How will I know when my rhizomes ship?
We will email you when your rhizomes ship. They are an agriculture product, so shipment dates can vary a bit.
Will I get a tracking number?
YES, in 2018 we switched our shipping process so all orders now receive tracking information as soon as it leaves our facility.
There is white mold on my hops, is that ok?
YES, white mold is very common and indicative of a healthy rhizome. However, black and slippery mold is bad and should be cut off from the rhizome before planting.
What varieties should I buy?
If you’re a home-brewer, you may want to buy the hops you’d like you use in your beers. If your not a home-brewer, sometimes it’s easiest to buy varieties that are less prone to pests and disease. For those growers, we recommend Cascade, Columbus and Nugget.
How many pounds of hops should I expect from each plant?
Hops are a perennial that grow stronger year-over-year for the first several growing season. Typically very few hops are produced the first year but occasionally a pound or so of fresh hops can be harvested. With proper nutrition and care, several pounds of fresh hops can be harvested in subsequent years.
How will I know when to harvest?
Touch and smell are your best senses to evaluate when your hops are ready. Hop cones begin to dry when they are maturing, this causes the cones to feel papery when they are around the time of harvest. You can also pull a cone from the plant and rub it between your hands, causing the oils to be available to smell. Doing this will help you understand if the hop has the aroma you are looking for, or if the aromas are still very subtle and perhaps need more time to develop. This evaluation becomes easier after the first year, as you’ll get a better sense of what the different stages of cone development entail.
What if my plants do not grow?
We expect your plants to arrive to your door in good health, however if that does not appear to be the case you should contact us immediately to talk about getting healthy rhizomes to you. When rhizomes have been received, be sure to follow the steps to keeping them healthy before and after they have been planted. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee growth as there are too many variables present after the product has been received.
Why do you have a minimum order size?
To help keep the cost per rhizome low, we’ve reduced our overhead associated with packaging and shipping through the establishment of a minimum order size.
Why rhizomes opposed to seeds?
Hop seeds are produced when a female hop plant is fertilized by a male hop plant. Rhizomes are the root cuttings of female plants. By using root cuttings, we are able to have a genetically identical plant to its parent. This lets us keep varieties pure, while seeds enable mutations to occur.
Why can’t I buy Citra® Rhizomes?
Citra® is a proprietary hop variety that unlicensed growers are not currently able to obtain. We include it in our listings because of the number of questions we get asking if it is available. Citra® is owned by the Hop Breeding Company, which was formed in 2003 as a joint venture between John I Haas and Select Botanicals Group. They aim to create new hop varieties that will be strong commercial producers.
Due to the cost of a breeding program, new hops are often proprietary for a number of years and the owners only license to select commercial farms while maintaining control of the hops.
Other popular proprietary hops such as Mosaic™ (also Hop Breeders Group) and Simcoe® (owned by Yakima Chief) are in the same class.