The mantra for this hops season: “Be willing to be flexible,” Enola Christian said.
Droughts and lower than expected yields have made some varieties scarce this year. Luckily, there are often suitable substitutes available for popular hops.
Growing your own hops, for home-brew projects or as decorative vines, can be fun and rewarding, said Robert Christian, the other half of the husband-and-wife team that owns Beer Essentials, a beer-and-wine-making supply store in Lakewood.
“Either way, it’s a hobby,” Robert said. “There are those who get into it for a little while, and that’s fine. But the dedicated ones, it’s a lifestyle for them.”
The Christians have had experience growing their own hops both for brewing and for beauty. Robert focuses on the brewing and has his own home-brew favorite, a “robust porter” he calls “Positive Perspective.”
“Two or three drinks, and you’ll have a positive perspective,” he said.
Ivan Miller of Spanaway said he appreciates both the look and the functionality of the hops vines he grows at home.
“They’re coming in really well,” he said. “They’re very full, and they look good.”
The aesthetically pleasing leafy vines growing at his home add a touch of elegance to the garden, he said.
HIGH-PRICED HOPS
Because of drought in Australia and lower than expected yields in the United Kingdom and across the United States, some varieties of hops have jumped in price from $4 per pound to more than $30 per pound, Robert said. He refers to charts posted near hops selections at his store for suitable substitutions for pricey or hard-to-find varieties. In brewing, hops can be needed in the process as many as three times, depending on the bitterness and flavor you’re after.
Growers tend to rely on distributors such as Hops Union in Yakima and S.S. Steiner in New York for the latest in hops information, Robert said. Those companies sell books about growing, harvesting and brewing hops.
But hops aren’t just for home-brewing.
Many gardeners are finding that weaving a few hops vines into their garden layouts can give their growing areas a more homey, rustic look and feel, Robert said. While interior-minded homeowners might stencil the picture-perfect vines onto bedroom walls, green thumbers can grow the real thing outside. The fact that the vines bear hops is of secondary concern.
“Every year, I get a lot of gardeners calling and asking if we can use their hops,” Robert said. “They grow them just for the vines, and they don’t actually need the hops. They just like the look of the vines, and they’re trying to get rid of the hops.”
Decorative hops vines are long, stringy leafy affairs that can grow quickly and overtake any trellis. The Christians grow some vines outside their store.
“See these?” Robert said recently, pointing to two tall vines sprouting from barrel-bottom planters. “These have grown about 3 feet in the last two weeks.” The tips of the vines were about 9 feet in the air. The vines were growing up strings suspended from the building’s roof. Hops vines are capable of growing as much as a foot per day, Robert said.
THREE YEARS TO BLOOM
While spring and early summer are fine times to plant hops rhizomes, It takes about three years before hops vines will start to bloom, Robert said. If you’re a home brewer, at least you’ve got something pretty to look at while you’re waiting to get to the point where you have something to throw into your brew mixture, he said.
The Christians are ready with handouts full of information about planting, growing, harvesting, drying and brewing hops, as well as what problems to look out for. Even old Ezra Meeker, the Puyallup pioneer and hops farmer, ran into trouble with his crops. Downy mildew got the best of Meeker’s hops, and it is a common issue today, Robert said.
Downy mildew is a fungus that can stunt the growth of hops-vine “spikes” and slow or prevent the growth of healthy hops. According to the “Growing Your Own Hops” guide from Beer Essentials, “The leaves of a hop plant infected with downy mildew will look malformed or curled and will have a grayish black fungus appear on the underside of the leaves.” Copper-based treatments should be available at most nurseries.
In addition to downy mildew and powdery mildew, a fungus susceptible to sulfer-based treatments, pests such as aphids and spider mites can also cause problems.
SUGGESTIONS
The hops-growing guide also suggests many uses for the “beauty, looks and shade” of hops vines, including:
• Weaving the vines in with other vines and experimenting with contrasting colors of flowering vines.
• Growing hops vines along fences.
• Training hops vines to grow sideways, parallel to the ground along a wall or trellis.
• Growing hops vines up a dead tree, around an arbor or entwined in latticework.
Bill Hutchens: 253-597-8460
blogs.thenewstribune.com/gamers
Less Stomsvik, a Master Gardener with the Pierce County Extension of Washington State University, offered the following tips for growing hops:
1. The best time to plant is usually in the spring when temperatures are about 59 to 64 degrees.
2. The ornamental variety, humulus goponicus, can be very pretty with yellowish green leaves but generally lasts one season and tends to die out with cold fall weather. The brewing variety, humulus lupulus, can grow 20 feet in a season and should return after the winter.
3. Flowers from the brewing variety are used in making beer, but young shoots can also be used in salads or as an asparagus substitute.
4. A variety known as Cascade hops is used in making American beer. German hops are often used for European-style lager.
5. Hops do well in full sun but will tolerate shade. To get the best color from ornamental vines, they need full sun.
6. Well drained, moderately fertile soil rich in organic matter is good for growing hops.
7. Because the vines can get so long, they need reasonably large and sturdy support structures such as a large trellis or fence. Hops farmers often use A-frame trellises or have vines growing up wires.
8. Powdery mildew, endemic in our area, is an enemy to hops. Mildew contributed to the demise of the industry in the Puyallup Valley. Light watering and lots of sun (or moving to Eastern Washington, Stomsvik joked) can help stave off mildew.
9. Ornamental hops do lose their leaves in winter, but otherwise they winter well in the Northwest and come back in spring without much coaxing. (Note: According to the Sunset Western Garden Book, you should cut back stems to the ground after stems turn brown, after frost.)
