[wmwadeii]

A question, I know to only keep a few bines, but do you use a separate line for each bine or do they share?

[S. cerevisiae]

Well, I ran the numbers this evening, and it turns out that I have around $372.00 invested in 12 hills.  The costs add up quickly.

I live on property that has no natural supports and no fence.  Even a simple pole and string trellis per hill pair like I use runs about $10.00 per hill.

I plant only virus/viroid-free plant stock because it is difficult to go back to planting rootstock after planting virus/viroid-free plant stock (my first two hop yards were planted from rhizomes).  A whole crown runs around $10.00 to 11.00 per hill and around $7.00 for a field-grade plant per hill.   Now, we are up to twenty dollars per hill. 

If one owns dogs, one needs to build a barrier to prevent one's dog from getting to one's hops.  I built the simplest U-post and wire fence that I could build, and it set me back $70.00, which brings my cost up to $25.83 per hill.   

Unless one is blessed with abundant regular rainfall throughout the season, one needs to provide supplemental irrigation.  If one does not have to worry about one's water source, then a cheap soaker hose will do the job.  For those of us who are on low gallon per minute deep fractured rock wells, a soaker hose is far too inefficient; hence, there goes another $60.00 in a minimalist drip irrigation system, which brings my cost up to $30.83 per hill. 

Hops need to be fertilized.  Here's where I am luckier than most home hop growers because my neighbor has sheep; therefore, I have access to a ready supply of composted sheep manure.

I use less than 40 ounces of hops in a year.  I pay roughly $1.00 per ounce with shipping; hence, if I have no recurring costs other than twine, it will take nine years to to break even.  Like Jeff, my home grown hops are the most expensive hops that I use by a large margin. 

[klickitat jim]

They are, in general, very easy to grow and maintain. I have found that here in the USA, it's easier to grow native hops. The British and German varieties I have tried to grow just don't seem to like the climate here in the north east.

In eastern Washington, I am doing just fine with Tettnang, but I gave up on Willamette. It might have been due to my speaking German to the bines... "guten Morgen. Wie gehts?".

Weird, my Willamette does the best. Cascade is so so. Centennial is almost non existent

[pete b]

Has anyone heard of a dog eating hops off the vine? I don't fence mine to keep the dog away because I can't imagine him being interested. I make sure to throw my spent hops in a contained composter right away because I can imagine him being attracted to hops soaked in sweet wort.

[hopfenundmalz]

Has anyone heard of a dog eating hops off the vine? I don't fence mine to keep the dog away because I can't imagine him being interested. I make sure to throw my spent hops in a contained composter right away because I can imagine him being attracted to hops soaked in sweet wort.

The evidence I have read of hop poisoning in dogs were cases where the dogs ate spent hops, as the sweet wort makes them yummy to a dog. The cones on my hop plants are too high up for a dog to get to. Does anyone know more about other parts of the plant being toxic to dogs?

[thirsty]

We have hundreds of deer where I live and they will eat anything. The only thing they wont eat are the hops. One of them tries every year; I always find a cone or two and a leaf with a bite taken out, but they must taste pretty bad if even the deer won't eat them.

[S. cerevisiae]

Has anyone heard of a dog eating hops off the vine?

While some dogs can be picky eaters, my dogs eat everything that is even remotely edible if it is left unprotected.   

[erockrph]

We have hundreds of deer where I live and they will eat anything. The only thing they wont eat are the hops. One of them tries every year; I always find a cone or two and a leaf with a bite taken out, but they must taste pretty bad if even the deer won't eat them.

Hmmm... I might have to try spreading some hops around the garden this year. Those bastards eat all my friggin' pepper plants every year.

[denny]

We have hundreds of deer where I live and they will eat anything. The only thing they wont eat are the hops. One of them tries every year; I always find a cone or two and a leaf with a bite taken out, but they must taste pretty bad if even the deer won't eat them.

Hmmm... I might have to try spreading some hops around the garden this year. Those bastards eat all my friggin' pepper plants every year.

Deer will eat the shoots, though.

[S. cerevisiae]

Hmmm... I might have to try spreading some hops around the garden this year. Those bastards eat all my friggin' pepper plants every year.

A whitetail deer spotting was a rare event when I was a kid.  Now, they are like rats with hooves.

[erockrph]

Hmmm... I might have to try spreading some hops around the garden this year. Those bastards eat all my friggin' pepper plants every year.

A whitetail deer spotting was a rare event when I was a kid.  Now, they are like rats with hooves.

Yep, I see them all the time before hunting season starts. They're not spooky, either. I can get within 10-15 feet of them, no problem. But as soon as I put on the orange... *poof* like a ghost.

[S. cerevisiae]

But as soon as I put on the orange... *poof* like a ghost.

Except for the fact that the bucks come back and start rubbing the heck out of your trees.

[pete b]

Hmmm... I might have to try spreading some hops around the garden this year. Those bastards eat all my friggin' pepper plants every year.

A whitetail deer spotting was a rare event when I was a kid.  Now, they are like rats with hooves.

Yep, I see them all the time before hunting season starts. They're not spooky, either. I can get within 10-15 feet of them, no problem. But as soon as I put on the orange... *poof* like a ghost.

I don't have problems with deer despite living in the woods, possibly because the dog's scent. I do have a problem with hunters coming within 50 ft of the house despite being well posted when we have a boxer colored exactly like a whitetail. I have no problem with hunters per se, in fact we will let someone we know hunt on the property, its strangers with guns (and often beer) literally in my back yard I'm not cool with although they do leave the hops alone but only because their not in season.

[Phil_M]

Call the local game warden? Here in MD you can't hunt within 150 yards of any building you don't have permission to hunt next to. My parents always have deer in their yard after the season starts, but said 150 yard rule means they're untouchable. (And I'm sure the deer know that….)

Nothing will piss off a hunter faster than some bum of a poacher giving us a bad rep…and poaching includes hunting where you're not allowed to.

[pete b]

We have laws but their not easy to enforce. all you can hope for really is to catch them yourself. i put an orange coat on the dog when he goes out. unfortunately the only hunters posting our property keeps out are the responsible ones that I'm not worried about or so it seems.