Organic Rhizomes

[brewmasternpb]

Hello everyone, there is a lot of advertising lately about organic rhizomes.  If I were to buy a rhizome and plant it, without ever using pesticides or other chemicals, wouldn't that hop plant be organic (regardless of what rhizome I bought)?

[Thirsty_Monk]

One would think so but there are regulations/guidelines to make stuff marked "organic".

[morticaixavier]

If you are using it for your own uses than it's good enough to simply raise it organic once you get it. However, one of the big reasons to 'go organic' is to reduce the amounts of pesticides/ petroleum derived fertilizers going into the environment. Therefore, by purchasing a certified organic rhyzome you are encourageing the farmer in questions to stay organic. However, There are alot of hop varieties that are simply not available organicly right now. In that case what you are suggesting would at least allow you to get that hop in an organic form.

[brewmasternpb]

That's a really good answer.  Thanks!

[b-hoppy]

If you look up the regulations on what it takes to be certified organic you'll be amazed on how simple the process actually is.  In a nutshell, if you've not used any pesticides that are on the 'hit' list for 2 or 3 years, you'll get a certification.  So yes, if you follow the guidelines set up by the local, state and federal folks, you can then claim that you actually are raising 'organic' hops - even if the plant material you started with was not certified organic.  Things may have changed in recent years but that's the way I remember it being explained to me.  Have fun!

[denny]

Everything you need to know about organic certification...

http://tilth.org/

[mtnrockhopper]

Also - Often when buying propogative material (seeds, etc) they come coated with fungicides and/or other chemicals to protect the them from plant diseases either before or just after germination. I don't know what if anything is usually done with hop rhizomes, probably nothing.  The treatments usually have a dye added so the buyer knows the seeds are treated. Still, this would be another consideration if one were setting up an organic farm.