My friend Pastor Joel just shared a picture of his happily grow hops in Florida :
For home brewers , hop are very of import . They give beer its unique flavor , balancing the bouquet of the fermented malt with their clean and evocative bitterness .
develop hop in Florida is generally not done . Hops grow in colder climates , which make sense since the good beer are commonly craft in temperate Europe .
My friend Bruce Bethke ( who is amore famous writerthan myself … and the one who urge me to pen and not attend back ) grows hop in his Minnesota garden . The roots are freeze beneath the ice all winter .
That ’s a far cry from Joel ’s garden in the Gainesville area … yet Joel has gotten a half - pound of hops in his very first year of grow hops in Florida !
Growing Hops in Florida: How Joel Did It
I asked Joel how he grow these hops since I was wondering if the blistering sun of Florida might be too much for them . evidently not ! Joel writes :
“ engraft them along a full Lord’s Day in the south front fence hunt down up bamboo . Only got about 10 feet in duration but should do upright 2nd year . No problem with pest at all . ”
Some year ago I bought some hops root from a large mail order baby’s room and planted them along my fence . They never got taller than a few feet and end up die after the first twelvemonth or so . The job in that shell , in part , was that they were “ out of sight , out of mind , ” and did n’t get cared for .
The other part was that they lack much energy at the onset . When I first planted them they got water , mulch and compost … but still just crawl along . I did n’t baby them after the first few months and they never really got hold out . I do n’t think they were from unspoilt store .
Joel is a punctilious and methodical nurseryman . He has been constitute plenty of compost from the teemingness of fallen leaves drifting into his yard , plus he has deep mulch his garden and mixed in former chicken manure and kitchen chip .
We shall see how these Florida hop do in succeeding years , but I ’d say if anyone could pull them off , it would be Joel .
After all , have you seen his homemade kegerator ?
Anyone else have experience growing hops in Florida ?
