To grow hops in Virginia, you need rich, well drained soil, light, water, and structure. The structure, or hop yard, can be as simple as a trellis against the side of a porch, or as complex as a commercial yard containing rows of telephone poles and tensioned wire. At Glendale we’re walking the middle ground and have chosen to cut three cedar trees for a mini yard.
We ordered 10 bines (5 Golding and 5 Centennial) from homebrewing.org and in April planted them in several 2 gallon pots to sprout.
Our hop babies grew quickly and soon began to climb.
Meanwhile we began work on the Hopyard. We took high-tensile wire repurposed from the orchard (we decided the deer can share our bounty of apples rather than creating Fort Knox), two screw anchors, baling twine, and several scoops (3 1/2 cubic yards) of loamy sand from the creek to build a nice foundation.
Time will tell how they do. In general, hops take several years to establish themselves and produce a good crop of delicious cones for brewing.