Homegrown Hops

Three weeks ago I eagerly drove up to Brampton because the hop rhizomes I had ordered through Homebrew Supplies had arrived.  In general terms, a rhizome is a cutting from a plant's root system that can be planted separately to form a new plant.

left: Fuggles rhizome right: Two Casacade rhizomes

I left the store with my 3 rhizomes in hand, two Cascade and one Fuggles, and then headed over to Canadian Tire to pick up some planting equipment. Since I had ordered organic rhizomes, I decided to follow through and grab an 18L bag of organic potting soil. I also grabbed a giant pot to use as a planter for one of them. The other two were destined for our farm in Kingston.

Cascade hop destined for this planter

Once home I picked out the prime rhizome to be planted in my apartment. I placed the other two in my fridge to store until  we had a chance to head up to the farm. After filling the pot up with the organic soil, I used my hand to dig a small hole that was about half a hand length deep. I place the rhizome in and covered it up, watered it thoroughly and placed it by my window.

Planter with hand dug hole containing the rhizome.

Rhizome all cover and ready to grow!

It only took about four days before the hops were poking out of the soil and by a week later their growth has been phenomenal. I am really excited to see their progress!

Hop plant about two weeks since planting

Throughout the course of the summer we will be documenting growing our hops in two very different settings: A downtown apartment grown within a pot and out in the country grown in the ground. It will be interesting to see how they progress differently between these two settings. Finally, we will hopefully celebrate the harvest by brewing up a vintage brew!