# Growing Hops In Pots



## MarkBastard (23/7/09)

I did a search but didn't find any results.

Does anyone here have some advice on growing hops in pots? Is it possible? What size pot is recommended at a minimum? Obviously needs to be well drained. What watering and composting regime should be followed?


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## raven19 (23/7/09)

I have 2 POR's and a Chinook in Pots from last year. Being first year plants they grew well but no flowers.

Basicly as bigger pot as you can get, half a wine barrel would be best. I found mine dried out in the summer heat but still grew 2-3 m in height. My pots would be maybe 300 - 400mm in diameter.

I used basic potting mix and some seasol every now and then.

Being weeds they will grow well with little care, just water and sun!

There is a good hop growing article on AHB somewhere.... will see if I can find it...


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## raven19 (23/7/09)

Here it tis...

Linky


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## Batz (23/7/09)

BYO magazine did a good article on growing hops in pots.

http://www.byo.com/component/resource/arti...s-in-containers


Batz


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## Fents (23/7/09)

there was a very good article in the mra/apr issue of BYO about a pot plant hop trellis. had a look on their site and cant see it but its def in that issue and theres no way i can re type the whole article.


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## QldKev (23/7/09)

I've had mine in pots for 3 years, and get very good growth out of them. 

Large as pot as you can get, and I use decent potting mix Searls. I find I have to give them a good soaking every morning in summer. Last season, mine grew to the roof line and about 3m along it. I'm getting good yeilds (maybe not commercial quantities) of them. 

QldKev


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## Fents (23/7/09)

thats the article, batz knows.


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## MarkBastard (23/7/09)

Thanks guys.

Unfortunately I have a small courtyard only so 'as big as I can get' won't really work for me. I sort of need to find a sweet point between size of pot and yield. I don't really mind if I don't get a crazy amount of hops because I'll only be using them for me and it's more about novelty value / having fresh hops. I have bought three rhizomes. I guess if I only had one I could get a decent sized pot but not with three of them!

Also I'm going to basically have the pots at ground level and grow them upwards on to my balcony which is made of many horizontal aluminium rails, so it should love that and grow all over it, though I'll have to train them sideways.

I think I'll just use a string between the pots and the balcony.

I was thinking of maybe buying those aluminium drink cooler things on stands you can get and making them into pots. That way they're off the ground a bit and won't seem to take up as much room.


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## MarkBastard (23/7/09)

Batz said:


> BYO magazine did a good article on growing hops in pots.
> 
> http://www.byo.com/component/resource/arti...s-in-containers
> 
> ...



That article had everything I needed. The best part was that it recommended in warmer climates to set it up so that it is shaded at the hottest parts of the day but gets plenty of sun in the morning and afternoon, this is exactly what my courtyard is like!


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## Barramundi (23/7/09)

i grew mine in pots last year and will do so again this year , pots are about 500mm diameter and i simply drilled a hole in the back lip of the pot and put three strings through it and tied them to a structure about 3 metres above the pots for the plant to climb on , this worked well , only down fall of it all was my location as there are two large peach tress in the yard when they got into leaf it cut out a lot of the sun to the hops and they slowed right down , hoping i can move them somewhere different this year but i dont know .. also have two half wine barrels that i think i might plant two of my rhizomes into this year as well ..


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## technocat (23/7/09)

I have a Goldings which was given to me a few months ago. I have put it in a pot but it is that cold down south it is not doing much. Not sure whether to plant it out in late spring when it warms up a bit or leave it as it is. Never had anything to do with a hop plant so it will be a learning curve here on in.


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## kram (23/7/09)

Mark^Bastard said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> Unfortunately I have a small courtyard only so 'as big as I can get' won't really work for me. I sort of need to find a sweet point between size of pot and yield. I don't really mind if I don't get a crazy amount of hops because I'll only be using them for me and it's more about novelty value / having fresh hops. I have bought three rhizomes. I guess if I only had one I could get a decent sized pot but not with three of them!
> 
> ...


Which rhizomes did you get mark? I'll probably be going the pot route as well.


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## HoppingMad (23/7/09)

Am considering the container option myself too. 

Soil seems to be the key as to whether you go for putting in the ground or a container. Have some fresh zomes I'm looking at putting in in addtion to ones I put in the ground last year. The heavy clay soil in my area and the intense heat didn't help me in the growing season. I got zero flowers. With any luck a well positioned pot in good well drained soil will improve my chances of getting a yield.

I'm considering 50 cm or larger pots like barramundi but am still on the lookout for some wine barrels that I can cut in half and use. Might make my hops look prettier  Looking at low trellises or ropes off the pot that will be around 2.6-3m high. Don't really want to piss off the neighbours with the sort of 'hop towers' that BYO mag has - but it would be funny to watch their faces if I put them in!

Hopper.


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## tumi2 (23/7/09)

I was in the Derwent Valley just north of Hobart last year where they grow all the hops for cascade and others brewries. My friend who lived there new of a hops plant that the year before crawled about 10 m up a power line on the side of the raod. So i went down there with a shovel and got myself a part of the root about 30 cm long. Assume it is POR since that is the main hops traditionally grown in that area and i think this is a very old plant.

Came back to Sydney and planted it immediately (about 1 month ago) and within 3 weeks i now have 2 little shoots about 30cm tall coming out of the pot. The pot is about 60 cm in diameter and it is not getting much sun now but come summer it will be baking in it.

So planting them now seems to be OK if your in Sydney.

I have ordered a chinook from a guy on this site and will also plant it immediately.


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## MarkBastard (23/7/09)

kram said:


> Which rhizomes did you get mark? I'll probably be going the pot route as well.



chinook, pride of ringwood, tettnanger

have you got yours yet?

if you want we can work something out, like split the hop growing and split the yield.


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## QldKev (23/7/09)

The pot I use would be ok for a smaller area, 500mm wide, 400mm deep.

In the last pic of the first post you can see one of my plants, and a bit of the orange pot. 
Linky This was not at full size for the season. The runs ended up about twice that length.

QldKev


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## thylacine (23/7/09)

Mark^Bastard said:


> I did a search but didn't find any results.
> 
> Does anyone here have some advice on growing hops in pots? Is it possible? What size pot is recommended at a minimum? Obviously needs to be well drained. What watering and composting regime should be followed?




Lots of info here... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grow-Hops/

A number of past episodes deal with hop growing... http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

Can't remember the source, but one 'confined space' grower had pots lining his driveway. Each barrel/pot had a two metre stake with an eyelat at the top. He fed a few metres of cord/rope up and threw the eye. when the hop grew up to the top he would untie the rope and let in drop to the ground. He kept repeating this until the rope was fully 'covered'. He stated he was initially worried about heat/bugs/ect but he didn't have any problems and had a harvest.

Hmmm....


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## A3k (23/7/09)

I put mine in pots a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the pots are only 400mm diameter. I'm guessing i'd probably do more damange than good. 
Any thoughts?


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## kram (23/7/09)

Mark^Bastard said:


> chinook, pride of ringwood, tettnanger
> 
> have you got yours yet?
> 
> if you want we can work something out, like split the hop growing and split the yield.


Yeah got mine, same lot too! I'll have a beer made with gilbrews chinook flowers soon so i'll save some for you. 

I'm thinking of getting something similar to those large plastic storage containers and drilling a few holes in the bottom, to enable some horizontal growth. Any bad reason for this? plastics etc?


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## QldKev (23/7/09)

A3k said:


> I put mine in pots a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the pots are only 400mm diameter. I'm guessing i'd probably do more damange than good.
> Any thoughts?


My first season I had mine in 400mm pots. Thet still did ok, but not quite as bushy as the last 2 years. But I guess that could also just be because they are a couple more years older.

QldKev


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## QldKev (23/7/09)

thylacine said:


> Can't remember the source, but one 'confined space' grower had pots lining his driveway. Each barrel/pot had a two metre stake with an eyelat at the top. He fed a few metres of cord/rope up and threw the eye. when the hop grew up to the top he would untie the rope and let in drop to the ground. He kept repeating this until the rope was fully 'covered'. He stated he was initially worried about heat/bugs/ect but he didn't have any problems and had a harvest.
> 
> Hmmm....



It's on byo.com

QldKev


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## MarkBastard (24/7/09)

Okay I had a brief look in KMart last night and they have 45mm wooden pots that are sort of made to look like half wine barrels though obviously not as big.

Not sure I'll go down that path but they may be good for someone else in a similar situation.

kram I don't think plastic should matter. If anything it should be good? I heard Terracotta needs a special potting mix because it absorbs water into the pot or something. At least plastic doesn't do that. I don't know what I'm talking about though so don't take this as advice.


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## Batz (24/7/09)

Plastic rubbish bins $10.00 at Bunnies

Batz


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## sav (17/8/11)

I planted my rhizomes today in pots I got them from bunnings they are black 52ltr with a good amount of organic vegi mix cascade and goldings fingers crossed .


sav


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## jurule (28/9/11)

Same here mate 52L pots from there also, should be interesting to see how they go. Heres my setup with cross hatched twine to make the most of lack of vertical space.


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## Bats (23/9/12)

I have 2 questions relating to growing hops in pots as a first time hop grower.

1. I read Here that when the shoots start to show through, you should cut the first 2 back and wait for the healthier third shoot to show. I'm nervous about doing this as I already have a first shoot about 20cm tall and a smaller one showing, but no third shoot. This one is a Chinook hop. Also, I have a saaz plant that has bout 8 shoots all the same size (about 6-8cm). Which (or should I?) cut back?

2. I have limited height space and plan on training the hops vertically along the pool fence. Any probs with this method or pointers in vertical hop growing?


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## barls (23/9/12)

dont bother, its mainly from the commercial growers that this has come from.

as for training hops grow normally vertical. i think you mean horizontal. the only problem with this is having to manually train the hops as they wont normally grow that way.


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## Bats (23/9/12)

barls said:


> dont bother, its mainly from the commercial growers that this has come from.
> 
> as for training hops grow normally vertical. i think you mean horizontal. the only problem with this is having to manually train the hops as they wont normally grow that way.



Ha ha. Yeah, horizontal is what I meant.

Had a few last night so the brain's a bit fuzzy.


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## Golani51 (23/9/12)

Bats said:


> Ha ha. Yeah, horizontal is what I meant.
> 
> Had a few last night so the brain's a bit fuzzy.



I would probably string some .....string across it to give it something to grab hold of. 

Also, what I have done at the back of my place where I have a fence only 5 feet high is to zip tie some wooden poles to the ends, with a wire going across the tops, and strings going down from this cross wire to the plants. They now have 4m heights. Easy to remove and cheap to make.


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## Eggs (23/9/12)

I tried growing in pots last year. I bought 2 small rhisomes, quality mix and potted them in 40 liter pots. by the end of summer they were realy struggeling. i couldnt keep them wet. we went way for 2 weeks in feb and i left instructions that they should be watered but it didnt happen so that was pretty much the end. when i tiped them out at the end of autumn the pots were solid fiberous roots. even as small as they were they filled the pots completely. so my advice is BIG pot and pretty much daily water. lots of room to climb.


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## Golani51 (23/9/12)

Eggs said:


> I tried growing in pots last year. I bought 2 small rhisomes, quality mix and potted them in 40 liter pots. by the end of summer they were realy struggeling. i couldnt keep them wet. we went way for 2 weeks in feb and i left instructions that they should be watered but it didnt happen so that was pretty much the end. when i tiped them out at the end of autumn the pots were solid fiberous roots. even as small as they were they filled the pots completely. so my advice is BIG pot and pretty much daily water. lots of room to climb.



Make sure you put lots of mulch on top. Even when you think they are dead, the rhizomes can come back to life. It is also possible to add water crystals of you are forgetful about watering. Mine all survived the heat and missed waterings. Don't forget the constant watering spikes(stick a plastic bottle on it and it sits upside down or auto timer (cheap now). There are so many ways to go about it. 

As a side note, remember that potting mix can dry out quickly. Always mix it with mulch, some regular dirt etc. One trick I learned was to put a large bowl (cheap dollar store salad bowl is fine) on the bottom before filling with the mix, so that it will always have a nice reservoir of moisture for those missed waterings. The roots will aim for it and always have access.


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## real_beer (23/9/12)

By the pics you can see I have great success using terracotta pots, but its an expensive pain in the ass when your harvester driver is pissed on the job!


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## Drew (10/10/13)

That last post is hilarious, and for a whole year remains with a response!!

So good.


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