Hops - Fuggles, Goldings or ???

i once watched a programme that showed you them harvesting hops and the plants grew massive!

Hello Endyminon

We have about 20 acres of hops on our farm in NW Kent. Ours are tall varieties - Northdown and Fuggles - and Matt 94 is right. They are tall - about 18 ft on our wire work. For more details (including more varieties) see the Wikipedia link Hops - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (The correct name for where hops are grown (in Kent at least) is a hop garden, not a "hop yard" by the way.)

They really do need somethng to grow up to do well, but they have to be trained to grow up whatever it is. In two of our gardens each plant is about 4 feet from the next and grows up 4 strings; in the third they are about 2 feet apart and grow up two strings - we train 3 shoots up each string in each case. I doubt you will want/need to be so scientific, but the key is to limit each hill to a few strings, have only a few shoots up each string and pull out all the excess shoots. There will be plenty. They can only wind themselves round the strings with the sun (as my grandfather used to say) - if you do it the otherway they unwind themselves and fall down. They need plenty of water in dry spells or they shut down (as happened in summer a couple of years ago.) They are very heavy when full grown, so whatever it is you grow them up must be strong enough to hold them in summer storms of wind and rain: a hop garden falling over is a disaster.

There are are also "dwarf" varieties, about 8-10 ft hight. Examples are Boadiccea and Prima Donna. They are a relatively recent development. The one sold by garden centres is "Golden Tassels" but so far as I know it isn't used in brewing but only for ornament. No reason why you couldn't try it of course.

Apart from the tall/dwarf distinction there are two other distinctions to know about.

First is disease resistence: there is a very unplesant disease called verticlium wilt: some varieties including most of the "traditonal" English ale ones (eg Northdown, Fuggles) are susceptible and some (eg Target) are tolerant. For yourself if you buy carefully from a grower who is not in a wilt affected area (eg our friends and neighbours at The Hop Shop: Hop plants at The Hop Shop, Castle Farm - Shoreham - Kent) I would not worry too much to start with: if you do have wilt you can replace. I am afraid I don't know of anywhere else you can buy indivdual plants, but if you want a few thousand I can tell you who may be able to help! Make sure you get female plants: males don't produce the cones. You don't need a male to produce hops for brewing.

The other distinction is about the use. Here there are 3 types: "alpha" hops (eg Target), which are for preserving beer, "aroma" hops (eg Fuggles) which are for flavour/smell, and dual purpose, (eg Northdown, Challenger) which do both. You need both alpha and aroma in your beer unless of course you are trying to make tasteless US or Aussie p*ss. For example, Fuller's London Price has Target (alpha) and Challenger and (our) Northdown (both dual purpose) . Think of the varieties as grape varieties and experiment. (Don't mention St Peter's Brewery's very nice grapefruit beer that has no hops at all.)

Aside from wilt, hops are very susceptible to pests and diseases. They will be covered in greenfly, red spider mite and other pests. Other diseases include downey mildew and mould. There is one organic grower in the UK and he produces a crop about 1 year in 3. His go into Fuller's Honeydew. However once properly dried hops keep pretty well, and unless you are making industrial quantities of home brew one plant of each variety you want should be plenty even in a bad year. Most of our Northdown from about 12 acres goes to Fullers for London Pride and I don't think they buy this variety from anyone else which shows how little you really need.

Once grown you have to pick them. We usually start picking the first day after the August Bank holiday with Northdown then Fuggles. We say we start picking in summer and finish (not quite 3 weeks later) in autumn. Challenger matures a bit later, so if we wanted to grow more hops we'd probably have to grow this or another later maturing variety.

George Orwell didn't think much of picking by hand (Hop-picking | The Orwell Prize) but I'm sure it won't trouble you with just a few bines. Cut them about 3 or 4 feet above the ground, pull them off the supports and then pick. Then you need to dry them. In our operation hot (but not too hot) air is blown through them for about 8 hours. At home the top of an aga or similar would be ideal, but I expect you could it in an oven. They do not want to be frazzled so they completely disintegrate since that drives the aroma out, but dried so they only just break up when you roll then in your hands, leaving some residue of hop and that wonderful smell..........

Towards the end of the year cut the bines right back to the ground and fertilize - a heavy mulch would be ideal. Ours get lavender waste (we also grow lavender for oil) and the soiled straw from our ewes which lamb indoors as well as inorganic N, P and K. They are very hungry vigorous plants so feed them well. They need a cold snap in winter to reset their internal clocks but once they start to grow they grow inches a day. You can eat the young shoots like asparagus or soup but I have never tried, having plent of home grown asparagus at that time of year. Some trendy resturants serve them. Once your plants (hills) are well established there will be plenty of spare shoots.

WARNING: hops get into your blood. There is severe danger of addiction. A hop grower can live for some years without money, but not for very long without hops.

Wow! I didn't realise there was so much to know. Thank you so much for all the information. I haven't replied sooner because we've been away.

Let's check I've learned the right things though - we need two varieties to be able to brew something tasty but could get away with one if we choose a 'dual purpose' hop. They get quite big and need tall supports, need to go into the ground about now, eat a lot and two plants will probably crop enough for us to start a mini-brewery of our own.

Will they be okay, do you think, if we put them in raised bed in our slightly heavy soil?

Thank you LoudBarker. That is all so interesting - almost as interesting as drinking real ale!

"Let's check I've learned the right things though - we need two varieties to be able to brew something tasty but could get away with one if we choose a 'dual purpose' hop. They get quite big and need tall supports, need to go into the ground about now, eat a lot and two plants will probably crop enough for us to start a mini-brewery of our own"

That's pretty well it, but don't forget you need female plants. They like a good strong soil so I'm not sure I'd bother with a raisied bed - the roots go down miles anyway. Water logging they don't like of course.

You need to give them a couple of years to get established and come into full bearing. If you plant this spring train that's fine - just train one or two shoots up one string. There might be a (very) few hops. Next year train a few more shoots, and get a few more hops. Full production only starts in the third year.

Don't underestimate the possible effects of pests and diseases, and don't underestimate how tall they get!

Best of luck.

My pleasure - keep drinking!

Just for you, I will!!

That was really interesting LB, thank you. Did you ever (I suppose long in the past now) have people holidaying from London to pick your hops?

We did, but long before my time. My mother, now 70, remembers the hop pickers coming down when she was a child on the farm. She helped herself.

Hvaing said that the process has never really stopped since we still have qute a bit of casual labour at hop picking time - usually about 10 extra people. Over the years the numbers have just got fewer and fewer. Sicen I've been involved they have come form all over Europe - mostly eastern europe - but spanish and protroguse have also come. Most recently we have had a gang of British Seiks from north London.

Only last year an old boy turned up on the farm at picking time with his 8 year old grandson at picking time, asking permission to have a look since he had been picking as a child on the farm in the 1940s.