Hanging Hops

The tallest vine is 23"

The historically famous hop growing regions of the world are found around latitude 48, where long summer day-length allows vines to quickly grow upwards of 20' tall. By contrast, Gallup lies around latitude 35, with considerably shorter summer days. Despite this hops can still be grown here. To compensate for the shorter days I've placed my hops in a full sun location and found they grow well even in the summer heat as long as they get tons of water. Second only to very rich and wet soil, I've found the key to having healthy vines is limiting wind damage to the vines and leaves. While frost tolerant, very cold temperatures below 27 degrees, can also hurt early growth.

Rigging up the trellis

After selecting the most vigorous vines to grow to maturity (the others are trimmed and this year I'm experimenting with transplanting the clippings- so far they seem to be taking), they need to be trained around a sturdy, tall, and taught trellis. Professional hop growers use 18' coconut coir twine, known for its strength and rough texture, for the trellis. I just use cotton twine tied to a 13' ponderosa pole. This year I was a week or two late rigging up the trellis, and a strong wind storm seemed to damage most of the leaves on the vines that had already grown to 2' in length. They seem to be recovering well and I hope to have a decent hop harvest in September.