# Hops grow up a wall without wires?



## trustyrusty (6/3/20)

sorry if dumb question... would hops grow up a wall like ivy? Or does it need structure like string or wires?


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## wide eyed and legless (6/3/20)

trustyrusty said:


> sorry if dumb question... would hops grow up a wall like ivy? Or does it need structure like string or wires?


Has to have something to wind itself around, whereas ivy will set roots into the mortar.


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## trustyrusty (6/3/20)

Thought so ... just checking if I could be lazy


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## Grmblz (6/3/20)

trustyrusty said:


> Thought so ... just checking if I could be lazy


You can, be lazy that is, they're quite happy to grow along the ground, the traditional hop up a rope thing was to maximise floor space. Harvesting might be interesting though.


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## wide eyed and legless (6/3/20)

Grmblz said:


> You can, be lazy that is, they're quite happy to grow along the ground, the traditional hop up a rope thing was to maximise floor space. Harvesting might be interesting though.


The hops rhizome will travel laterally until it finds a host to climb up, they have to climb, once it starts to climb it winds itself in a clockwise spiral so as to follow the sun. Darwin was fascinated by hops he had them growing outside of his bedroom window. He was also the first to discover that when you cut of a plants growing tip it goes blind. Proving that plants can see.(not like us obviously) Its only fairly recently that scientists have proved that plants can see,(and count) not just light but 3 colours violet, blue and red. A bit of useful trivia for Pub quiz night.


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## trustyrusty (6/3/20)

I was going to plant next to a tree but not enough sun ...


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## wide eyed and legless (6/3/20)

trustyrusty said:


> I was going to plant next to a tree but not enough sun ...


There was someone who planted near a tree put pictures up on one of the hop threads, hops grow best with the more hours of sunlight so to get a good crop it depends on the latitude.
Southern hemisphere production is centred around Nelson, New Zealand at 41.2°S; Myrtleford, Victoria at 36.5°S; the Derwent Valley, Tasmania at 42.7°S,
Doesn't mean to say you can't grow them in your backyard in some other places, just they won't crop as well.


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## MHB (6/3/20)

There are two bands around the earth where hops get the right length of daylight to trigger proper flowering, within these bands you need to find the right soil, get enough water...





Its a bit more complicated than just planting hops, well getting a decent crop is.
I think there are some real advantages to letting the hops climb, something to do with the laterals being over a certain height (couple of meters from memory) and they like to top out at 4-6m, having a pretty big impact on how well they flower to.
A lot of modern hop breading is going into dwarf varieties that are a lot easier to farm.
Mark


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## Brewman_ (6/3/20)

Hi Mark,

That's an interesting diagram.. Makes sense in terms of climate.

There is a big green zone over South America, but I haven't seen any crops from that region?

Steve


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## MHB (6/3/20)

Apparently they grow some in Brazil, but right soil, climate... all required and South American whether mostly sux for hops.
Mark


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