Hops 2011

My hops have recently all woken up to spring and have new shoots. Last year I planted my hops in pots but I think they are now completely potbound and could use more space.

I would put them in bigger pots, but then they wouldn’t all fit properly under the trellis I built last year.  I solved the problem by getting new square pots the same size as the ones they are in now and cut the bottoms off them with a stanley knife. I then placed them on top of the soil in the old pots, making double-height pots.

The shoots were about 15cm long and were already starting to develop leaves, so I carefully filled up the pots around the shoots with a mixture of fresh potting soil and perlite for extra drainage, taking care not to damage the new shoots. I expect they will break through this new layer of soil in a week or two.

I’m going to grow the hops along thick jute twine, run from the pots up to the frame in the picture below and then up to eye-hooks on the side of my house. This way the hops form a pergola as they grow, which provides shade cover as well as privacy to the one side of my patio area. I did this last year and it worked brilliantly and looked great. I also got a few hundred grams of different home-grown hops to brew with.