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Hops.
The plant from which we get Hops, that
have been used by the brewing industry for some 1200 years, or more is
called "Humulus Lupulus" and is a member of the Hemp family.
This long lived, twining, herbaceous perennial, grows rampantly often
producing shoots up to 25 feet long and roots up to 15 feet straight
down. It is said that in the right conditions it will happily grow 6
inches in one day. Hops do not like heavy wet soils and need slightly
milder conditions to thrive. Hence they are usually grown in south of
the UK with Kent being the favoured county.
Commercially, Hop producing plants have always been grown from root
cuttings and not seed to ensure uniformity of crop and the resultant
flavoured beer. Planting is best done early in the season, or even in
late winter. An unusual feature of the Humulus Lupulus is that female
plants will produce the seed cones without the presence, or
fertilisation, of male plants. However, if wind pollination does occur
bigger cones will result, so traditionally one male plant is grown
with every 200 females.
Hop plants may well need irrigation and are very greedy feeders that
will rob the soil of all its goodness and as such need a rich soil
that is manured regularly. Care must be taken to prevent fungal type
infections to which they are prone such as sooty mold and mildew etc.
After harvest, the hops contain 65 - 80 % moisture that has to be
reduced down to 10% before they can be baled and used in the brewing
industry. Traditionally hops were dried in large specially built kilns
that were as big as a house and were called "Oast houses."
These unusually shaped buildings used to be a common site in the south
of England and many still exist, but have been converted into real
houses as the beer industry has moved on with modern technology.
To grow hops commercially might need a lot of expertise, but they are
relatively easy to grow in your own garden. In fact my mother grew
some successfully many years ago in the Midlands, on a wire fence down
one side of the Garden Centre that we used to have. Customers were
always fascinated and asked us many times if we made our own beer from
them!
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