MESmith
Member
I was wondering my dad has 60 acres of land near College Station (central Texas) If they do does it take years to get product? and can you get various types?
Hell no! Only two things grow in Texas! Steers and.. and something else.. what was it now?
Hop geneticist Al Haunold on growing hops in S. Texas.
Latitude 31 degrees is a bit out of the normal ecological range for hops. It is the daylength rather than the temperature, the latter could be overcome with sufficient watering (drip irrigation should work fine). As far as the direction and location of plants goes, it does not seem to matter too much.
The daylength during the critical months of rapid growth (from early May to mid-June could be supplemented with a simple 100 watt bulb, say setting the timer to go on about 8 PM until midnight, that would help. After mid-June it does not matter anymore. Also, hops should not be trained too early, even if growth has appeared and is quite vigorous. That should be pruned back, and new growth retrained not earlier than the first week of May.
Cascade would be about as good a choice as any, but it would produce some sterile male flowers at such latitudes, I have seen that in northern Mexico (Monterey area), but it still produced good cone set. Perhaps Nugget, or Brewers Gold, but I have no experience with those in southern latitudes. Willamette or Kent Goldings probably are a no, but one would have to experiment.
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