I thought hops were a Northern cool weather crop. Can they be grown anywhere?
a few years ago I was considering growing hops at home (central Fla) and so I did!
I had been advised that hops wouldn’t grow in Fla—maybe not a good idea commercially, but I planted few rhizomes in March and the bines were about 15’ tall by end of July/1st August, and growing.
That was the year of the hop shortage/skyhigh prices...
Did well for homebrewing purposes a few years, eventually lost them all one hot,non-rainy summer for lack of an irrigation system while away for a few weeks.
Sandy soil, good drainage, needs constant water/fertilizer though here.
Me, sometimes, extract/steep grains brewer...
Don’t believe all the homebrewer bs—more dos and donts than a dog has fleas—boil the hops; NOT the extract malt—see steve bader instructions online...
Semper Brewing!
*****
I am growing hops for a friend of my son’s who makes beer. They are in their third year and seem to be doing just fine here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, zone 7A.
“I thought hops were a Northern cool weather crop. Can they be grown anywhere?”
They can grow most anywhere but some varieties do better in certain climates.
Good soil, good drainage and good watering is the key from everything that I have read.
This is my first year growing in the Sacramento/El Dorado Hills area and it is hot here and they are thriving.
They also can be grown as decorative vines and smell great.
Additionally they are perennial and come back every year and you can pull some roots out of mature plants and grow more and more and give to friends.
The roots can go crazy.
I grew three towers here in dry ass Utah, each tower had 4 vines. I had cascade (huge producer), Willamette, and nugget. I would get about 2 dry lbs from the cascade and about 8 oz of willamette, and about the same from the nugget. Some hops produce better if you have other plants nearby to pollinate.
Neighbors thought it was a series of radio antennas. The towers were 17’ high and had a sliding collar on the pole so that I could raise the lines and then train the vines onto them. When harvest time came I could just drop the vines to the ground. First year I had to carry 5 gallon buckets of water out to them, second year I set up irrigation with mushroom head soakers at each vine.