The Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Hops, Malts, and Brewing Herbs by John N. Peragine Jr

Author:John N. Peragine, Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: beer, hops, brew, at home, supplies, microbrew
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group Inc.
Published: 2014-04-07T04:00:00+00:00

Choosing the Right Hop Yard Site

A hop yard is the traditional name for a hop garden site. Hop plants will require, at minimum, 120 days without frost to produce the blooms you will require. In addition to the temperature, your hop plants need copious amounts of sunlight. The vines will require direct sun for at least 15 hours each day. These factors limit the hardiness zones to four to eight, or between the 35 degrees and 55 degrees latitude. The optimum growing season for your hop crop begins with a very wet spring followed by a steadily warm summer. If you live in an area that has a history of drier summers, be prepared to have an irrigation system that will provide your vines with consistent hydration for the duration of your growing season. Hops use a lot of water to grow, but you need to be sure you do not over water. If you waterlog the vines roots, you will kill the plant.

While the hop vine is growing, the hop hills should be evenly moist. You can check this by hand. It should be wet, but not at the level of mud. When hop plants are first planted and during the dry season, you should water your plants every day. You can buy easy-to-install irrigation systems from your local hardware or garden supply store for about $100.

When choosing a hop yard, you need to think about the amount of space you will need. Hops are planted in small mounds or hills with the plants spaced 2 ½ to 3 feet (.8 to 1 meter) away from one another. The hills will be 6 to 7 inches tall and about a foot across. You will plant one or two hop rhizomes per hill. If you planted five hills you would require a hop yard of 3 feet wide and 15 feet long (1 meter by 5 meters). Hops vines do not require a great deal of square footage. You can even grow a hop plant in a container; you would need at least a 5-gallon container to support the root growth.

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