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Maybe the chicken-dropping-composted hops could be used in an Eggstra Special Bitter? <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt="" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

Beer, eggs, peas, onions. I'm almost self-sufficient. Just don't stand down-wind of me! <!-- s:oops: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt="" title="Embarassed" /><!-- s:oops: -->

You wouldn't be so quick to volunteer to stand upwind from me, if you had been to the tasting session and experienced my three bean chilli.

I bought Wye Challenger and Fuggles rhizomes from hopshop.co.uk and had no problems with delivery. They also offered the dwarf Prima Donna but I didn't order that variety. They also include a small information booklet to help you plant them etc etc.

My plan was to grow them in a friends farm in April 2006 so I put them in pots with a good mix of soil and peatmoss and dropped them round. Sadly he forgot to plant them and I found them rooted through the pots into the ground in September. They looked like they could have thrived though. Maybe this year.....

Hops can be dried naturally over time or can be oven-dried like they do to age hops used in lambic brewing. I'd google that before doing it though!

Have you re-planted them this year? I still have mine in pots, but the shoots are starting to grow already.

Autumn of last year my friend pruned the plants right back down as you're supposed to do after harvest (or what would have been harvest I guess!)
However the roots had grown right out of the bottom of the pot and into the ground. They will probably be very difficult to plant successfully in another location now as the roots would most certainly rip off if I tugged on the pot. I imagine hops were never intended to be grown in pots for the long term so the future is not orange...

I'm stuck as I have no where else to plant hops that will reach for the skies....

When it comes to making organic beer with organic ingredients, hops are usually the 5% "allowed" non-organic element of the final product. Who knows, I might do it next year.....