2014 Annual Report for FNC14-954
Economics of Growing Hops In Indiana: Planting Rhizomes versus Fully Rooted Plants
Summary
[Editor’s Note: To see the report with the charts inserted in the text, open the PDF version.]
WORK ACTIVITIES
Due to the timing of the grant notification some of the varieties we wanted to plant were not available in the quantities we originally specified and we had to adapt to what the suppliers could offer. We originally had expected to purchase 160 each of plant and rhizomes of Newport and Horizon varieties but the Horizon variety was not available in rhizome form from any suppliers and the Newport rhizomes were not available in the quantity we had planned. We ended up with 160 Chinook, 100 Cascade, and 42 Newport of each rhizome and fully rooted plant. The Newport rhizomes had to be secured through various suppliers and the pricing ranged from $4.25 – 5.00 per rhizome, which added to the costs of the rhizomes.
During the early spring, when the soil became workable, we purchased soil amendments, which accounted for $1904 of the funds we requested for this purchase. We manually added the amendments, which took approximately 25 hours at $10/hr (25hrs x $10/hr = $250), which was not in the initial budget. We also had to perform some unexpected repairs on our trailer that exceeded our budget for the farm maintenance. We purchased and installed the upgrades to our irrigation system, which consisted of a fertigation system to deliver the fertilizer and fungicide.
We planted our Newport rhizomes on 4/18/2014 while waiting on the other rhizomes and plants to arrive. We went ahead and planted them early as they had been delivered two weeks earlier and we didn’t want rot or mold to affect their survivability. The other plants and rhizomes arrived on 4/23 and 5/2 respectively and were planted within a day of arrival. Planting the hops took about 35 man-hours. After we planted, we had to string the coir ropes that support the bines as they grow. We had originally planned on renting a cherry picker to help reduce the amount of time required to string the hop yard. Unfortunately, because we had a very wet spring, the field was too wet to allow us to use the cherry picker. We were able to improvise, and, use a climbing harness system as a workaround. The harness system was much less expensive but the manual labor time required, approximately 35 additional man-hours, was much more than if we could have used the cherry picker. When the bines were about 6” tall, we started training them to grow around the coir strings. This took about 35 man-hours. After reading a lot of research regarding how many bines to let grow the first year: pruning back to 2-3 bines per string vs not pruning bines to promote root development we decided for the latter. We believe this will affect the yield and possible cone development. After the hops were trained, our weekly weeding/mowing/irrigation regimen started. We spent approximately 5 man-hours per week (120 man hours/growing season) on these tasks, which was 90 more hours than we originally budgeted for. In addition, we spent approximately 2 hours/week scouting for pests and recording data. By practicing IPM methodology we were able to use much less herbicides and insecticides than originally anticipated.
RESULTS
The goal was to measure how much variance there was in yield between the rhizomes vs fully rooted plants.
As the plants and rhizomes began to grow it became evident that there was a noticeable variance in the survivability of each mode. The plants had the highest survivability while the rhizomes had some success in certain varieties, Fig 1.
Another noticeable variance was the flowering percentage between the modes. The flowering stage is when the hops began producing cones. We’re not sure why some plants grew 6-12’ but did not produce cones; further research will be needed for the next growing season, Fig 2. The numbers shown in Figure 2 are the flowering percentages from the total number of plants/rhizomes that survived. For example, the Cascade rhizome flowering percent was 45% of the 85% that survived.
Based on these two charts it’s pretty clear that the plants not only have a better survivability rate but also a better flowering rate.
WORK PLAN FOR 2015
Hops plants typically reach yield maturity in the 3rd growing season after planting. Because of this, we are interested to see if there is any measurable variance in yields between the rooted plants and rhizomes in year two, as the hops mature. We plan to continue with the same data collection (growth height, yields, etc.) next year. We are looking at options to install a solar electric water pump to alleviate the need for a person to be present while watering. This result would be that we could water more during the driest parts of the year.
OUTREACH
We were able to share our information in several different ways. Early in the growing season, we were interviewed by the local newspaper (Indianapolis Star), an Indiana-based periodical (Farm Indiana magazine), and a local radio station. We also attended Indiana Hops Alliance meetings with fellow growers and folks interested in starting new farms. These meetings typically had 20+ people in attendance. We attended a Purdue University hops field day, which was attended by 150+ people. During the field day, we were interviewed by a local television reporter. We also hosted a field day at our farm during harvest that was attended by 10+ people. In addition, we actively shared information throughout the year on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). Next year we plan on being actively involved in the Indiana Hops Alliance, hosting another field day, and posting information to social media.
Objectives/Performance Targets
Accomplishments/Milestones
Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes
Collaborators:
Co-Owner
Hoosier Hops Farm LLC
4106 Winding Way
Indianapolis, IN 46220
Office Phone: 3172234998