GROWING HOPS
BrewLuva suggested a Thread for hop growing so I'll get it started.
I planted two cascade rhizomes last year and ended up with enough to do about one batch, but this year I think things will be a little different as I had just planted this time last year and this year my vines are already averaging about three foot in length and it took to about somewhere in June last year to reach this point. There are also more vines this year as I think one plant had two vines last year and the other one had three. Right now I have four off of one plant and six off the other. I will put monthly updates on their progress. I also think after this year I am going to redo my trellis because they will grow to astonishing heights.
Here are mine!!
Here are some pictures of some ways to grow them.
http://hbd.org/aabg/hops/
and your signifigant other might approve of one of these ways.
http://www.freshops.com/grdncntst.html
GOODBREWING........AND GOOD GARDENING!!!
I wish. But from what I understand, even Cascade can't handle the AZ desert climate. I guess we're just a bit too close to the sun!
i'm hoping to get mine in the ground this week. will take pic's when i do.
Hi. I'm new here, this being just my second post; my first one was in the introduction thread, so I won't repeat any of that info except to say that I've been brewing about 10+ years. I have never grown hops, but I'm an avid gardener (7,000 sq. ft. from which my son sells vegetables to the produce stand up the street), so I figured I'd give hops a try. I tilled a row early in the spring of '06, but never got around to getting the rhyzomes, so I kept it tilled all summer, fall, and winter, adding manure, compost, lime, sawdust, extra nitrogen to decompose the sawdust, and other nutrients. Needless to say, it is completely free of grass and weeds. I also have the bed covered with compost to keep the weeds down. The row is located on the opposite side of my house, away from my garden.
After studying different ideas, I designed my own trellis, which will be converted to an arbor when I build the other half and string lines between the two of them -- planned for next year, but at the rate the hops are growing I'll probably need to do it this year (some are already over 7' tall). The trellis is 37' long and just over 8' tall. It is located 4' from my stakes to give me room to till between the bed of rhyzomes/roots and the trellis in the fall; that also gives a slant to the bines to improve exposure to the sun, directly south, and adds an extra foot of length to the lines to make about 9' of almost vertical growth. The other trellis will be located anywhere from 8' to 12' away. I've read that horizontal growth is not as great, so I might space it just 8' away, but can easily move it next year if needed. Part of the second trellis does become shaded by a pecan tree around noon, so I probably won't get as much growth on that part of the arbor.
The trellis is made from 1.5" schedule 40 PVC. Because it flexes a bit as it lengthens, I decided to drive 6' steel T-posts (the kind used for barbed-wire and field fence) into the ground 18", which seems to give them plenty of support without having to resort to pouring concrete around posts, and the 4.5' above ground gives plenty of strength to the PVC (slipped over the T-posts) because there is only about 3.5' without the steel core. I spaced my seven vertical supports six feet apart, which seems very ample. The top beam is glued together, but I did not glue it to the vertical supports; that will allow me to easily take it down if I ever move, and to allow me to work on it to add what I hope will be a great idea to make stringing it easier next year. To assemble it, I had my wife and kids help. They each grabbed a vertical support and, holding them at an angle, slipped them into the T-connectors on the beam, and then I used a rubber mallet to ensure that they were all completely seated. Then we all lifted the assembly straight up and, with a slow coordinated effort, slipped the ends over the T-posts and slide them down to the ground. It was VERY easy. I did the stringing myself using hay bail string (perhaps not ideal, but it's working okay). After tying off each string on the beam, I secured it in position with some duct tape to keep them spaced 18" apart. Total cost for all PVC, glue, and T-posts was about $80.00 U.S., plus tax. The PVC came in 20' lengths, which the hardware store custom cut to length for me for free. Five pieces, cut as follows: 8'-6'-6', 8'-6'-6', 8'-6'-6', 8'-8'-4', and 8'-8'-4' -- that gave me seven 8' verticals, and six 6' horizontals, with two piece of 4' scrap that I'll save for something else. With the extra 2" added per T-fitting, the beam is just over 37' long.
Now for my brainstorm idea. Next year I'll take the beam down and drill holes spaced 18" apart and fasten galvanized eyelets along the top. On the second trellis, I'll faster galvanized hooks, also 18" apart. I then plan to run one piece of string through all of the eyelets, tying it off on one end of the beam and leaving the spool of string at the other end of the trellis to feed string as needed.. That should allow me to use a pole with a hook to grab the string between the eyelets and pull it down and loop it over a stake or two and likewise allow me to drag the string to the other trellis and loop it over a couple of hooks. Back and forth I'll go, easily lacing my arbor with one long string without needing to keep cutting and tying it.
As for my hops, I planted six cascade sent to me by a homebrewer in Pennsylvania; they are doing absolutely great. I planted four from Freshops -- two centenial and two magnum -- and they're all up and running, but since they were planted about three weeks after the cascade, they're not as big. I also planted two Canadian Red Vine sent to me by a homebrewer in Texas, but they have not sprouted yet. They've been in the ground at least a couple of weeks IIRC -- which isn't a good sign -- but they didn't seem to be in very good condition when they arrived via mail, so they might not survive.
Anyway, since I have six adult children plus a few friends who all like my beer, I brew a LOT of beer -- probably close to the legal maximum -- so I use a lot of hops. I know I'll run into recipe difficulties because I won't know my AA%, but I'll just need to work that out somehow. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.
Cheers.
Since my last post, I decided to form the "Grow-Hops" Yahoo Group that is exclusively about growing hops; if anyone is interested, please visit here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grow-Hops
I've had 23 hop growers join in less than 24 hours, so I think this group is going to be a valuable resource for us.
Thanks.
Hop update.....lack of water.......it's been unusually dry here in the part of Ohio I live in for the month of May. I really wasn't paying attention to how dry it had been until the weather man said we hadn't had any significant rain for 19 days. Since then, about a week now, I've been watering them every night and they are starting to take off pretty good....here is an updated photo..... 
GOODBREWING.....
I was wondering how everyones hops were doing, mine seem quite small, prob only 5-6 inches of growth, hoping see a growth spurt soon, anyone else in NH or New England got theirs in the ground yet and have similar results?
BrewLuva - I am in North Conway and planted mine on 5/8 - my chinook are only 5-6 inches in height, and my cascade are 8-9 inches. I hope to assemble my trellis this week/weekend, then I will take some pictures and post them.
It seemed to take forever for them to poke through the ground 
(I was nervous that I had stored them too long in the fridge.) But I am surprised at how fast they have grown since poking through. I don't have my notes in front of me, but I want to say they have only been through the ground for 7-10 days now.
BrewLuva
I live just 30 min north of Boston.
My cascade is about 6 inches long and growing slow.
My Willamette doesn't seem to be coming back this year for some reason...
Maybe I over composted it this spring.
sounds like we are doing fine