New Hop Yard! Breaking Ground!
We recently came back from the South Atlantic Hops conference at Virginia Tech and are bursting with enthusiasm! We learned a TON, met other great hop growers and brewers and have a new design for how we’re going to lay out our hopyard.
But first - the conference. It was two days of non-stop hops! We talked soil health, we talked varietals, we talked marketing...every aspect of hop growing from the microbes in the soil that feed your hops to helping brewers brew with them! I can’t get over how amazing this conference was. Ultimately, the underlying vibe of the weekend was that you’re not going to get rich growing hops, but you CAN make a decent living - after a lot of hard work and preparation. (Something we’re eager and willing to do!) There simply isn’t a lot of information on growing hops in Virginia because it is such a new industry here, but growers and brewers alike are willing to help each other out to support the entire industry. Did you know there are only about 25 acres of commercially grown hops in Virginia?? Wild!
The financials break down to this: expect to spend about $18-$22,000 to set up an acre of hops, and then expect to net about $14,000 per acre every year. Now - that isn’t a lot of money, especially considering how much work is involved spraying, fertilizing, training, pruning, etc. BUT, 3.5 acres and you’re talking about $50,000 a year...not a bad living!
So here’s where we are will our yard - we moved the two rows closest to the tree line into more sun. Sun and adequate airflow will do a LOT to hedge your bets against fungus and pests.
Our rows are 12 ft apart and our poles will be about 40 ft apart down the rows. A vendor at the conference said 40 was your max as the wire will start to sag with the weight of full hop plants.
We’re going to start with 4 varietals, but haven’t narrowed them down yet. Our strategy is to do three buttering hops to take advantage of the IPA craze, but also do one aromatic hop in case the floor falls out from under the hoppy beer fad.
We’ve dug ditches down our rows to start prepping the soil - we turned the grass over and put it back in th ditches to kill it off and let it compost - this is doing two things - adding organic material to the soil and removing the sod that could choke out the hops.
We should soon be getting the results from our soil sample from Virginia Tech (free if you’re a commercial grower) and we’ll be able to order any soil admenments we’ll need. Once the poles go up we’ll order the plants - we’re going to start with plugs and not rhizomes but that’s another post for another day!!
I hope you enjoy watching our hop yard come along - it’s an exciting adventure I’m happy to be a part of! Please ask any questions you may have or leave a note if you grow your own!
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oh my hops! that's exciting! are you planning on brewing beer?
I remember some good looking home-brewed beer from @cstrimel and gained some insight about brewing.
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What a cool project! Looking forward to updates as to how it is going! :D
Are those rows made on contour?
So the rows are straight, but the field is slightly rolling - just enough to prevent a lot of standing water when it does rain, but not enough that we have to worry about runoff and erosion. To the left there is a long natural ditch-like swampy area that we'll avoid planting in, but then it rolls up again where we'll continue our hopyard when we expand!
Cool, I was just wondering if you're practicing keyline planting or other regenerative practices!
Happy Sunday! This comment is to inform you that your article has been linked and featured in the most recent issue of the Weekly Homesteading Newsletter! Thanks and have a great day!
This is great, we started thinking of growing hoos recently. Excited to follow along.
It’s a fun challenge!! Follow Goldvein Hops on Facebook - i post more updates on there.
How exciting to be starting this new venture!! I wish you all the best success!
I also have a question for you because I just moved onto a property that has hops vines established on a trellis that has been neglected for years. Aside from pulling back the blackberries that have overrun it and throwing some manure around as a top dressing (the soil is rich in organic matter already), do you have any suggestions on how to maintain the vines or are they pretty hands off?
Sorry for the delay in this!! If you’re just doing it for a hobby, they are pretty hands off. Trim them back when the first shoots show up in the Spring (these are edible - google asparagus hops), as they start growing, train the vines to grow clockwise around the string, and they need an extra shot of nitrogen in their quick-growth stage. But ultimately they’re a weed and will grow without a lot of intervention!
Wow awesome! Thanks for the tips :) Yes it is hobby/personal level. Your reply is actually perfectly timed as yesterday @idyllwild and I just spent half a day clearing years of blackberry and rose growth, old trees, grass etc from around the hops to give them space. And what did we find growing under it all, but the first few sprouts starting to come up.. they sure do look like their ready for some vigorous growing. I'll have to try the first shoots as you mentioned! Regarding trimming back the first growth... is that so that they start branching earlier? Thanks for the tips :)