacular this year-they loved the copious amounts of rain we got all spring and into mid summer. Now they are ready to harvest and we are getting pounds and pounds of them. This is good because in the past 12 months hops went up around 500% in price.
One of our long term goals is to have 20 or so hop plants so we can sell 'em to local home brewers and become rich and famous (okay maybe not rich and famous)
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hops
Sept 2, 2008 7:06:40 GMT -5
Post by flowerpower on Sept 2, 2008 7:06:40 GMT -5
We have maybe a dozen or so hop vines. The rain really did them in this yr. My BF only collected from one or 2 vines. There are hops on the others, but they don't look so good. I'm gonna try to salvage some of them. Someone asked me for a hop pillow last yr. The'd be ok for something like that, just not brewing.
I did get some nice vines from Redbrick last yr. They grew to about 6 ft this yr and did get a few hops. Very impressive for the first yr. Do you know what varieties you have?
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hops
Sept 2, 2008 14:48:37 GMT -5
Post by landarc on Sept 2, 2008 14:48:37 GMT -5
I am wanting to try planting hops next spring, see how that goes. It would be nice to have fresh hops also, as I like fresh hop ale.
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hops
Sept 3, 2008 8:29:53 GMT -5
Post by ohiorganic on Sept 3, 2008 8:29:53 GMT -5
Give them lots of room. They can grow to over 17' after a few years.
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hops
Sept 3, 2008 10:29:56 GMT -5
Post by landarc on Sept 3, 2008 10:29:56 GMT -5
I was just reading the 'Summit' hops are dwarf versions developed by some guy in WA. Grows to only 10 feet and can be trained onto a low arbor for easy harvest. I would like to mess around with wild hops, and introduce crosses to see if I can come up with a bunch of different hops that are dwarfed. I am hoping to get male accessions from the GRIN to cross into known lines. Summits AA of 14 to 16 is too high for some of my intended uses. I would like to have dwarfed hops with AA values across the spectrum.
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hops
Sept 3, 2008 21:14:17 GMT -5
Post by flowerpower on Sept 3, 2008 21:14:17 GMT -5
There is really a hop called "Summit"? That is too funny. That is the name of the town I live in. lol I have never seen a male hop plant. That should be interesting. Hop poles should be at least 25 ft high. Ours easily reach 30-35 ft & they are in only 9 yrs.
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MikeM
grub
frost-free 365.25 + clayish soil + altitude 210m + latitude 34S + rain 848mm/yr
Posts: 91
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hops
Dec 15, 2008 7:25:51 GMT -5
Post by MikeM on Dec 15, 2008 7:25:51 GMT -5
Give them lots of room. They can grow to over 17' after a few years. And they're a hungry crop, so feed them really well every year! |
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hops
Dec 15, 2008 8:49:56 GMT -5
Post by stevil on Dec 15, 2008 8:49:56 GMT -5
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hops
Dec 15, 2008 21:42:20 GMT -5
Post by canadamike on Dec 15, 2008 21:42:20 GMT -5
Shit stevil, you're making me want to kick my own friggin' butt. I grew lots of them once to cover a fence, I had TONS of these shoots, but never tried them, I had read I needed to get in the ground ( hugely heavy rocky clay in this case) and get the ''blanched ''parts underground. The texture of my soil totally discouraged me to do so, I figured I would hurt the plants too much by using a pickaxe, the only practical tool in that spot....
Every spring I would look at the shoots in sorrow for not being able to eat such a bountiful harvest of a (according to litterature) great delicacy.....
I realy realy want to kick my own but for not digging info better...
Well, at least everybody here who reads this knows now they can take hyper heavy soil...
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hops
Dec 16, 2008 5:53:45 GMT -5
Post by flowerpower on Dec 16, 2008 5:53:45 GMT -5
Hops don't get planted that deep. Those white parts should be like 1/2 in underground. I do amend the soil when they first go in. Compost or manure is best, I think. Then I cover them with a few inches of spoiled goat hay for mulch. I must be doing something right. My vines are about 30-40 ft every yr & there are plenty of hops.  But every yr, when they are almost ready, we get cold rainy weather. So I end up losing some flowers. |
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hops
Dec 16, 2008 12:25:19 GMT -5
Post by canadamike on Dec 16, 2008 12:25:19 GMT -5
Ah! Please Flower, don't rub it in. You're right, and I feel even more like an idiot!  Can we talk about something else?  |
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hops
Dec 21, 2008 16:58:16 GMT -5
Post by landarc on Dec 21, 2008 16:58:16 GMT -5
Flower,
Dig them all up, package them carefully and send them all to me. I have a season long enough to get them harvested. Then you can rest assured that your hop plants are doing all they can in their lives.
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hops
Dec 22, 2008 4:39:16 GMT -5
Post by flowerpower on Dec 22, 2008 4:39:16 GMT -5
We do get a decent harvest, but could be better. I have to get up to Syracuse in the Spring. The Middle Ages Brewery said I could take a section of the hops they have. They don't use them for brewing, just decoration like ivy on the building. They have no clue what type they are.
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hops
Dec 22, 2008 17:46:50 GMT -5
Post by bunkie on Dec 22, 2008 17:46:50 GMT -5
oh wow! this is great news stevil! can one eat them raw or do they have to be cooked? |
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Most stalls had them.
But every yr, when they are almost ready, we get cold rainy weather. So I end up losing some flowers.
Can we talk about something else? 
