HOPS
I picked up 8 of these 8" pots from Big Lots! on the 28th, with the intention of making them temporary homes for my Rhizomes. I live in the cold climes of Southeastern Wisconsin and even at this late date we've seen some pretty cold nights. I received hops from Oregon and Michigan 2-4 weeks ago and had them in my 'fridge since then, so I wanted to get them in dirt and growing before their odds of successful planting dropped too far. I filled my pots to about 1" from the top with MiracleGro Organic Garden Soil. It's a bit on the rich side, very dark and has a distinct "Barnyard" smell. That must be the "organic" component.
I labelled each pot as you can see from the top photo. I purchased a total of 8 varieties of hops. I know there are folks who cringe at that idea but I wanted hops that would cover a spectrum of purposes and flavors. I purchased two different main categories for the time being; American hops and English hops. I like brewing English styles so to me, it just made sense.
Among these two major families I purchased: Fuggles, Brewer's Gold, US Golding, Northern Brewer, Yakima Gold, Mt. Hood, Cascade, and Crystal. The Brewer's Gold and Yakima Gold were purchased from a neat site based out of Oregon (The Thyme Garden) and were the first to arrive in early April. They were shipped in clear plastic bags labelled and came with a nice pamphlet providing some details of how to plant and care for the hops. Thanks Rolfe!
The remainder of my hops came from the nice folks at Adventures in Homebrewing (AiH). They are located across the pond from me so their hops arrived a little later. I say that without prejudice because while the Lake is a nice heatsink and protects them, but their winters can be as brutal as our own in the Badger State. The guys at AiH have this excellent PDF for Hop care, Take a few minutes to check it out. It's a terrific resource. Anyway, AiH shipped their Rhizomes in black plastic bags with silver labelling.
Anyway, back to my process: The soil from MiracleGro was tightly compacted in the bag, so it required some work to break it up, It's just something every little boy enjoys doing....playing in the dirt. From there I checked each Rhizome individually to look for budding and possible infection. These things were in my fridge for at least two weeks and who knows what may have shipped on them. You can't see everything coming out of the ground. I am positive health of the rhizome is critical for each of these suppliers, and I know they want you back as a customer so they'll do their best to ship a viable product. That said, it doesn't hurt to be sure.
Of all the Rhizomes, only the Crystal, shown here: Had no bud growth. I was a bit concerned but thought if all I lost is one, then I'll count myself as pretty lucky.
It could, also, be too early to tell if I've lost one or if it's a late bloomer. My research indicates that it is not, but only time will tell.
From here I watered all the Rhizomes with about a pint each and covered the pots with plastic wrap to hold some heat in. I perforated the plastic and brought everyone in the house to keep them a little warmer. It's my hope to find a trellis design that is cost effective, looks nice as this is going in my backyard, and functions well for growth and harvest of my hops.
The last thing I've done comes from making beer; I started a Hop Journal. It's my intention to catch any mistakes and search for successes in growing these hops and hopefully transfer that knowledge to the next batch of hops I grow. Here's hoping this works out!
