I'm quite green fingered so why not grow the greatest plant of them all. Its supposedly really difficult but not impossible to propagate them, taking 6 or more months.
I have seen seeds in numbers of 50 on ebay for several pounds. Which is ridiculous when you sometimes find a few seeds in packs of brewing hops. I found Greenchronicle.com / Greenchronicle.co.uk sells them at a nice price. P&P is only 90p too. The uk website sells them in packs of 75. I may get some rhizomes (hop roots) sometime if I find some to make life easier.
Last year I found a website selling rhizome for £10 a plant. Fair enough it will save me money over a few years with it providing hops but the plant might not grow so well in my area, soil types ect. In the Joe Fisher & Dennis Fisher book, 'The homebrewers garden', it says to try out different varieties to find a type that grows well. A lot of money for trial and error.
Reading instructions on how to grow them on the web I found you have to plant them in the autumn in pots of sand and grit. Others say to put them in the fridge (simulate winter I guess) for six weeks then plant... After all this maybe ill grow a beard and start pipe smoking.
How did that go for you? Did you get male and female plants and the hops were pollinated and no longer suitable for beer?
ReplyDeleteDid they grow at all?
Unfortunately the seeds didn't propagate :(
ReplyDeleteI bought hop rhizomes last year instead and they flourished.
I've also learned its easier to take cuttings from nearby wild hops/my own plants. They take very quick.