TOPIC:

i have recently planted a few seeds that i got cheap of fleabay i wonder are they the same varety? the seller discribed them as "common hop" if they grow this year ill do a couple of brews and report back.
what did you use your "common hops" for brewing and did they work well?

"emmetg":1jzwvcj3 wrote: i have recently planted a few seeds that i got cheap of fleabay i wonder are they the same varety? the seller discribed them as "common hop" if they grow this year ill do a couple of brews and report back.
what did you use your "common hops" for brewing and did they work well?[/quote:1jzwvcj3]

I've got a feeling it might be next year, before you get hops via seed germination, but I could be wrong. When they do start to flower, you will need to seperate the males from the females, as the male will polinate the female, causing it to go to seed, and you don't want that.

If I was you, I would still try to get yourself a rhizome from somewhere, while it's around the right time of year, as it is probably more reliable.

Either way, best of luck with it.
Cilly.

I think common hops are the ones that you'd put under your pillow to help you sleep as sold in German pharmacies. The brewers hops are specific varieties, check out the wikipedia article

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humulus">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humulus

ill give it a go and see how it works. ill make a trial brew and report back or bring it along to a meetup see what you guys think. worst case (assuming they grow at all) its a bad batch and ill dig them up and throw the roots away loosing €3. also i will find out how they grow in my garden before forking over €€€ to buy proper rizomes.
like all my brewing its a bit of fun and alot of expermenting

[quote:1vxsyv7e]He wouldn't have planted seeds, but would have bought whole plants, which is basically the rhizomes but already rooted in earth and in pots. Usually a bit more expensive, but quicker to establish. Whereas the rhizomes are bare roots.[/quote:1vxsyv7e]

They were small plants - like 10cm high, with leaves:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.eickelmann.de/">www.eickelmann.de/

and large roots - not rhisomes - from:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="aplus-hops.co.uk/">aplus-hops.co.uk/

The latter took longer to start growing and didn't give good yield this year.

&amp;quot;Biertourist&amp;quot;:26lnxyjn wrote:
-You guys think February is late enough to plant in Ireland?
-It's mid-April before mine back in the States can get planted safely...

Adam[/quote:26lnxyjn]

It's weather dependent, like most gardening. I planted my rhizomes in mid-March last year when i was pretty happy that there would be no more heavy frost (there were late frosts through May, although that depends on where you live). Also my hops were pretty sheltered, but you could protect them with garden fleeces as many gardeners use to protect seedlings from frost.

I planted 4 rhizomes last year, and while they grew like crazy, the crop wasn't amazing- nor is it meant to be for their first year. I'm planning on adding a few varieties this year and have no intentions of planting until March again at the earliest. I have a whole host of other gardening tasks to deal with first & having started mooching in the garden last weekend, it's clear that no planting (of veg, not just hops) will be happening before March.

Adam, i'm afraid you will have to spend Sunday mornings for the Countryfile/RTE farming weather from now on! The curse of gardening!