Growing Hops and Planting Hop Rhizomes

If you’ve ever thought about growing your own hops to use in that awesome home brew you just mashed up, it’s actually rather easy and entirely feasible. We ordered 2 varieties of hops from The Thyme Garden Herb Company in Oregon and received our Cascade and Kent Goldings rhizomes a few weeks later. Below is an overview of the process we followed, which hopefully will be useful for other home brewers out there looking to grow their own hops.

MATERIALS FOR PLANTING

• Hop rhizomes
• Garden or spade shovel
• Garden soil with rich organic ingredients (peat moss & manure mixture)

CHOOSING THE RIGHT LOCATION

You’ll want to find a location with plenty of space for the large growth of eventual hop bines to grow (that’s right, they are bines, not vines when we refer to hops). Planting in an area with plenty of sunlight and room for vertical growth is also important. Most sources advise to plant in early Spring and certainly before June, keeping in mind the date of last frost in your area. If your rhizomes arrive early and frost is still expected, you can store them in your refrigerator in a zip bag with a few drops of water for moisture (not a lot of water, that could cause molding). I chose to plant the hops in the corner of my yard that receives sunlight most of the day. It is also close to the woods behind my house, and the deer that live back there, and I’m not sure if deer enjoy eating bitter hops or not.

ALLOWING PROPER SPACE FOR MULTIPLE HOPS

Time to start breaking open the earth and planting those eager rhizomes in the soil. If you are planting multiple rhizomes, you’ll want to space them at least 5 feet apart to allow room for proper root structure development. Gotta give those boys some room to breathe! Since I have Cascade and Kent Goldings here, I spaced them about 5 feet apart, though in horizontal alignment so a future trellis support can be build that would accommodate both hop bines.

GET THOSE HOPS IN THE GROUND

You should plan on digging about 1 foot into the ground and maybe 1 foot across to provide a little extra organic soil for the eventual root structure that will branch out. I was confused by all the brands and types of planting soil at Lowe’s but eventually settled on Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for Flowers & Vegetables. Later I found that Scott’s also sells a Peat Moss that might have been a better choice, but I think this product should work for our purposes.

I created a mixture of 50% Miracle-Gro and 50% natural soil (that I dug out of the ground) and started creating a base coating in my hole. Now the great debate among hop growers is to plant your rhizome vertically or horizontally in the ground. The consensus I found is that both methods work but the important idea is to place the root so your buds (coming out of the rhizome root) are pointing upward. This positions the root to grow in the right direction as the bud advances, ensuring it heads upward to the soil top and not down further below the surface. You can see in the below picture that my rhizome is planted vertically with the new bud heading in the right direction.

Keeping in mind that the rhizome should be about 1 to 3 inches below the surface, start to fill in the 50/50 soil mixture around and on top of the planted root. I kept the soil loose but patted gently into place so it would not wash away with the next heavy rain. It might also be worth noting that you will want to map out the placement of your planted hops if you have other vegetation or plants in the area. A small marker would be helpful, especially if you need to differentiate between different hop varieties.

PROPER CARE FOR FIRST YEAR HOP GROWTH

You might also want to create a small mound on top of the hop location to help rain run off properly and not drown the new root in its infancy. On the note of watering, this little guy will need a little TLC to get his legs started. I’ve read to “water frequently but don’t drown the hops”, which sounds a bit contradictory to me. My interpretation is to water every few days with a solid amount that coats the soil but doesn’t leave puddles behind. I prefer to water the main root area thoroughly but then distribute the remaining water to surrounding soil area. My idea is to improve all soil in the vicinity to allow for spreading root growth. I have also been told that watering in the morning is preferable to the evening, so the plant has that moisture during the long hot day ahead (and evening water will not burn off and could lead to root drowning).

ANXIOUSLY WAITING & NEXT STEPS

As I mentioned earlier, the planning and creation of a trellis support will happen once the hops have broken the soil surface and start vertical growth. My track record planting flowers and vegetables is mixed so I’ve got my fingers crossed on this one. The first year for a new hops plant typically does not show much growth, though I think it should at least break the surface this season and show itself to the world. The second year is when the plant can start growing up to 1 foot in a week and that trellis will become more important. I’ve heard hop bines can grow up to 20 feet, which I think would add a little character to the yard. Regardless of the slow initial growth, I still check on my baby hop rhizomes every day and keep looking for that first shoot to show its face.