Esquire.com
There's not enough oxygen on Mars for us to breathe. The water is trapped in ice caps, and the soil is alkaline and dry. But up on that red planet, there's the potential for growing hops, the plant that gives beer its delightfully sharp, sour taste. That ought to make it feel more like home. The hops discovery ...
Brewing beer on Mars? Students find Martian soil is suitable for growing hops - ZME Science on 20 Jan 2018
Apr
21
Sprouts Survive Being Snow Covered Twice
ByAlright, this is getting friggen old. This is the winter from hell that won’t go away. It is a right wing conspiracy to discredit global warming – (joke). I had hop sprouts, 4 days later they are covered in 4 inches of snow. Snow recedes and a couple days later, we get 6 more inches of snow. Well the snow has receded a second time and the sprouts survived no problem!
Friggen Another 6 Inches of Snow
I knew the snow was coming (both times) and was torn whether to cover them (again) or see what happens. I chose to see how they would
Cascade Post Snow
handle being snow covered. this is the 5th year so they are well established and I figured they might as well be tough Minnesota hops and quit there sniveling. As I guessed, they handled it just fine.
Worst case is the sprouts would have been killed off and they would be replaced with another round. The first year after planting you have to protect them from snow and freezing temps. After that, they will either survive or send up more sprouts when the ground warms up again. I am at about the 45th parallel lattitude and hops will grow up to the 55th parallel (into Canada). I have not lost an established hop plant yet. I have lost a container hop plant Fuggle after it’s first year due to extreme cold (30 below zero fahrenheight) and I lost a Mt. Hood to 50+ MPH winds (first year hop plant).
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Magnum Sprouts
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Nugget Sprouts
The sprouts have not progressed since the first time I wrote about them emerging. They have been in a suspended state of animation during the snow covering(s). They do not appear to be damaged from the snow cover at all. I am glad I let them go uncovered because now I know I don’t have to cover them during cold or snow or both. I am getting really anxious to get going with this growing season (hops and my vegetable garden). It is one of the few hobbies I have and I really dig being connected with the earth (grounding/earthing – a major health benefit) and getting my hands dirty.
I hope everyone is having a great growing season. Let us know how your hops are doing. Cheers!
Andy,
Off to a good start! Here’s where it gets fun watching them take off. Hope your weather is better than mine. Watched the news/weather last night – we have another winter storm warning 4 to 8 inches of snow coming tonight. Waiting for spring.
Looks good! I have crowned mine once, and on the 5 1-year old mounds, already had 1foot to 1.5 foot of growth with 6+ bine shoots on each mound, so had to string up my trellis cord this weekend! Also, one of the 4 rhizomes I planted on April 6, 2013 has broken ground, as of April 19th. Pretty excited… this one is an eager plant, I would expect the other 3 to break some time in the next week. If I get time, I will try and share some photos.