We have enjoyed growing hops for years now because it is absolutely fascinating to watch them grow so vigorously, reaching lengths of up to 25 feet. Their use as ornamentals is limitless. They can be easily trained to grow up trellises to provide shade and privacy in the summer when it’s hot, then because they die back in the fall, they are gone when we want all the sun we can get! I have seen them work really well trained to grow up poles to form a teepee.

The use of hops began as a kitchen herb, mentioned by the Roman scholar Pliny for its edible shoots, which are eaten in spring like asparagus. French and German brewers began using them to preserve and flavor their beers in the ninth and tenth centuries. Bavarian Hops became famous by the eleventh century, but it wasn’t until the sixteenth that the English replaced their traditional bitter herbs (Alehoof and Alecost) with hops. The Massachusetts Company introduced them to North America in 1629, but it took until 1800 before it was an important field crop. The end of the Eastern U. S. market came in the 1920s with a major out break of downy mildew. Today most hops are grown in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California. Hops have a long history of medicinal uses as well. Probably the most popular being its use as a sedative due to the substance called lupulin.

To use it as an aid for insomnia and restlessness the dried flower cones can be used in tea or stuffed in a hop pillow.

To make a hop pillow: Simply stuff a small muslin bag with some dried hop flowers, first sprinkling them with either alcohol, water or scented oil to reduce the crunchy sound. Other fragrant herbs may also be added to your pillow such as mint and chamomile or add mugwort for dreams too.

To make hop tea: Pour one cup boiling water over 1/2 - 1 tsp. of dried hops and let steep for 5-10 minutes. Can add honey and drink hot at bedtime.

HELPFULL LINKS ABOUT HOPS

EXPERIENCES FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY GROWING HOPS

One of our often asked questions is "Which hop rhizomes will do best where I live?" Even though my wife and I traveled through most of the states back in the sixties in our hippie van I don't remember enough about the growing conditions of every state to help me make those recommendations. Actually we had things other than hops on our minds at the time. So we sent a request along with our hundreds of hop orders this year and asked if they'd be willing to take the time to share their experiences with growing hops in there area of the country. This might be more accurate than me guessing. I'll be adding their stories below as we get them.

I live in Phoenix, AZ, we’re at the 33rd parallel. Hops are said to grow between the 35th and 55th, whether north or south, so I’m about 100miles out of range. I’ve been attempting to grow them here for about 4yrs now. I’ve attempted both in the ground and containers, having more success with containers just because I can move them around a bit if necessary. Last year was the best year I’ve had as I actually got a crop. I ended up with 1.75oz after drying. I’ve never been able to get actual hops growing before… just the bines.
The biggest issue I’ve had is getting them to survive over the winter. They either get to much water or not enough but always end up rotting in the ground. This last year I grew 5 different varieties; CASCADE, CENTENNIAL, CHINOOK, NUGGET and MAGNUM. Magnum by far did the best. I’ve tried centennial every year and it seems to do well here, that’s why I stick with it. Cascade did really well here too. All these varieties did well here until it hits about 105F, then growth practically stops. Once it gets over 110F and stays there for a bit you’ll start to lose them. If hops are grown in the areas they’re supposed to be, they need all day sun, but I’ve found here in PHX, they need shade all afternoon, and lots of water. I watered everyday, usually about 1 gallon per container. I had 2 plants sitting on a Southern exposure, and the other 3 on an Eastern exposure. They all did equally well concidering the East side got full afternoon shade and the South got heavily filtered afternoon shade from a mature mesquite tree. I also tied the lines up to the roof line, so for the South side they ran up 8ft and the East side ran along a slope, so about 8ft up to 15ft. Once they all hit the roof line, I cut them off and they all sent out shoots sideways and filled in a bit. They had a 50/50 mix of potting soil and homemade compost. They were also heavily mulched with alfalfa.
It has been very challenging, especially the over wintering, if I can get them to survive into a second year and get stronger I think they could do well here. Its getting them established that’s been tough. I will also mention that if they don’t make it this winter I’m not going to spend anymore time trying to grow them here, its been a lot of time/effort and I’ll have to accept that they weren’t meant to grow in PHX.

CALIFORNIA

(1) I have planted both Cascade and Nugget rhizomes from Thyme Garden. I'm in Southern California in Orange County. So far after two years the Nugget hops have done very well, while the Cascade have not been stellar. I think the Cascade got a disease last year and were somewhat stunted in their growth with very small cones. But the Nuggets have been spectacular. I planted them alongside my house in some sandy soil. This last season I added a 50/50 mix of compost and worm cuttings in early spring. The hops seemed to like it because they grew well over 20ft and I had no problems with mildew, fungus, or whiteflies all season. Cheers, John

(2) I ordered 5 varieties of rhizomes from the Thyme Garden in October 2007 at the peak of the hops shortage. They arrived in March 2008, and despite my location in Southern California below the latitude where hops are supposed to grow well, I manage to get a good harvest out of my Cascade plant every August. To me, the start of spring is seeing the hop shoots poke up through the ground, and my single plant quickly becomes the king of the garden over the 4-5 months that follow. It grows like a weed and I've never had a problem with pests. Cheers Jared
(3) I live in Cupertino in the foot hills (just south of San Francisco). These hops get some morning and mid day sun. They get very little late day sun. Soil is clay so I have added heavy amounts of chicken compost and a bit of sand for drainage. Ever few months I top of the ground with manure. I fertilize with fish compost when the vines are growing fast. I only use drip irrigation.
Year 2009 I purchased and planted Cascade, Sterling and Willamette hops. I got a strong harvest of each vine. Each rose over 15 ft tall and I was harvesting in mid August. No issues at all.
Year 2010 Cascade came on stronger. Sterling disappeared (dug up ground and could not find rhizome) Willamette did very well. I did not test my hops but the Willamette seems to have a very high AA%. It made some wonderful hoppy beers that I have not been able to replicate with 10% store bought hops. I purchased and planted two Magnum. They did well but not a big first harvest. Large cones!
Year 2011 I purchased and planted three Zeus. These are the same as Columbus right? Already I can see Cascade with three shoots. It's ready to grow big time! No sign of Willamette yet (no concern) and Magnums are starting to grow.
Lessons learned:
1. Mark your hops with a sign. I hear of too many issues with guys forgetting what is planted where. 2. Cascade seems to love it here (95014). All grow well. I don't know what happened to Sterling :-(. That was the base of my German Lager German. 3. Having the right soil with good drainage makes your hops happy.
Cheers!

East of San Diego
(4) The 3 Chinook rhizomes arrived yesterday in good shape, much larger & robust than those they replaced...already planted & ready to grow! Great service & Thank You!
I live in Southern California, in the hills east of El Cajon, 20 miles east of San Diego, @ 1600 feet elevation, with warm summers (usually in the 80's & 90's during the summers, with an occasional low 100's) I've planted 8 different kinds of hops. Both Chinook & Magnum produced heavily, with Cascade & Centenial also producing well. Northern brewer did well, with very small cones. Nugget & Saaz are doing ok. The Fuggle has yet to produce, & this will be it's third season. I use individual bubbler heads for watering each basin, using well water. The hops are planted on a terraced hillside, facing south-west, full-sun, getting late afternoon shade from large trees below. With some of the plantings, I built a 12" raised bed due to drainage issues I discovered after digging 18" holes for planting (clay in soil?). I used 12" chicken wire 'baskets' to protect from gophers, also had to install a chain-link fence to protect from rabbits. The hops are planted in like pairs, about four feet apart, with a 10 1/2 ft. high 14' x 21' trellis system made out of recycled 1" iron pipe. I use hemp twine to support the vines, installed each spring as the vines grow. Last year was my first harvest from the two-year old hops vines. Thanks again, Randy

COLORADO

(1) The summer of 2011 will be my 7th season growing hops. I have 21 plants (14 varieties) in my garden plot in Boulder, CO which is a dry and semi-arid climate. The plants receive full sun and grow vertically up 14ft posts with a narrow cylinder of fencing attached (think of a staked 14ft tomato cage). I cut all new growth back until about April 15th and then limit the each plant to 5 bines. Dry weight is measured after the cones sit in a homemade drying oast.
I have kept fairly accurate records over the last six years and have summarized my results from only mature three to six year old plants into three groups.

High Producers (2-3.5 lbs of dried cones per plant): Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Mt Hood. Columbus gives me the most bang for my buck in terms of alpha acid% and production, which usually tops 3.5 lbs dry weight. Holy Cow, Columbus is prolific!
Moderate Producers (1-2 lbs of dried cones per plant): Willamette, Tettnanger, US Goldings, Sterling, Hallertau
Low Producers (Less than 1 lb of dried cones per plant): Perle, Saaz, Northern Brewer. These three varieties are notoriously fickle and don't seem to like the constant sunshine of a Western summer. I am happy with anything they provide.

(2) Colorado Springs Hi, I purchased Fuggles and Willamette's. I started them in pots around mid april, then transplanted them memorial day weekend. I put two rhizomes in each pot, read on line that was the way to do it, I would not suggest this. When transplanting them to my planter, the roots were all entwined and had to be ripped apart. They survived but didn't like it. They shot up nicely in the pot, but didn't move after transplanting them till July. Some did ok, I got cones on two of the Fuggles, but that was it, the vines did shoot up on most as you can see. But this is the first year, so, should be better next year.

DELAWARE

I live in Newark, Delaware. According to the Farmers Almanac, we are considered region 2 the Atlantic Corridor, which basically extends from Richmond Virginia to Boston. Last year I planted your cascade and centennial hops in great soil on the south side of my house up a trellis and string, where they get blasted with sun all day long. I planted them a couple days after receiving them the first week in April during frequent rain. I watered them weekly for a month and a half, and then not again until late summer following a dry spell lasting over a month. Both did fine. I even harvested close to 5 oz dried. The centennials came back a little over a week ago, while the cascades just emerged yesterday. They were used for dry hopping and it tasted great! Hope this helps and thanks again for the hops! - Bill

GEORGIA

I did not buy my hop rhizomes from you, as I got several for free from a friend, but the only thing that is surviving GA climate and producing well is the Pearle, which seems to also be somewhat pest resistant. I have also tried liberty, nuggets, and centennial (surviving but not producing so far...)

INDIANA

We just received our rhizomes for the fourth year from you! thanks!!
We are in the ohio valley in southern indiana and we are in our fourth year of hop growing. We began with chinook and cascade and they do very well! Last year we began with brewer's gold and have bought more this season. We are also experimenting with stering and zeus this year.
Wilamette and fuggle are NOT good in this area. No production. The problems we do have are junebugs which we hope to keep down with milkey spore and the heat/humidity did a number on our crops last year.
We are small hobby farmers and the brewery which i work for brews an annual harvest ale each year with our freshly picked hops. We also sell to local homebrew suppliers. We really do enjoy hop farming even if we are on small scale.
Hope this information helps you! Colleen and Matt

PENNSYLVANIA

We ordered hops from you in April of this year (2011), and planted May 1. (We just moved in, and were a bit late getting our garden started.) You asked for feedback on how the hops grew so, since we're getting ready to harvest, here's how we did in Radnor, just outside of Philly, Pennsylvania:
The two centennial rhizomes we planted didn't do great: they sprouted, and grew short vines, but were never QUITE long enough to twine - hopefully, now that the root structure has developed a little, we'll get a better crop next year. The Magnum and the Columbus that we planted, on the other hand, grew like gangbusters - probably seven to ten feet per vine. The Magnum did not flower this year but, again, we have high hopes for next year. One of the two Columbus vines DID flower, though, and we have probably two or three dozen cones. Success!
I appreciate you guys taking the time to grow your rhizomes organically, thanks for helping us out with our garden this year.

IOWA

First off, I live in the Iowa City, IA area. Last year I purchased 4 different rhizomes: Cascade, Centennial, Chinook and Northern Brewer. I planted them on 4/4/2010 and on 4/23/10 I noticed shoots growing from the Centennial, Chinook and Northern Brewer. The Cascade never grew, but I think it wasn't a very healthy rhizome to start. I removed the sod where I planted the rhizomes, mixed in about 100 lbs of composte/manure mix, planted the rhizomes according to directions, and covered w/ straw. As they grew, I trimmed the shoots to leave the 3 strongest/healthiest shoots. The Centennial & Chinook did very well and reached the top of my 12 foot poles. I think they would have grown taller if I had a taller set up. They both had very large cones with lots of lupulin. The Northern Brewer only ended up growing to about 6-7feet and despite trimming the shoots, ended up looking more like a bush. I would say I got about 2 ounces dried weight in cones from each of the three hops.

This year I ordered a Zeus and Hallertauer rhizome that both look great. Looking forward to getting them started & having a large crop this year. I plan to set up some guide wires/lines to allow them to reach 25 feet this year!

Thanks & cheers! Luke

MARYLAND