Worth the effort?

[dbg400]

We bought a hop plant on holiday 18 years ago. It came from a vineyard in the Hereford/Worcester area, but we can't remember where or what the hop variety is! It was long before I started home brewing, and I knew nothing about them at the time - it just looked nice! It was an English variety, and I *think* it had Goldings in the name (would be great if it is EKG).

It did well up a 15" pole attached to the back of the garage, but got moved for a bamboo, and was relegated to the back corner of the garden. Most years it doesn't do much, as it's a dry corner and overtopped by a 40' Scots pine. This year it managed to latch on to a silver birch and get into some light, and the wet August meant it finally had something to drink too. I cut down the bines (it was entertaining trying to get them out of the birch) yesterday and left them in the wind & sun to dry a little, then they went into the garage to keep dry. A good job too as it's been drizzling here all day. This is what I managed to get.



and after stripping the cones I ended up with this bowlful (about 14" across):



It doesn't seem like a lot, considering it took nearly an hour to extricate the bines from the tree, and another hour to fill the bowl! I've got them drying now, and I'll use them as late addition hops in a future brew. I've no idea what the AA% will be, so I think it's less risky to use them as aroma rather than bittering.

Now on to the subject of the thread! I could dig up the hop, though it's very overgrown there now, and put it in a pot on the drive. It'll get more light & water, and I can put in a wire to train it up. But is it worth the effort? How well do they grow in pots? I suppose if I do get a good brew out of it that might give me more incentive, but I'd be interested to know how others get on growing their own hops.

[Uncle Albert]

Well done. Homemade is always the best in anything.

I planted three roots in two half whisky barrels this May. Unfortunately only one of the varities has emerged and lost the name tags as well. Think the Cairngorm's is going to challenging for hops plants, but hoping next year they might get established.

[NOZ]

I grow mine in pots - you need to water them frequently and feed them once in a while - they seem to take care of themselves to an extent.

[Uncle Albert]

I'll dump a load of manure on them this winter. Can I split the rhizome of the one that survived and plant one half in each whisky barrel half? Or is that a bad idea? I doubt lack of water has been the issue this summer.

[super_simian]

If it's been there for years, you will probably be able to split multiple rhizomes. FOr example my 5 year old Chinook ended up being split into around a dozen 10cm rhizomes, and that was about 1/3rd the bulk of the entire original rhizome. The rest was stuck in the compost. To my knowledge all the split rhizomes grew (gave some to mates, some to a pub).

[scuppeteer]

If it's that old do as super says and split it,leaving the main plant where it is. Looks like a golding but not EKG as these are Kent specific. Could be a white bine.

[Normski]

I lived in Herefordshire, I think that's almost certainly Fuggles.

[Geezah]

Its part of the Sage familly, so if it responds like its illegal cousins then you need to:
Nitrogen late/early in the year for the vegetation growth.
Potassium for the flowering stage (when the hop's are growing)
The sunlight also triggers different growth, so consider our summer is 12hrs light & 12hrs dark to promote flowering. If your plant is subject to a lot of shade it will hinder crop production.

If you fear the plant does not get enough water then place a water butt in the garden and rig up a simple irrigation system on a timer ( feed early morning / mid evening) and if you are confident rig up a folliar feeder too.

If you use non bio feeds, make sure you feed plain water for the last 3-4 weeks before harvest to reduce the chemical contaminates.

[scuppeteer]

I lived in Herefordshire, I think that's almost certainly Fuggles.

Definitely not a Fuggle. They are the only variety to have reddish upper on the leaf stems. Quite distinctive. Its more likely a Golding cultivar.