BUMP - Gonna plant my hops today....can someone tell me if this is right? Just gonna plant em in pots for now till i landscape my garden.,,
Going to Bunnings to buy 20litre + maybe bigger pots, with some quality potting mix...well draining of course.....
Fill pots half with potting mix, make a bit of a hole throw the hop root thingo in and fill up rest of pot with soil? how much "hop" has to be sticking out?
Should i mound the soil around the base of the plant or leave the soil flat in a pot?
help greatly apprciated.
Instructions for Growing Hops (Humulus Lupus)
Hops are a perennial climbing plant, they are incredibly hardy and aside from the brewing benefits, make an attractive ornamental plant. They can be grown on a trellis or a pergola in full sun and need to grow from east to west. It is supplied to you as a rhizome or rootstock.
If you are not ready to plant your rhizomes, keep them refrigerated (not the freezer) in a plastic bag in the vegetable crisper. Try to plant them by no later than September the 1st.
A very manageable hop plant will be trained to grow vertically to 1.5-2 metres then 3-5 metres horizontally. This will make the training of the bine and harvesting safe and easy.
Generally, they are grown in latitudes where the days are long enough for them to successfully go through their growing cycle, hence the major hop growing regions of the world lie between the 35th and 55th parallels.
However, hops have been grown successfully in the south of W.A., in the Adelaide Hills, and NSW. We also know of brewers with successful yet small yielding crops in Qld.
Commercially they are grown in Victoria and Tasmania.
The rhizome should be transplanted into well-mulched soil either in a pot (bigger than 20 litre and only for the first year) or the ground in a sunny position and a northern aspect.
Plant the rhizome vertically with the buds pointing upwards or horizontally if you cant tell.
Either way keep them under 2-3 cms of soil.
If you are planting more than one rhizome then space them 2 metres apart.
Ensure that there is a spot where you can tie several pieces of household string or baling twine from the pot up to a trellis or high post so that it can climb. Under ideal conditions it can grow up to 250mm per day, usually they manage 500-600mm in a week.
The rhizome will produce shoots during spring which, once long enough, must be trained to follow the string. No more than 2-3 bines at a time per string. Wind the shoots in a CLOCKWISE direction (looking from the top) around the string otherwise it will not climb effectively.
Once there are sufficient bines growing upward, any new growth should be pinched off to promote bine growth.
Whilst growing, the plant should be thoroughly watered every 7 days (every 2nd day in >35C weather) with high nitrogen fertiliser added once a month.
Flowers (cones) will develop on the lateral side-arms and try to keep these from tangling. Maturity will be reached between March and April. Commence harvesting once the cones feel paper dry and the tips start to turn brown. 2-3 harvestings are normal, this ensures that you are harvesting the whole crop at its peak.
Cones can be dried on fly screen wire in the sun for two or three days or in a cool oven in a few hours until they are fluffy and light. Afterwards they should be packed airtight in freezer bags or jars and kept in the freezer.
IMPORTANT: Once the plant has reached maximum height and laterals have started to grow the bottom metre or so of each bine MUST be stripped from the plant to avoid the growth of various soil borne fungi and to ensure good air circulation at the base of the plant.
Once the hops have been picked, the bines can be cut off at ground level and disposed of. In the following spring the process will start all over again, hopefully youll have used up the previous years harvest!
