Hydroponic Hops

[jimmyjack]

I am interested in growing some killer hops. Doe anyone know if it is possible to grow them using hydroponics??


I know nothing about Hydro hops or growing other types of organic items under artificial means, this has been a public annoucement by re means labour goverment and the Brisbane Hydro hops society.


Cheers, JJ

 

[Kingy]

vote 1 the greens

 

[Mr Bond]

I'd imagine you could, not sure of the mechanics of growing a rhizome type plant though.This thread has some interesting points.

 

[Yeasty]

Indoors or outdoors?

Outdoors would be very easy. U may have to use coconut coir as a medium with a mix of perlite, or a vermiculite / perlite mix. Just need a water tank with water and mix in the proper food (eg dutch master) and a pump with a timer set to water at set intervals. U need to water enough not to let the roots rot, but enough to let the plant feed / keep watered.

Visit a hydroponics store to get detailed info.
Indoors needs to be set up as per the normal growing stage 16hrs for growing and 12 hrs once u want to flower.

Hardest part would be getting light to all areas while trying to have the plant tied up...

anything can be grown hydroponically, but u have to know how the plants life cycle is to try recreate it.

 

[InCider]

I can see it would be good to grow hops hydroponically. There were some police in cars and in a helicopter waiting to find out how this bloke in my street grew his 'hops'! And he doesn't even homebrew. He must have got the genus mixed up!

 

[Barramundi]

due to the family nature of hops and marijuana im sure its possible to grow hydro hops as theres more than enough proof that the other can be grown that way ....

 

[haro]

Super-chronic hops i like where your going with this.. lol

 

[domonsura]

I was thinking about giving this a go myself a while ago, training them up a white wall inside with lights refecting off the wall itself to get the light everywhere. Could be an interesting project! I'm sure if people can grow dope under lights, it would be possible to grow hops..it might just take a bit of trial and error.
Plenty of cheapo grow lights at the cash converters at greenacres! (A suprising amount actually, looks like half the local growers have gone out of business!!)

 

[Screwtop]

It's being done north of Bundaberg, see if we can flush him out, his brother in law trolls this site. What about it Rob! Comments?

 

[Sammus]

instead of a white wall wouldn't it be better to have them growing on some kind of grate and have lights on both sides.

And how cheap do you mean by cheap lights? I wanted to grow berries hyrdo but the lights put me off, about $250 was the cheapest I could find for ballast+globe+hood... kinda put me off for berries anyway...

 

[domonsura]

hood & ballast for about $80, but you'd wanna get a new bulb anyway - for the price difference and all the other effort you'd be going to, not worth wasting time with second hand...

 

[Screwtop]

Why can't you use secondhand fluro battens with Gro_lux tubes (like used for aquariums)

 

[Sammus]

You probably could, Ive grown all sorts of things under regular warm white fluros even. The high pressure sodium setups would just work a lot better though.

edit: the google I just did seemed to imply that you need a ballast and shade for grolux bulbs anywho...

 

[Screwtop]

Yep Ballast - very important. If it didn't have a ballast to pull the phase angle down the meter wouldn't go around and it wouldn't cost anything, VERY IMPORTANT those ballasts.

 

[jimmyjack]

Lighting may be cost prohibitive for me. What if I just got set up for outdoor growing. I dont know alot about it. I think all I need is a container and some wierd white ball thingies to keep the roots moisturised. Comments :blink:

Cheers, JJ

 

[Yeasty]

the only thing for outdoor u have to worry about then is the growing medium, what and how u plan to feed the plant, and how u grow it.

Ive been to a hydroponic cucumber farm here once and they simply grow on vines the same way as hops. He had each plant in a rockwool (volcanic rock spun into wool in blocks) bag and then had a dripper feeding the plants from a rainwater tank setup with nutrients. This was in a large greenhouse setup for mass production.

Pretty easy to do it for 1 plant, but your biggest factor will be the normal problem everyone has - training and tying up the plant.

U just need a pot with the medium, a water reservoir with the chemical food mixed in

http://www.dutchmaster.com.au/ -the best stuff. Use a 2 part system (works as well as a 3 part system) and dont bother with the "flower booster"s etc.

U need a pump and hose setup to drip in the food.

 

[Brooksy]

Water level with rhyzomes (rhizomes) is very important. The bulbous part of the root system cannot be completely submerged underwater for long periods of time otherwise they will rot. Your watering system must allow for a 'tidal' conditions - high tide, and low tide.

High tide - water over rootball
Low tide - water below all rhy(i)zomes.

High tide should be less than 4 hours per day. Preferrably not all at once.

Pump up - drain down 2 or 3 times per day. Just make sure the lower fibre roots have access all the time.

Never done hops but have done most other things (yeah, including "Spanish tomatoes" as a youngun) in hydroponics with good success rates.

Better idea is to talk to a neighbour or a mate with some spare dirt. That way you can get some vitamin D, dirty fingernails and a harvest.

Probably cost you a few beers, but life's a worry...... :lol:

 

[Weizguy]

Apart from the soilless medium, you need to think about whether you will recycle the nutrient (generally for up to a week) or use a run-to-waste system.

You might have to get a couple of rhizomes to experiment with different media, too. I'd recommend a side-by-side trial between rockwool and a perlite (or perlite/vermiculite mix). You won't need a pump if you use a gravity feed run-to-waste sytem. Say, a 200 litre fermentor/pickle barrel with a tap and/or valve with dripppers around the hop rhizome. You can use a garden timer or open the valve manually. You can catch the runoff into a bucket/ tray and recycle the nutrient back into the tank, if you wanna go that way.

As mentioned before, you'll need to keep the root zone moist but not wet, so a free-draining system is a must.

I have numerous textbooks on hydroponics, and Yes! there are hydroponic hop farms. I found a website which mentions one in Armenia.

You can buy commercial dry nutrient mixes that will make up to 5000 litres (IIRC) for about $70. You make up a Part A concentrate and a Part B concentrate and add an amount of each to the water in the nutrient tank.

I owned a small/pilot hydroponic lettuce farm a while back, and studied hydroponics at TAFE.
If I can help, I'm happy to do so here or by pm. I'd like to see your hydro hops become a goer. I might even have a go myself.
Borret, got any spare rhizomes?

Beerz
Seth

 

[RobB]

Bump.

I am interested in growing some killer hops. Doe anyone know if it is possible to grow them using hydroponics??

You most certainly can! I was recently in a hydroponics shop and they had massive, healthy hops growing in one of these. The pots were about 20cm across and deep, but the plants were touching the ceiling.

I went back today to take some photos, but they had just been handed back to their owners - Mash Brewing in the Swan Valley. Unfortunately, they had to cut the vines down to transport them so I don't know if they will be on display at the brewery.

The beauty of the autopot system is that it requires no pumps or timers. The smart valve system simply re-floods the pot every time the level reaches zero. The rate at which the solution is applied is governed entirely by the plant. You just need to check your reservoir level every now and then, but otherwise it's set-and-forget.

I got one of these kits for Christmas and put it to work growing beans. If it's as idiot proof as it promises, hops will be next.

My reply is almost two years late, so I'd be interested to hear if you have given this a try in the mean time.

If you're really keen, you could even grow them under lights and trick them into flowering out of season so you have fresh hops all year. After all, it works for their 'cousins'.

Cheers.

 

[johnno]

Autopot would be the go.

http://www.autopot.com.au/