Hop Stories from the PNW
Please read on to learn what our customers have shared with us about their hops growing experiences Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Idaho
Boise, ID
i purchased a cascade from you folks in 2009. i purchased a mt hood in 2010 again from you. this year i got a nugget hop. report to follow some time later. the first year of the cascade grew to appox. ten feet. i have a fourteen foot trellis system. in 09 it created small buds but none for a true hop harvest. in the fall of 2010 the cascade reached almost to the top of the trellis, but again produced small buds with an actual yield of 1 oz. the fall of 2011 height reached top of trellis produced medium size buds and i harvested 11 ozs. the mt hood in 2010 grew similar to the cascade. appox ten feet in height and produced small buds and harvested 1 oz. in 2011 the second year for the mt hood it reached the top of the trellis produce small buds and harvested 5ozs. i keep records for my hops. if you would like i will report back this fall to let you know how this years harvest went and to report on the new nugget growth. thanks for a quality product - rich
Oregon
Portland, OR
Hi Rolfe,
I received my one year old hops rhizomes from you today. They look GREAT !!! I immediately potted them up in some temporary, 8" square containers full of new potting soil. Will transplant them to six gallon landscaper pots beneath their new twelve foot tall cedar and rope trellis in a few weeks, when it warms a bit more here.
I've been growing, harvesting, and making beer with 'Willamette', 'Cascade', and 'Nugget' hops for years, and have divided them and given away starter rhizomes to my homebrewing friends. I must say, yours are the best looking rhizomes I've ever seen! They have some amazingly healthy roots and nice vine buds. I'm looking forward to harvesting some 'Noble' hops this August/September, to augment all of the ale hops I usually have. Now I'll be able to homebrew some authentic lagers, beginning with my first 'Oktoberfest' beer, in September 2102!
I'll report back on how well they do, but you already know how blessed we are in this soggy corner of Beervana when it comes to growing 'the spice of beer'...
Thanks, and Prost! Kevin
Update from Kevin 2014....
Hi Rolfe!
Nice to hear from you!
Your rhizomes continue to prosper here, although it might be time this Fall for me to divide and re-pot them with new soil. I think they may now be a bit rootbound, as they languished a bit in their six gallon landscaper pots during our unusually hot Summer; daily watering with a two gallon can was my routine whenever it exceeded 80 degrees. (I keep 'em potted because it makes them easier to keep under control and the different varieties separate, as well dig up and move to another trellis if need be...), but they do sometimes sneak taproots out the bottom of the pot...)
Nevertheless, I had my most bountiful hop harvest yet in 2014, and am soon going to brew an uber hoppy Winter lager with the same yeast used to make Anchor Steam Beer.
Hope all is well with you and yours! - KC
