Great Lakes Hops

I know it's been discussed here before (and I have been lurking for a long time), but Great Lakes Hops have excellent customer service and an awesome product.

Being a long time gardener, first time hops grower, I decided to try product from three sources.

Thyme Garden - 2x cascade rhizomes, 1x centennial, 1x magnum
Northwest Hops - 2x nugget, 1x centennial
Great Lakes Hops - 2x nugget (the northwest hops nuggets had the shoots "trimmed" by some little critter before I got the fencing around them, these are replacements), 2x chinook

The rhizomes from the first two were exactly as described, and I have no complaints. They all sent up shoots under my lights within 3-10 days, and now have between 4-10 little shoots each. But for a couple extra bucks there is simply no comparison to the Great Lakes crowns which all have 15+ shoots (one of the nugget crowns has over 30) and the root systems are just massive in comparison.

If I were doing it again I would have just gone with Great Lakes all the way. They answered my questions promptly via email. In the future, when I inevitably expand the hop garden, I anticipate that it will all come from Great Lakes.

Just ordered 3 crowns from GLH. Chinook, Columbus, Goldings, being in Texas we will see how they do. Both of my Cascade rhizomes from last year are doing well. I need to fertilize soon.

Yeah GLH rock! My second year plants are already taking off big time and its only been warm for about 2 weeks. I still ask them questions and get a quick and detailed response everytime. With crowns you are really getting about a 1 year head start... really worth the few additional $$$ vs. rhizomes.