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How to Grow Hops from Seeds for Homebrewing

Sowing and Germinating Hops

how to grow Hops at home sowing and germination

 

Growing hops (Humulus Lupulus) from seeds is a little bit tricky and requires patience. Hop seeds germinate in cold temperatures around 0 – 8 degrees celsius for about 4 to 8 weeks which activates them and gives them an impulse to start sprouting and grow. This is because in nature Hops are one of the earliest sprouting plants starting as early as January.

A Little Hop Seed Germination Trick

Hop seed germination trick

If it’s much later than January or February and climate temperatures are much warmer than 5 degrees celsius, the simple trick is to get some small plastic box with lid, put a bit of moist sand or soil in it along with seeds and place it to the fridge for about 6 weeks. During the time nothing visually obvious will really happen to seeds apart from getting an activating signal that soon it’s ready to start growing. When you take the box out from the fridge put it somewhere on the light or plant the seeds directly to pots and wait about another 2 to 3 weeks.

I found out myself that the trick with the fridge is very important because before I learned the trick, I planted the seeds in normal room temperature around 18 degrees Celsius, and out of the whole batch of 50 seeds I got only about 6 plants. But when I did it with the “Fridge trick” out of 12 seeds 9 are out, which is a much better success score.

It’s a tedious job and requires a lot of waiting and patience from the start, but once you got hops growing, they grow very fast, some a few centimeters in 24 hours when they get bigger.

Potting and Growing Hops

Hops vine around the solid objects like a stick, rope, or post, so prepare yourself at least one-meter tall sticks that you can put in the pot next to the hop plant, or any kind of other supporting construction. It probably wouldn’t have any problem vining around the tree or wooden fence. Some types of hops can grow up to 7 feet, so be aware of that.

The good thing about the Hop plant is that it’s not too fragile and vulnerable against insects or weather, and it even doesn’t need rich soil. Another positive aspect is that it starts to grow every year again on its own from its developed underground root structure, which is also how it spreads and multiplies. There is not much other work involved during the year up until harvest in the late summer, which makes it a perfectly maintenance-free plant.

Use and Benefits of Hops

Most of the people will probably know that hops are used in the process of making a beer and that it’s used for its hoppy fruity bitter flavor. But it’s not the only use. Hops are known for their calming and relaxing effects being beneficial for the nervous system. Hop plant also contains high levels of natural preservative, thus it makes even more perfect companion to barley malt brew as it’s lowering the chances of beer going off.

There are many more health benefits to hops (Humulus Lupulus) plant which we would like to explore. More verified information I will find will be posted here.

Thanks for reading and have a “hoppy” life!

 

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[UPDATE]

January, the Sprouting Time

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