Hydroponics?

[mrbeer1991]

Has anyone tries growing hops Indoors using some kind of hydroponics system? I know that the grow to be large vines but you can have the vines grow on strings and guide them where to go can you not?
How long does the vine have to be to start producing hops?

 

[day_trippr]

Now that you raised the question, you can see a couple of related threads at the bottom of the screen...

...which isn't nearly the number of threads involving hydroponic hop growing. For that you need to use the forum Search tool, or use Google with a string like "hydroponics + hops site:homebrewtalk.com", sans the double quotes, of course...

Cheers!

 

[HollisBT]

I read into it once before, but didn't go too in depth with my research as the topic quickly got well above my head lol.


From what I read, it *is* possible, but rather difficult. The root systems for hop vines need a lot of TLC, and are rather specific to their needs(at least when you try to grow them without dirt...), from what I read. One person had some luck with supporting the root ball in vermiculite, and using a mist-spray system for watering/feeding. This is not a true hydroponic system, but rather a slight departure from it, and a somewhat costly one I believe.

A google search should get you a few results, but I don't think there has been a lot of research on doing this yet, maybe you should pioneer it . A year round supply of fresh organic hops would be HUGE for the craft beer revolution that is happening at present.

 

[day_trippr]

[...] A year round supply of fresh organic hops would be HUGE for the craft beer revolution that is happening at present.

I don't think it makes any difference what kind of media is used to grow hops, they're still attuned to the sun cycle. So unless one creates an "artificial sun cycle" to simulate the lengthening and shortening of "daytime" with the seasons, a single harvest cycle is bound to result...

Cheers!

 

[HollisBT]

I don't think it makes any difference what kind of media is used to grow hops, they're still attuned to the sun cycle. So unless one creates an "artificial sun cycle" to simulate the lengthening and shortening of "daytime" with the seasons, a single harvest cycle is bound to result...

Cheers!

Right, I thought that was more or less the concept behind hydroponically growing anything though... To move the growing area out of the natural surroundings and into a falsely created environment where you could simulate ideal conditions to nurture the plant...

As for the media, I'm not certain, but from all of my readings, the root system needs support, which just using a floating hydro system does not support. And that makes sense to me since we are talking about a rhizome and not a traditional seedling.

 

[GVH_Dan]

I've never tried, but others have posted about mild success such as in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/aquaponic-hops-119624/.

I agree with the previous posters' comments. The biggest problems I see are:

1.) The massive root crown that develops and must be supported. You have tap roots that could go down as far as 10 feet or more. Rhizomes that will shoot out 7 feet or more.

2.) You need to provide it a way to grow at least 12 feet, preferably 16 ft or more straight up. This is on top of the room you left for the root mass below. (Starting to become a pretty tall building.)

3.) You need to simulate the sun's lengthening and shortening of days. I know this is easily achieved but at what cost?

4.) You should probably find a way to give it a cold dormancy period. I'm not 100% convinced this is needed, but its the way the plant experiences life in nature. I guess you could just chill the water down to 40F for an extended period or something similar?

 

[AurenLamben]

2.) You need to provide it a way to grow at least 12 feet, preferably 16 ft or more straight up. This is on top of the room you left for the root mass below. (Starting to become a pretty tall building.)

I've done some poking around and I know that the big commercial operations do vertical growing almost exclusively... But would horizontal growing negatively affect the crop or is it just a matter of yield?

 

[GVH_Dan]

I'm not a botanist, biologist or horticulturalist...but this is the simplest way it was explained to me by some of those people.

In the wild, plants want to spread out as far as possible. They don't want to choke themselves out with their own offspring. If a hop bine were to produce a bunch of pollinated cones while it was lying on the ground, it would just produce offspring that would eventually compete with itself.

Instead, it waits until it can start growing up. Then it can catch windborne pollen from up to a mile away and it can drop its seeds farther away. Therefore, until the plant turns and starts growing up, it won't produce much for cones.

 

[HollisBT]

I've always heard that the vines like to grow vertically, and do best when they climb. But I can't think of any reason why one couldn't try training the vine horizontally (as long a it is elevated and gives the vine something to grow on), on a slight incline, or even into any other shape (a spiral comes to mind for space saving, but this would require some effort to train and place the vine where you want it instead of where it wants to go.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Hollis, as long as it goes up...you are good. An angle can be fine and there is a fair amount of research out there looking at different angles and effect on productivity. I believe a slight angle can help. But if everything or a significant amount of growth is horizontal, it won't do well.

A spiral may work, but it will take a lot of manual intervention unless it is a large spiral. When you are done with the season, it will also be a pain getting the old bine off of it.

 

[Maweni]

I grew my hops this year in a 3 gallon bucket in coco pith medium fed on a drip system using hydroponic nutrients. This type of system is often used to grow tomatoes commercially in greenhouses. I grew my hops outside and they did very well. The 3 gallon container was more than enough for the root system and supported a 15' yielding vine. The only variety that did not do well was Ultra. The rest grew beautifully, Galena, Cascade, Newport, Columbus, Zeus, Kent Golding, Northern Brewer and Chinook. You can use the same type of system indoors as well. Just make sure you give them plenty of light. Remember that hops do like to have a "chilling" period.

 

[BrewGeek_Ohio]

Ha, I have 20' vaulted ceilings in my house..... Hmmmm? That would make for an interesting living room conversation starter.

 

[Maweni]

I grew these varieties in Los Angeles successfully - Galena, Cascade, Newport, Columbus, Zeus, Kent Golding, Northern Brewer and Chinook. All these varieties yielded in their first year. Galena and Cascade grew the best followed by Columbus and Zeus then the rest. Hops require lots of water, especially in summer here in Socal when its extremely hot and humidity is very low.

 

[SpentGrains]

IMO hydroponics are best suited for annuals, the quicker growing the better. Year round maintenance and care, root and growth trimming, chilling requirements, etc outweight the benefit of growing hyrdo.

It looks like it has been done, but it wouldn't be worth pursuing for me. Good luck.

 

[MalFet]

I tried. And failed.

Vines are very stubborn for hydroponics. They need too much light and too much space to really thrive in most hydroponic environments.

 

[Maweni]

I tried. And failed.

Vines are very stubborn for hydroponics. They need too much light and too much space to really thrive in most hydroponic environments.

Hops grow just fine in hydroponic systems. Growing indoors with artificial lighting is where it gets much tougher.

Media type hydroponic systems suit hops better than media-less type systems.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

I just got my 3 crowns from Great Lakes Hops planted in 5 gallon buckets of Perlite late last night. I'll finish the plumbing later tonight and take a couple of pictures. Work has been keeping me stuck in the garage so I have only and hour or two to play in the garden. The buckets will below the rail system. This is really more of an experiment to see if they will even grow especially in the summer months more than the yeilds they will produce. Wish me luck!
Week one in Hydroponics...

week two...

week three (Saturday 12/15/12)

Crowns that were planted last night. Sold one.

 

[Maweni]

Good luck. Which varieties did you get?

Nice greenhouse you got there. How much did it set you back?

 

[MalFet]

Hops grow just fine in hydroponic systems. Growing indoors with artificial lighting is where it gets much tougher.

Well, right...that's what the OP is asking about.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

Good luck. Which varieties did you get?

Nice greenhouse you got there. How much did it set you back?

Cascade, Chinook and Willamette. Sold the Columbus.

The greenhouse was pretty much nothing dollar wise except for the plastic at Home Depot. It's not rated for UV but will last all season. All of the wood is recycled/scrap wood and the paint was left over for another project (cheap $11.00 paint can). One of my goals when we buy agian is to have a little land and make something around 15' x 40' for dirt, hydro and Aquaponics!

Here they are in the buckets. Sun was going down so pretty bad picture from my phone. We'll see what happens and I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[Maweni]

Yr system looks like its nicely plumbed. Yr hops are going to do well in yr greenhouse.

Keep us posted as u go along.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

Figured I'd just keep posting in this thread instead of starting another since we're on topic. I had no clue how these would turn out so I'm pretty excited to see where we go from here.

One thing I would like to point out is root systems in plants and why everyone is explaining how they like to spread. Two main reason why roots spread...food and stability. Since I'm growing in a greenhouse I don't have to worry about any crazy storms demolishing or knocking over my plants and since I'm going hydro I don't have to worry about any lack of food and water my plant is getting. I have plenty of drainage since it sits in Perlite and the water/feed cycle is 30min off 30 min on to alow a little breather now and then. Roots in hydro stay white, clean and fine and don't need to spread far. The short ones will take in oxygen while the longer ones will search for food and water. The picture below is red leaf lettuce. Roots on a hop plant will never look like this but you get the idea what I'm talking about.

 

[StainlessBrewing]

Hydroponic Hop update. The two on the right are Chinook and one plant. Chugging along so far.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Awesome. I'll be doing an internship this summer and (hopefully!) a research project, devoted to hop growing here in MN. I will stay tuned as you chug along!

 

[mrmcdowe]

WAIT I see Stainlessbrewing is in AZ now I REALLY would love to know how you are keeping your res tanks cool!!!!

Sorry for the double post!!!!!!!!!!

 

[StainlessBrewing]

It's been really busy that past couple months so I haven't been able to play as much in the greenhouse. Here's some updates.

At one point my PH was WAY high and everything took a toll. I also hacked a giant yellow pear tomato plant that was robbing everything but not putting out anything. I'm thinking about removing the rails until winter rolls back in but not too sure yet. I might just get a little resevoir and play around with a few ideas.

I just got some new nutrients in so we'll see what happens but I'm excited to at least see flowers!

 

[StainlessBrewing]

 

[StainlessBrewing]

 

[ANewrBrewr]

Old post I know, but thought some may find these photos enlightening!

 

[HollisBT]

Geeze those are some big cones! I'm interested to see how they have the root system supported.


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[mrmcdowe]

Nice system and looking good! Hydroponics is a fun way to grow things!


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