Thursday, January 20, 2011

Start a hops growing Co-Op?

Growing hops


Growing your own hops requires several pre-requisites:
  1. Time.  Planting, watering, fertilizing, insect and weed control, and building the trellis all take a large chunk of time.  Harvesting will also take some time.
  2. Money.  Money is needed to buy rhizomes, fertilizer, trellis equipment, etc.
  3. Land.  Somewhere in the sun with enough room for a trellis system.  Also needs to be near a reliable source of water.
  4. Skill.  A green thumb, some knowhow for constructing a trellis system, maybe even some experience setting up a watering system.

There may be other factors involved.  Some of you experienced hop growers may want to chime in there.

Anyhow, I'd like to grow my own hops.  However, I have absolutely zero of #3 and #4, and on some weeks I'm short on #1 as well.  I'm sure there are other people in a similar situation.  Maybe some people have plenty of time on their hands, but don't have the yard space or money required.  Maybe others have extra yard space.

So the question is, if a large group of people banded together into a Co-Op, could hops be grown on a larger scale, while filling all 4 pre-requisites for everyone?  Someone in the group provides the land.  Others have extra time to maintain the crop.  Some handy people can help build the trellis system.  A few other people chip in to buy rhizomes and equipment.  If the hops are grown on a large enough scale, then there will be enough to go around for everyone in the Co-Op.

Making things even better, the costs go down after the first year.  Rhizomes and most of the equipment only needs to be purchased the first year and can be re-used.  After everyone gains experience with the hops, they can run through tasks such as pest control and harvesting more quickly.

I'd like to participate in something like this.  Anyone else interested?

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