Hop Growing Roundtable
Have you ever wanted to grow your own hops but weren’t sure where to start? Four professional hop growers from around North America share their tips for planting a healthy hop crop at home.
Where is your hopyard located, how big is it and why did you choose this place to grow your hops?
Rebecca Kneen:
The hopyard is at our brewery (we are Canada’s oldest on-farm organic microbrewery) on Shuswap Lake in BC’s southern interior region. We have two 1/2-acre yards. We chose the location because we could put the brewery there, the soil was good, there was plenty of water and good sun exposure.
Lynn Kemme:
Great Lakes Hops is not a hopyard per se; we are one of the nation’s largest propagators of hop transplants. We are in Zeeland, Michigan and produce over 1.5 million transplants annually at our facilities.
Colin Clark:
We are located just east of Fort Collins, Colorado. Currently we have a 1,500-plant greenhouse on just over a 1/10 of an acre. We chose to grow here based on access to so many craft breweries and acceptable amounts of sunshine.
Alexandra Gray:
Our farm is located along Sugar Creek in Boone County, Indiana. We are currently growing five acres of hops with room to expand to around 40 acres. Sugar Creek Hops was started on our family farm, which produces nearly 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans, as well as a small dwarf fruit orchard.
What varieties of hops do you grow? Has this selection changed over time?
Rebecca Kneen:
We currently grow 15 varieties of hops, including our own Sockeye (indigenous) hops. We grow Golding, Fuggle, Nugget, Mt. Hood, Willamette, Cascade, Challenger, Northern Brewer, Brewer’s Gold, Sterling, Zeus, Magnum, Galena, and Chinook. We used to also grow Centennial and Bullion, but they didn’t like it here.
Lynn Kemme:
We produce and maintain more than 65 varieties of hops, as well as maintain a large hops breeding program to provide new cultivars in the future. Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Columbus are the most popular, but aroma hops with higher aroma and oil profiles are gaining in interest.
Colin Clark:
We grow Cascade, Nugget, Columbus, Magnum, Chinook, Northern Brewer, Galena, and Centennial.
Alexandra Gray:
We grow two acres of Cascade, two acres of Centennial, and one acre of Chinook, along with 13 varieties of experimental field trials. We are also propagating an exciting wild hop that we found on our farm.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced planting hops at your location? How do you combat them?
Rebecca Kneen:
The main issue we have experienced has been lack of information or government research and support for growing hops in our region. This is slowly changing as we help more hops growers get established, with considerable research being done in Nova Scotia on hops production. BC’s research is pretty non-existent, however. We rely on US research, which is limited.
Lynn Kemme:
Combating different hop pests and diseases, along with variable weather are our biggest challenges.
Colin Clark:
Our biggest challenge was constructing a state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse during a frozen Colorado winter.
Alexandra Gray:
Our hopyard is located in a former prairie, which meant the seedbed gave us never-ending weed problems throughout our first growing season. We are also always aware of the challenges we face due to our higher humidity compared to the Pacific Northwest. In order to combat this, we are constantly monitoring our plants and watching for any sign of downy and powdery mildew.
Do you fertilize? If so, with what and how often?
Rebecca Kneen:
We use green manures planted between the beds — various combinations of peas/oats/vetch, clover, rye, and buckwheat, depending on soil needs and weed issues. We also add kelp meal and compost twice a year, as well as grazing sheep in the yards for direct application of manure and pruning.
Lynn Kemme:
We think a combined fertilization program that uses both granular and water-soluble formulations at different times works the best. We like to also use an organic-based fertilizer at least once per season to help the soil microbes thrive. The typical fertilizers we use have less phosphorus (hops don’t respond well to high phosphorus levels) — 12-5-15 would be a common formulation. Fertilizers are also tweaked per variety as to whether they prefer an acidic or more basic pH formulation. Hops from different parts of the world have different preferred pH ranges and soil types. They don’t all grow the same . . . they tend to be quite regional.
Colin Clark:
Fertilizing is what sets us apart from all other hop yards period. We have worked diligently for years formulating a high quality hydroponic nutrient recipe specific for our hops. This formula is what allows us to produce oil profiles that are off the charts in a first year rhizome. We fertilize our plants based on “real time” solar energy accumulation. Our hops get fed exactly what they need and only when they need it most, nothing is wasted. We also change our fertilizer recipe up during the different phases of growth to further maximize oil content and overall production based on how the plants are responding to conditions.
Alexandra Gray:
We fertilize with poop . . . lots of poop. We spread it in the hopyard with a manure spreader and also fertigate (fertilize and irrigate at the same time) with UAN-28 (urea ammonium nitrate).
How frequently do you water?
Rebecca Kneen:
Established plants in our yards need very little water, as we are sub-irrigated. The drier hop yard gets irrigated prior to cone maturity only, mostly during late July and August.
Lynn Kemme:
Watering varies by cultivar as well as by stage of growth and time of the season. Some varieties such as Hallertauer won’t tolerate wet, compacted soils. Plants should never be allowed to dry to wilt point at any time during the season and may require as much as 3 gallons (11 L) of water per day when they are forming cones.
Colin Clark: Along with our fertilizer we also water our plants based on solar energy accumulation and this schedule will vary from hour to hour, day to day. On average, hydroponic production uses 1⁄10 the amount of water than traditional soil production. We have zero water waste due to soil absorption and relatively low evapotranspiration rates due to our controlled environment. We also have the ability to recycle any runoff water from our plants.
Alexandra Gray:
We get much more rainfall than the Pacific Northwest, so our watering schedule is dependent on the weather. Hops require A LOT of water.
Do you experience much pest and disease pressure?
Rebecca Kneen:
When the plants are not water stressed we have very few pest issues, as we also grow a wide variety of host plants for predatory insects alongside the hopyards. Our biggest current issue is excessive water in one yard, as a spring has suddenly appeared in the middle of that yard. Our brewer is witching that water and moving it away from the yard and to a location where we can make a pond to use for controlled (!) irrigation. The excess of water has created mildew problems, which we handle by maintaining plant cleanliness and judicious applications of copper spray. In addition, grazing sheep in the hop-yard keeps the plants well pruned and clean.
Lynn Kemme:
Bugs: Aphids and spider mites are the most problematic, but there are lots of other pests, like Japanese beetles and caterpillars, that can cause a lot of damage, too. Both powdery and downy mildews are very common diseases on plants throughout the growing season. Others like Botrytis, Fusarium, and anthracnose can appear and damage cones prior to harvest. Frequent scouting in the hopyard and prompt treatments are key to keep things under control. For example, downey mildews can infect in as little as eight hours.
Colin Clark:
Being inside a controlled environment (the greenhouse) we have a huge advantage in being able to keep pests and disease out, however we get the occasional aphid or spider mite appearance. We never use pesticides and never will. We rely on the help of beneficial predators and parasites to naturally keep pest levels down. Keeping a clean greenhouse and controlling humidity levels also helps control disease.
Alexandra Gray:
Luckily, with our adjacent prairie we have a lot of predators that take care of a lot of our pest problems. Last year, we had issues with leafhoppers, which luckily didn’t get to a point where we had to spray.
How do you decide when it’s time to harvest?
Rebecca Kneen:
We check moisture (by hand, not using a meter), smell and make teas almost every day as the season gets close.
Lynn Kemme:
Moisture testing green cones gives a good rough estimate, and we like to see yellow lupulin formation and a stickiness to the cones when they are crushed in your hands. We want to pick them before it’s possible to knock the lupulin out of the cones (which would mean lost alphas and aromas). Each variety has its own specific harvest dates that fluctuate with the seasons weather patterns.
Colin Clark:
The color and squeeze method does not cut it for us. We differ from many growers in our harvest technique. Aside from being all hand-picked, we chose to harvest our hops when each cone has become fully ripe. This often results in generously browning cones with a very strong aroma and oil content. Our cones are harvested near “shatter.”
Alexandra Gray:
This is probably the hardest part of growing hops. Part of it is a feeling, but what we usually go off of is a dry matter test. Once the hops hit an ideal water-to-dry-matter ratio we know it is time to pick. If the hops are picked too early, they can have a very green taste and the aroma is somewhat underdeveloped. If you wait too long, your hops can rot. We usually have a picking window of one to two weeks for some varieties.
What are some of the most important tips for hop growing?
Rebecca Kneen:
The most common question is, “Which hop should I grow” To which my usual answer is, “What type of beer do you want to make?” The most common mistake made by homebrewers is to grow only Cascades. Aroma hops are great, but if you grow only Cascades you’ll only ever make West Coast IPAs, which is pretty limiting (no matter how much we love them!). Basic tips are to feed the plant with compost or other slow release fertilizers so that you don’t get too much nitrogen and make the plants vulnerable to pests. Also, water well but let the soil surface dry out between waterings. Don’t expect a crop in the first year and give them way more room than seems reasonable. The most common mistakes I’ve seen are overwatering and planting in small pots in hot spaces. Also, don’t use Roundup to “clean up” around your hops. Roundup is a systemic herbicide for broad-leafed plants and will kill your hops even if you don’t mean to.
Lynn Kemme:
The most common mistake that homebrewers make is the failure to realize how hop plants grow compared to “normal” plants. Hops are not normal. They are the second fastest growing plant in the world (bamboo is #1). When they are growing at a foot per day they require fertilizer and lots of water to move it up the bines. Failure to anticipate this results in the hop plant stripping the nutrients out of the lower leaves. The lower leaves all turn yellow and drop off when the plant has pulled all the usable nutrients out of them and the plant stunts and forms small quantities of little cones. All of this happens at a pace ten times faster than most typical plants; so hops can be rather unforgiving if they are not cared for properly.
Colin Clark:
More often than not new growers just apply too much “love” to their young plants and whether it’s too much water or too much nutrients the plant often becomes victim to an overzealous grower. Find a nice warm sunny spot around your house, apply good soil amendments, set up a water timer, and leave it be.
Alexandra Gray:
If you’re just starting out, try to use planted starts instead of rhizomes when possible, as you get better growth and they are disease and virus free.
If you are already growing a lot of hops and thinking about starting a commercial hop operation, one important thing to keep in mind is that growing hops is a more complicated agricultural process than most. Putting up a trellis and growing plants is just the beginning. Cultivating, picking, harvesting, and drying equipment are all required . . . none of which is cheap. Hops also take three or four years to fully mature, so don’t expect to be able to make money selling your hops any time soon. If you are an existing farm that grows crops that allows you to have some preexisting equipment, land, and access to labor, and you are located in a region that allows hops to flourish, that makes it a lot easier.
