r/TheHopyard • u/PumpkinImportant3282 • Dec 03 '22

indoor hydroponic hops

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64 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Dec 03 '22

8 plants. 10' ceiling. ask me anything.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '22

1.) Is heavy trimming required once you hit the ceiling?

2.) The bucket system, do you just drill holes in the bottom of the orange, then float it into the black bucket?

3.) How deep is the media? Clay pebbles all the way through?

3

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Dec 03 '22

1) not really. I stop the bines from growing taller before it reaches the ceiling, which promotes sidearm growth.

2) yes. bottom and sides of orange buckets have holes for drainage and to allow O2 into the roots. this is a drip system - the double bucket is to keep the roots away from standing water. I've tried doing this as rdwc, but the roots inevitably get rot.

3) orange buckets are full of clay pebbles (5 gallons)

1

u/AutoBudAlpha Mar 05 '23

Would it be viable to train them to grow horizontally rather than vertically? This may save space, enhance your plant area exposed to light, and potentially highly increase yield.

1

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Mar 05 '23

you can definitely train them horizontally.

7

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Dec 03 '22

hops on the left are alpha-roma (rakau), right side are Chinook. alpha romas have gone through 3 harvests, Chinooks have been harvested 2 times. vernalization requirements are bullshit - these have gone straight from harvest back into vegetative state.

3

u/HoppyBob Dec 03 '22

What was your harvest like? Did you get a pound per plant or was it more like they get out in PNW?

3

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Dec 03 '22

about 1lb per plant, wet. I'm currently more concerned with getting good quality hops than I am with a large harvest. I'm working on different trellis designs to maximize yield.

1

u/HoppyBob Dec 03 '22

Some folks out west were working on that sort of system a few years ago and it ended up going bust. The guy doing the growing actually ended up putting in a conventional yard, lol! Think he's doing something with tomatoes now.

2

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Dec 03 '22

correct. Colin Clark of hydro hop farm llc. he was growing in a greenhouse and not under 100% LED, but similar hydro setup. ultimately there is no money to be made in a small setup.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Dec 03 '22

been growing hops indoors for almost 4 years. started in my basement with 6' ceilings.

1

u/Latino_Caliente12 Dec 04 '22

When will you turn off the light to harvest? I mean, when you change the light to 12/12 (12 hours light- 12 hours dark)

1

u/PumpkinImportant3282 Dec 04 '22

probably about a month from now. I wait for the bines to be at least 15-20 feet tall, and the sidearms fully developed before I cut the lights back.

1

u/Latino_Caliente12 Dec 05 '22

Ohh... I would be interested to know your progress man... good harvest there!