How to Grow Hops (Humulus lupulus)
This article is part of our “How to Grow Herbs” series. If you would like to learn more about how to work with this plant after you harvest it, please refer to our Herbal Aromatherapy Certification Program™ here.
Hops is an aromatic vining plant that has long been in cultivation. Sources claim that there are anywhere between 80 and 150 different varieties, but from what I can tell based on this list, an accurate count would be closer to 250 or more and with modern breeding programs, that number is rising.
Growth Habit
Hops is an herbaceous perennial perennial plant, which means that the leaves and bines (they are called bines, not vines) die back to the ground each year in the wintertime and reemerge in the spring. They are incredibly fast-growing, with bines able to add a couple of feet or more to their length each week when they are happy where they are planted. Leaves are arranged oppositely along the stems. The plants are usually either male or female and thus produce either tiny flowers (male plants) or cone-like strobiles (female plants).
Hops plants are quite vigorous and need strong, supportive trellising to hold their weight as they grow throughout the season. I think the plants look lovely when trained to grow up an arbor, but they do have to be maintained rigorously if planted this way because the bines and leaves are covered in irritating hairs that can cause rashes on the skin and are not pleasant to brush up against. I recommend planting your hops in an area of the garden where it will not be able to reach into frequently used walkways or spread into neighboring beds. I also recommend wearing long sleeves, gloves and full-length pants (trousers) to protect your skin when tending to the plants or harvesting from them. They leave behind a stinging / burning feeling on the skin that reminds me of the wood /carpet burns I sometimes acquired whilst playing as a kid.
Because the plants grow so quickly, you may need to prune them regularly to keep them looking tidy and to keep them from encroaching on spaces where you don’t want them. They spread aggressively by both runner and seed, so keep that in mind when you plant them. Once you have grown hops in a bed, you will likely be pulling up seedlings and runners in that bed and immediately surrounding areas for years, even after pulling up everything you can of the plants. I don’t say that to discourage you from growing hops but to encourage you to be mindful about where you plant it. Grow it in a container if you want to keep it from spreading via runners and be diligent about harvesting before it goes to seed and pulling up seedlings when you see them sprout to keep spread under control.
Growing Conditions
Hops plants are generally hardy to a USDA growing zone 4 or 5. I find that they can grow well in both full sun and part shade and that they prefer amended, well-draining, regularly watered soil. They can also do well when trained along a fence line, though you will need to keep them pruned so they do not reach over the fence into your neighbor’s space. They will likely send up runners on your neighbor’s side of the fence in their second year, so unless you have spoken to your neighbor before planting them and they would also like to grow hops in that spot, I would recommend planting them in a space where that spreading will not be an issue. The last thing you want is for your plants to be poisoned from your neighbor’s side of the fence as your neighbor tries to eradicate the runners with chemicals.
Growing from Seed
Hops is usually planted via rooted runners, but you can also grow them from seed. You may need to sow more than you want to grow if you start them from seed because you do not know when starting seeds if the plants will end up being male or female plants. If you want hops strobiles / cones, you will want female plants and fewer male plants are needed to pollinate them. When growing from seed, I recommend keeping the young plants in pots for their first year or two so you can determine which you have before transplanting into the garden.
Germination of seeds seems most successful when sown in the fall and kept warm and humid until the sprouts emerge in the spring.
Learning More
If you would like to learn more about how to work with aromatic plants, I hope you will join me in our Herbal Aromatherapy Certification Program™ here at Floranella! In it, I teach students how to safely and effectively work with over 100 different herbs as well as their applicable essential oils and hydrosols from the garden to the still to the apothecary. I hope to see you in class one day!
About the Author
Hi there, I’m Erin! I am the main instructor here at Floranella. I am a clinical herbalist, aromatherapist, artisan distiller and organic gardener based in the Pacific Northwest. Here at Floranella, I teach people how to work with plants safely and effectively from the garden to the apothecary. Thanks for being here! I’m glad you stopped by.
