Planting Time Here In Hoptopia!

Planting Day Here In Hoptopia!!! 

Well, it's April 10th here in Huntersville, NC, and today it was close to 85 degrees.  Just one more reason the south is the place to be!  So, it's time to break out the pots, and start planting some hop rhizomes....LIKE A BOSS!!!  

Wait...a rhi-whatchamacallit (awesome candy bar btw).  That's right...a hop "rhizome".  WTF is a hop rhizome?  If you're a super nerd that has to know everything, here's the full wiki article, but for the sake of brevity, a rhizome is basically a root.  A potato is actually a part of a rhizome. 

I've had mixed results ordering rhizomes online.  The first year I got them.  They sucked.  The latest batch I got from a fellow on homebrewtalk.com name Ray of HalifaxHops.  Very Impressive! (...that's what she said)

I decided to start them in pots for easy mobility.  There's nothing wrong with starting them in a raised bed (yes...emphasis on the 'raised' part), and many actually consider this preferential so you don't disturb the root ball in order to transplant your hops.  Hops need well drained soil.  Raised beds are great for that purpose.

So, time to get going.  I'm trying a few different compositions of soil with 3 different types of hops: Cascades, Fuggles, and Centennials.  

My standard mix was 3/4 top soil and 1/4 sta-green garden soil plus fertilizer.  On one of my pots, I used only the garden soil mix, so it will be interesting to see how they perform versus the other standard mix I used on the other hops I planted.  

Hops are dirty nitrogen whores.  Your hops have been asleep all winter, and over fertilizing them can burn your little beer bittering plants!  Hops are hardy, and you can actually do more damage than good.  Look at it this way, it's better to be a dead beat dad when it comes to starting your hops than baby huey and 'loving' your hops to death.  Over fertilization and over watering are some of the fastest ways to kill off you crop.  Doh!

Note on fertilizers:  Fert's typically have something like "10-10-10" written on them to display their "NPK" rating.  Different plants like varying amounts of Nitrogen (the "N"),  Phosphorous (the "P"), and Potassium (the "K").  Hops love nitrogen!  Phorphorous...not so much!  Since our hops love that Nitro, you want to look for ferts that have a high ratio of the first number...like "18-6-18", or something like that.  Remember to use any ferts sparingly until you have a well established plant.  

  

BAM!  Check out those beautiful Cascade rhizomes!!  I pulled out a few of my old plastic starter pots that had been used as a temporary home for some larger perennial plants.  And the wife said I'd never use them.  HA! Only took 5 or 6 years, but I used 'em!  The pots were probably around 3 gallons in volume to give you an idea of their size.  I filled them 2/3rd's full with the top soil.

So once the pot was 2/3rd's full with good 'ole plain top soil, I laid the hop rhizomes on top.  Just check out the bud on this bad boy!!  


KEY POINT...so pay attention! You want your buds to be on top when you plant your rhizome!  Otherwise, they have to grow around your rootstock to break the surface and start sucking up sunshine like it's their job (well..i guess it technically it is there job...anyways..)

By the way, that's a FUGGLE hop, and yes...the picture sucks...I wish it would give you guys a better idea of just how large this rhizome from Halifax was for a breed that frankly, isn't supposed to grow all that well in US.  This one was about 5 inches long and had 3 branches.

KEY POINT Numba 2:  Your buds are delicate...extremely delicate.  Do your best not to break them or your little rhizome will have wasted all that energy for nothing, and it'll take longer for your hops to sprout since your rhizome will have to make more buds. 

Once you've laid your rhizomes in your pots, cover them with your garden soil.  The closer you leave your bud growths to the surface, the faster they'll sprout, so I like to only cover the top of the bud with about 1/4-1/2" of soil (not the rhizome itself...I'm just talking about the bud...you'll use more than 1/2" of soil to cover your full rhizome).  This is key, because 90% of your hop feeder roots are in the top 6" of soil.

With regards to the pots.  Give them a good 'once over' to make sure they don't have fungus or other garbage growing in them.  Fungi are great for fermentation (For the noobs out there...the yeast you use in fermentation is a single celled fungus).  When it comes to hops, they can kill your plant.  Keep an eye out for any white patches in the pots.  A light dusting with an anti fungus product also couldn't hurt.

Look at those hop pots all lined up like a pretty little chorus line!  I'll be transplanting them to their permanent raised garden beds once I figure out where I'll be building the beds in around a month.  There are a lot of things to consider when deciding where to plant your hops, especially since a well established rootstock can extend out a couple feet in every direction- so you really don't want to have to move it!

A few key points that I've learned about the raised beds.

• Find a place that has easy water access, tons of sun, and great drainage for ideal growing conditions.  
• Weeding sucks, so I'll be using some weed stop matting to prevent any weeds from draining nutrients from my hop garden.  My beds will be made up of 2 parts top soil, 1 part garden soil + fertilizer, 1 part cow manure covered with weed stop.  I'll cut holes in the weed stop to plant the hops, and then cover the beds with pine straw.
• I'll also be putting down pine straw to shield the soil, help mitigate weed growth, slow evaporation of water, and help moderate the pH of the soil.  Pine needles promote the acidity of the soil as they decompose which hops love. DO NOT use wood chips if you plan on mulching your raised beds.  Wood chips can carry Verticillum and Armillaria fungi.  
• My beds will measure 6'x6'x8" tall.  I'm considering running some pvc pipe through the beds themselves to help with air flow, and keep soil temperatures from rising too much.  It will also help with the drainage.  Hops do not like soil that is too hot or too wet.     
• Early next year, I am planning on removing the weed stop, and cast planting a ton of peas in my hop beds.  The peas would form a symbiotic relationship with the hops, and die off in early summer (when the temps get too hot).  Peas actively pull nitrogen from the atmosphere, help restoring to restore the nitrogen levels in the soil naturally that my hops will be using to grow.

And last but not least, a nice drink of water for my hops!  I've thought about getting a rain barrel, but am not sure if it would help my garden all that much.  I do notice a big difference from gardens past when it comes to rain water versus my well water.  It's like the rain water has steroids in it.  I can water my garden till it floods with my well's water, and it doesn't really do much.   Why, I don't know?

Anyways...I encourage people to post comments and questions below, as gardening has always been a non-stop learning process for me.  Any tips or suggestions on anything you might add or change is also appreciated.  

Cheers! :)