Beer Forum

Hey, I am placing my order for rizhomes tomorrow, and am wondering if anyone knows what hops thrive the best in the pacific northwest, washington. Right now, my order stands with 1)Chinook, 2)Columbus, 3)Cascades.

Considering that most of the hops in this country have been developed and are grown right there in your area, all those will do quite well.

Wayne

Most American hops are indeed grown in Washington. But I see you're in Olympia, and the climate over in Yakima where the hops are grown is waaaaaaaaaaay different than the climate around the Puget Sound here. Yakima = desert, Olympia = wet and mild.

I know of guys growing all kinds of hops in this area with success though. Will they come out like the ones in Yakima? Not likely, but it should still be good. I think the hops that would grow with the best sucess and be closest to the commercial examples would be the English varieties.

Back in the 1880', Snoqualmie had the biggest hop production fields in the US. Then the downy mildew hit, and the crops died. They moved to the east side of the Mts. and the rest is history as far as Yakima goes.

Cascade absolutely thrives here. Willamette, too. Not sure about Chinook or Columbus, but Centennial does really well, so I think that those two should as well. You really have to be very careful about mildew. I don't know how to control it for hops (though there are plenty of anti-fungals that work great for non-food plants).

I'd send Ralph Olson a note and ask him what he thinks about as far as that goes (as well as that chick from Colorado -- can't remember her name off the top of my head but man, she really knows her stuff).

hops@hopunion.com

HTH-

nice! thanks for the replies. I ordered chinook, columbus and cascades. How long have you lived in North Bend? I grew up in Fall City. I think down here in oly, mildew shouldnt be too big of an issue just because its mostly sunny here and and the soil has great drainage. But that would be interesting to see what they use for that (just in case).

Cool- So I take it you went to Mt. Si?

I moved here in '96.
Just make sure they get all day sunshine. They'll love it.

Next time you come up this way, give me a holler.

Will do. I make it up there maybe once everyother month or so, but Im always bringing up some fresh yeast samples. Yup, I went to mt si high.

They are in the ground as of today! First time growing hops. Should be fun good luck fellas!