Hops - considered one of the most versatile plants, they make alcoholic drink for which he is very famous. The plant is also used in cosmetology, cooking and medicine. Also, this plant can perfectly decorate your garden. Hops have several varieties. It is divided into groups "ordinary" and "curly". Its stem winds clockwise, while it itself is covered with sharp spikes. Hops have different leaf shapes. The plant itself can reach a height of up to seven meters. Hops need to be propagated according to each variety. Basically, this is done from late April to mid-May. You can propagate in several ways, these are methods such as: propagation by seeds, particles of roots, cuttings.
Hops can be planted in any soil, as this does not play a special role for hops. Hop prefers warmth and moisture, it is impossible for water to stagnate around the plant, it does not like this and cannot endure it, and soon the plant may die. It is undesirable to plant any flowers near it, because it is curly and can confuse all the flowers and plants that will be near it. It is also important to know that it cannot be planted where there is constant heat, it will also not tolerate drought, and pests will begin to attack it, the leaves will begin to rot. Also, bees collect pollen from hops, it is good in honey plant, people use it among the people for dyeing fabrics. The stem is also suitable for sewing tight bags.
reproduction
In order to propagate a flower, you immediately need to determine a moderately humid climate, so that there is moisture and warmth. Before the propagation of hops, it is necessary to cultivate and fertilize the soil well, so that it can better accept and grow in good ground. If you propagate by root cuttings, you can make several grooves from each other at a distance of 1 meter, before propagation, you need to prepare a support for each plant so that later, when it grows, it does not break, support is very important for hops. Cuttings are cut from those plants that are already more than 3 years old. The plant itself can grow in the same place for about 20 years. If you sow seeds, then you must immediately find the soil that is the most fertile, so that the seeds take very well. This method is considered the most famous method of propagation, the hops that grow from seeds are called "Japanese". It should be planted between the beginning of April and the end of May, not earlier and not later, the soil must be mixed with humus, or the soil can be mixed with leaves. The seeds are not planted deep, about 1-1.5 cm. A week after planting the seeds, its first sprouts are already appearing, they need to be watered regularly. During the first 2-3 weeks after planting, it is impossible for the plant to be constantly in the heat, the plant needs a shade. After the sprouts grow by 5 cm, it is immediately desirable to transplant them from each other into separate pots, when transplanting, it is important not to damage the roots and carefully separate them all, together with the soil, do not shake off the soil.
As soon as the weather is warm outside, the seedlings are planted in open ground so that it gets used to it faster, we fertilize the soil. After that, the plant can safely grow on its own. It tolerates cold winters well, severe frosts, so in winter, it does not require special care behind him. Seedlings need to be watered, they need to be watered regularly, but it is impossible for the plant to have stagnation of water. After the hop reaches a height of up to a meter, it immediately needs to be supported so that it does not break. The first time in autumn, during frosts, hops must be covered so that they do not freeze, because they are still young and may not endure severe frosts. Hop cones are very well used in medicine, it is good for kidney and heart diseases, it also calms well. Hop cones can be harvested when they are fully ripe, and you can tell when the cones are ripe by the fact that they become sticky and have a pungent, not-so-pleasant smell. If you decide to plant hops, you will not regret it, because it will look very nice as a decor and you don’t need to spend a lot of time on it.
Among all herbaceous vines, our gardeners have long appreciated hops. He is distinguished by both unpretentiousness and excellent decorative effect. have long known about medicinal properties hops. old recipes relevant today. In our dynamic age, this plant will gently help us all become more stress-resistant.
In terms of growth rate, hops have no equal! It is, as it were, created for drapery of the northern walls. This perennial herbaceous vine grows well in the shade. It is quite decorative, winter-hardy, easy to propagate. And the practical benefits of hops make it necessary to allocate large spaces for planting this vine in many countries (for example, in the Czech Republic).
Our common hop is the longest herbaceous perennial temperate forests (only the Japanese variety of hops is an annual).
Hop cultivation
Hops are propagated by cuttings. Get planting material hops is quite easy. Ask the owner of the old curtain to cut a few cuttings. The cuttings should be 8-14 cm long with a well-filled core. This condition is met by hop stems 1.5–2 cm thick, with 2–3 pairs of buds.
Unlike cuttings, for example, black currant or gooseberry, hop cuttings are completely buried in a groove to a depth of 15–20 cm in an inclined state: the upper end of the stem segment should be 4–5 cm higher than the lower one and located in the soil at a distance of 10 cm from the surface. The distance between the cuttings in the groove is 1 m. In the spring, filling the cuttings with loose earth, the whole season it is necessary to keep the earth moist. Shoots will appear in 10 days.
When the stems grow to half a meter, it's time to pull the supporting ropes, tying them to stakes driven into the ground. The shoots find support and cling to it with hooks, which are completely dotted with the stem, and twigs, and even leaf veins.
Hop is a dioecious plant: male flowers look like paniculate tassels, female flowers in the form of small cones are collected in inflorescences of 30–50 pieces.
Now you can observe the extraordinary qualities of this plant.
Moreover, this vine is a champion in terms of growth rate, it grows by 30–40 cm per day, and sometimes by 70 cm! The growth of the vine slows down at the time of flowering. By the end of summer, the shoots will reach 8–10 m in length. The vine accumulates the strength for such rapid growth even in the fall: when the stem begins to dry out in September, the nutrients move to the rhizome, which stores them until spring. The rhizome lives for 20 or more years, growing every year in breadth and depth (in damp deciduous forests it eventually leaves the stem by 10 m!).
Now it's time to show that hops are planted not so much for their decorative qualities as for practical purposes.
The attitude towards heterosexual individuals among farmers is strikingly different. For female specimens from time immemorial, it is caring and even bowed. And seeing the male flowering plant, the owner, at best, seeks to castrate all the inflorescences. On industrial plantations, if a male is among the females, they destroy it in order to prevent pollination and the development of fruits. Well, just a vegetable nunnery! Even special studies were carried out, which showed that dry pollen of male hop flowers can be spread by air currents for 3 km!
The thing is that hops in economic purposes grown for the sake of LUPULINA contained in the pollen of female inflorescences. It contains a lot of biologically active substances: essential oils, resins, some alkaloids, tannins. It is this set that determines the value of hops as an agricultural crop.
From here originates the main use of hops - brewing. The tannins contained in lupulin help brewers regulate the fermentation of the wort, and the beer made from it is given a piquant bitterness and aroma, and persistent foam prevents it from quickly souring. In short - it turns out the right beer!
Water and alcohol infusions on flowering hop cones have anti-inflammatory properties and help with diseases of the liver, bladder, and intestinal tract.
On an industrial scale, hops are grown on plantations. In spring, they are least of all similar to rural lands - concrete pillars stick out in a bare field with wire stretched between them. The wire rings in the wind at a height of 5 m, as on a power line. In summer, the ground is covered with hop shoots, like a tent: it was the workers who, with a special pole, helped each hop shoot to catch on to the upper wires in time. Cones ripen in August-September.
It is very important to accurately determine the moment of harvesting (i.e., the maximum content of lupulin in the cones) and quickly carry it out, since essential oils are rapidly oxidized. If the cones turn red, they are late with the cleaning. Moreover, during harvesting, wet or rainy days are highly undesirable.
Harvesting hops is difficult because lupulin is poisonous in large quantities. Collectors have a headache. But humanity has always paid a high price for enjoyment.
Do not do without hops and bakers. Until now, dietary breads are baked with the participation of brewer's yeast. Many people know that brewer's yeast itself is medicinal and is drunk to improve metabolism in the body and increase appetite.
The medicinal properties of hops have been known for a long time. Recently, infusions have been used in the treatment of skin and breast cancer. Poultices and baths with hops help with sciatica, abscesses and ulcers. After washing your hair, start rinsing it constantly with infusion of hops, and the hair will become stronger, their loss will stop.
Not everyone knows that preparations for the cores (Valocardin in Germany and Valosadan in the Czech Republic) are prepared on the basis of hop oil.
One tablespoon of crushed cones, scalded with a glass of boiling water - old folk remedy from insomnia. Just as ancient way- put a pillow filled with crushed hop cones in the head at night.
And finally, hop stalks are a durable fiber for tarpaulin and burlap. And in Russia, baskets are also woven from them.
Hops are edible plants, and quite nutritious.
In Russian villages, the first green cabbage soup was always boiled from nettles and young shoots of hops. In the tender leaves and sprouts of hops at this moment there is a large supply of vitamin C (remember, the roots stored it in the fall?).
Do you know what was included in the daily rations of slaves at the construction of the Egyptian pyramids? Two jugs of beer, plus two baked breads, plus a head of onion or garlic per person!
How nutritious beer can be seen by looking at the dimensions of its regular consumers. By the way, it is the value of beer density in degrees that is placed on bottle labels, for example, 12O. This value has nothing to do with the alcohol content. There is no more than 6–8% alcohol in beer, and there can be no talk of serious consequences of intoxication. Therefore, the proverb is true: “There is no me, hop, more fun!”
Text: Margarita Turkina
"Garden affairs" No. 4 (48), 2011
How to grow a well-known plant in your dacha from seeds? After all, sometimes you need to quickly decorate an unsightly building, fence, porch, porch or gazebo. Perfect option for this - a powerful liana with beautiful leaves and cones. How to plant, how to care, what varieties exist? Can this crop be damaged by diseases and pests? You can get answers to questions after reading the article and viewing the photos.
Plant features
- Hops is a dioecious vine belonging to the hemp family. It is able to quickly, in just one month, stretch up to 6-8 m. Moreover, it wraps the hop around the support only clockwise.
- The stem of the plant is hollow, tetrahedral, densely covered with small spines with curved edges. With their help, hops even climb steep walls.
- The leaves of the hop are not the same throughout the plant: three-lobed at the base, and solid at the tops. They look very decorative, thanks to which the culture has received the attention of landscape designers.
- A long rhizome is located in the upper part of the soil. It is able to spread underground very quickly and start seedlings.
- Both male and female plants are required for fruit set.
- Cone-shaped inflorescences consist of 20-50 small female flowers. At the bottom of the cone there are glands that produce lupulin (a bitter substance). These inflorescences are used in medicine and in the production of beer.
Hops in site design
- Male flowers are fairly inconspicuous green panicles. Lupulin contains very little.
- Hop flowering begins in the middle of summer (approximately at the end of July). Fruits in the form of small nuts ripen in a month.
- The life expectancy of the plant is about 30 years.
Attention! The hop plant is very tenacious and grows rapidly. Therefore, before planting it on the site, you need to think carefully about methods for limiting the growth of the vine. For example, you can dig a sheet of metal or plastic around the root zone.
Hop propagation
There are two ways to grow hops on your own plot:
- vegetative;
- seed.
The first method is most often used. To do this, in the spring, sections of the rhizome with seedlings are separated and planted in holes prepared on the site.
Hops can also be propagated vegetatively with the help of layering, when the selected branch is bent to the ground, pinned and sprinkled with earth. In this case, by the end of the season, you can separate the rooted section of the vine and plant it in the planned place.
Hops need support
The seed method is used by gardeners only if they want to grow some new variety. This method is not particularly different from growing from seeds of other plants and includes the following work:
- containers for planting are filled with nutrient soil;
- the soil is well watered;
- grooves are made with a sharp object and seeds are sown in them;
- seedlings are regularly watered and covered from direct sunlight;
- grown young plants are planted in a permanent place.
What place in the garden is suitable for a plant
Most the best place for hops, it is partial shade. In the sun, the plant is more susceptible to diseases and more often damaged by insects. Loamy soil is preferred for creepers. Hops grow worst on sandy soils.
Before planting, be sure to install supports, for which the vine will cling to in the future. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that hops rise very quickly vertically, and if it is directed horizontally, growth slows down greatly.
The best place for hops is partial shade
Having the peculiarity of tightly closing together, hop leaves create a thick shadow. This should also be taken into account when planting it in order to decorate a veranda or porch.
Advice. At the end of summer, on the lower part of the vine, the leaves turn yellow and crumble. To hide it better near plant low plants with beautiful leaves.
plant care
Hops are a low maintenance plant. But if you want to see beautiful, green leaves and a large number of cones, it is still worth paying a little attention to the plant.
This vine is very fond of watering, so it must be carried out regularly so that drying does not occur. You can fertilize the soil several times a season with organic matter and phosphorus-nitrogen fertilizers. The entire season should be directed the stems in the right direction. If necessary, stop growth, you need to cut them off. In early spring dried last year's stems are removed from the support - this will make room for new seedlings.
Attention! Hop stalks are quite prickly and can injure skin Therefore, when working with the plant, it is advisable to wear tight gloves.
Very often the plant is attacked by aphids and fungal diseases. If this happens, treatment with appropriate drugs is required.
Varieties and types of hops, popular among fans
Through the efforts of breeders, more than 100 varieties have been bred. Some are suitable only for decorative purposes, while others are mass-grown and used in the brewing industry.
- Hops ordinary. A species distributed on all continents. Grows fast. There are always a lot of cones with a strong aroma on the vine. Mainly used in medicine.
Common hop
- Brewer. Cones forms a little. They are very dense and elongated in shape. Endowed with a delicate aroma. Less susceptible to diseases and pest attacks. It is used in the manufacture of beer and medicinal preparations.
- Triumph. Rounded cones are of medium size and medium density. Very fragrant. The plant may be affected spider mite. Used in the brewing and pharmaceutical industries.
- Aureus. Decorative variety with yellowish leaves.
Variety Aureus
- Prima Donna. The plant variety is able to grow a dense crown. Differs in very large inflorescences-cones. Also used in garden decorations.
- Japanese hop. A variety of a plant that is endowed with five to seven lobed decorative leaves. It does not form cones, therefore it is used only as a decorative annual vine.
Whether it is worth growing hops at your dacha is a twofold question. This is very helpful and beautiful plant, but it can also cause a lot of problems. Therefore, before planting a sprout on the site, you need to weigh all the pros and cons, and be sure to choose a variety.
Hops (Humulus L.) belong to the hemp family (Cannabinaceae L.). The hop genus is divided into three species: common hop (H. lupulus L.), heart-shaped hop (H. cordifolius Mig) and Japanese hop (ff. japonicus Sieg. Et Zuss). Common hop has the greatest production value.
They grow hops for the brewing industry. In addition, it is used in medicine, pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetics, canning and baking industries. The hop stalks also provide fiber, the content of which is about 15%.
Common hop is a perennial, dioecious plant with a liana-like twisted stem. The underground part is perennial, the stem is annual, dying off in late autumn.
Hop plants have vegetative organs - root, stem, leaves and generative - flowers, fruits, seeds. Plant organs can change depending on growing conditions. In particular, underground shoots form rhizomes, from which 10-12 highly branched skeletal roots grow, which are divided into thinner ones, with a dense network of small roots. Small roots and rhizomes form a well-developed root system that penetrates the soil to a depth of about 4 m and disperses up to 3 m. The bulk of the roots is located in the upper (about 1 m) soil layer.
The main rhizome of hops is a perennial underground shoot with buds. Its greatest increase is observed in the 4th year and it is during this period that more buds are formed on it, which later germinate and form a large number of shoots. When growing cultivated hops, the number of shoots is reduced annually, forming the main rhizome, removing excess shoots.
Stems are branched, green or red, long (about 10 m or more), up to 13 mm thick, herbaceous, covered with hairs. Sweet, hook-like spines are placed along the sides of the stem, with which the hops are firmly held on the supports. There are also such spikes on lateral shoots, petioles and on each side of the leaves.
The leaves are simple. Their shape is heart-like. The largest leaves are in the middle part of the plant, the lower and upper ones are smaller. The upper side of the leaf is dark green, the lower side is lighter, and it has glands that contain resins and essential oil. The number of leaves before flowering is about 400, and during the harvest period - 600.
inflorescences. The female inflorescences are cones containing 20-60 small flowers. The flowers have five petals and five stamens.
Male plants do not form cones and are of no practical importance, so they are removed.
The fruit is a small brown nut.
Hop seeds are small. Weight of 1000 hop seeds - 2-4 g.
Hop growing technology
Hops are grown on flat areas with a slight slope (up to 5 °) to the south, southwest and southeast.
Hops are placed on arrays (hop stands) with an area of 20 - 30 hectares, which are divided into separate plantations (squares). To protect hops from the winds, a hop stand is planted near a forest, forest belt or garden. If there is a need to plant a hop plant in an open area, then it is planted in advance (2-3 years) with protective strips (in 2-3 rows) of fast-growing trees at a distance of 20 m from the edges of the plantation.
Hop plants are planted on soddy, slightly and medium podzolic soils, gray and dark gray forest soils, and the level ground water no higher than 1.5 - 1.8 m from the soil surface. Heavy and light sandy and marshy soils are of little use for it. The groundwater level on plantations in the summer should be no higher than 1.5 - 1.8 m.
The areas allotted for hop farms are divided into squares 2–2.5 hectares in size, between which roads 3–4 m wide are left. On each hectare of hop mill, 145–150 poles 8–9 m high are buried for trellis installation. At the tops of the pillars, a galvanized wire is pulled, from which wire supports are pulled to each hop bush with their fixation with pegs 50–60 cm high at a distance of 40 cm from the bushes.
Soil tillage when growing hops
After laying the hop plant, after grain and leguminous crops, the stubble is peeled, after 2-3 weeks approximately half of the norm of organic and phosphorus-potassium mineral fertilizers is applied and plantation plowing of the soil is started to a depth of 45 cm. After 3-4 weeks, the remaining fertilizers are applied and the plot is plowed to a depth of 25 cm. General norm organic fertilizers is 50-60 t / ha, mineral 7-8 q / ha (P90K90). After tilled crops, the soils are not peeled, but only plowed. There is another way to prepare the soil for planting hops, in which deep plowing of 30–35 cm is used instead of plantation. placing them in rows according to the schemes 2.1x1m, 2.1x1.6m, 2.5x1m. At the beginning of spring field work the pits are filled with fertile top layer soil, mixed with 5 - 7 kg of humus or compost and begin to plant annual hop seedlings grown in a nursery or cuttings. Planting depth 8 - 10 cm from the soil surface.
Hop crop care
Shoots of hop seedlings appear after 7-10 days, cuttings - after 10-15 days. During this time, a crust may form on the surface of the soil, which is destroyed by loosening the row spacing. When about 75% of seedlings appear on the soil surface, the condition of the plantation is checked and hop seedlings or cuttings that do not germinate are replaced with spare ones.
After germination of hops at a plant height of 50-60 cm, the stem is planted on a support and the aisle is loosened by cultivators simultaneously with harrowing to a depth of 10-12 cm.
During the growing season on hop plantations of the first year of life, 4-5 fluffing of row spacings and one hilling of plants with a PRVM-3 baking powder plow are carried out. In the second year of hop life, the ridges are plowed up and raked in early spring, and the lateral rhizomes and underground stems of the previous year are cut off on the uterus. The height of the cutting of the stems depends on the condition of the plants: on highly developed plants, they are cut off completely, on underdeveloped ones - above the first second pair of eyes. Mechanized pruning of queens is also carried out using the PKH-1 device on a plow-baker.
Severely damaged or dead plants are uprooted and new cuttings or hop seedlings from the nursery are planted in their place. On 1 ha, the density of productive stems of plantings should be 14-16 thousand. Cut stems and other residues are taken outside the plantation and destroyed.
After pruning the hops, herbicides are applied and the soil is loosened between the rows. For the destruction of weeds, herbicides such as 50% sitrin (3.5 - 5 kg / ha), 50% dual (2.5 l / ha), 48% bazagran (2.1 l / ha), etc.
To accelerate the ripening of cones, spraying the plant with a 40% solution of ammonium nitrate is used at a shoot height of 70–80 cm. After that, the first top dressing of hops is carried out with a complete mineral fertilizer (45 kg / ha of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). 6-7 days after spraying, the stems are planted on props - two stems per two props near each bush. The excess is cut out and taken out of the hopyard.
At a plant height of 3 - 4 m, they are pruned with the simultaneous application of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers at a dose of 30 - 45 kg / ha per year. young shoots that appear on the surface of the soil, and pinch - pinch the side branches at a height of up to 2 m from the soil surface, mint - cut off the tops of the stems above the trellis.
To destroy the alfalfa weevil and fleas, the plants are sprayed with chlorophos (0.3 - 0.5% solution of 0.3 - 0.5 liters per hop bush). With the appearance of mite cobwebs on plants, aphids hops are treated with 40% phosphamide (1.5 - 6 l / ha), 25% Anti (1.5 - 6 l / ha) or biopreparations with bitoxibacillin (2-4 kg / ha). ha). Against diseases, hops are sprayed with 80% polycarbacin (4-8 kg/ha), 80% cineb (4-8 kg/ha) or 80% cuprosan (4-8 kg/ha), 25% ridomil (1 - 1.5 kg/ha), etc. Zinc sulfate (3 kg/ha) is used against viral diseases.
Hop harvesting
Harvesting hops manually or with hop harvesters (4x-4l or HMP-1, 6) begins at technical maturity when the buds become dense, they have a specific aroma, a gray color and a golden green or lemon yellow color of the lupulin glands. At this time, hop cones contain maximum amount alpha acids, essential oils, polyphenols. In the main hop-growing regions, harvesting is completed before September 15-29. Harvesting late will degrade bud quality by shedding lupulin seeds. Freshly harvested hop cones, which contain up to 80% water, are first subjected to 12 - 14-hour active ventilation with heated air (up to 30 ° C) at post-harvest processing points, due to which their moisture content is reduced by 25 - 30%. After ventilation, hop cones are dried in drying chambers of special dryers (PCB-750K) with heated air up to 40 - 50 ° C, bringing the humidity to 9 - 10%. Dried cones are unloaded from the dryers in a dry and dark storage room attached to them. To do this, they are scattered on a wooden flooring, first with a layer of 70 - 80 cm, with a gradual increase to 1.5-2m. After laying down, all cones in a 1.5 - 2-meter layer are evenly moistened due to the moisture of atmospheric air to a humidity of 11-13%. If the atmospheric air is not humid enough, then when laying down, the cones are slightly moistened with finely sprayed cold water or use steam generators with steam supply under the hop layer. To preserve valuable substances in cones, they are subjected to sulfitation - in a special drying chamber sulfuric gas ignited sulfur. The aged raw hops are packed in polyethylene or jute bags and sent to hop receiving points or hop factories for final bringing it to the required commercial standards in accordance with the standard.
In autumn, after collecting hop cones and browning and drying of the stems with leaves, the hops are cut, removed from the wire and taken out from the hop mills for burning. Plantations are thoroughly cleaned of plant residues, manure or compost (40 - 50 t / ha) and phosphorus-potassium mineral fertilizers (4-4 c / ha of superphosphate, 2-3 c / ha of 40% potassium salt or 1.5 c/ha of potassium chloride).
The hop plant is not only an excellent raw material for the production of hop drinks, but also valuable medicinal plant. The decorative qualities of this vine, densely strewn with green cones, are no less in demand. It is often used for landscaping various kinds of supports, arbors, pergolas and arches, planting around the perimeter as living fences. It has been proven that hop leaves and stems are capable of absorbing heavy metal ions.
Humulus lupulus - Common hop (curly), belongs to the hemp family. The genus is represented by three species of perennial and annual herbaceous vines, commonly used for vertical gardening. These are fast-growing vines that shed the entire above-ground part for the winter and are preserved thanks to underground rhizomes.
Here is the description of hops given by Dahl: “Hops are a pogony plant, whose pollen goes into drunken drinks; cones of this plant, which contain pollen. Intoxicated state. His hops overcame. Khmelishche bogatyrs will overcome. Brazhka cannot be brewed without hops” and so on.
The most interesting thing is that with its current very wide use, despite the fact that "hoppy" has become a synonym for intoxicating, hops are a relatively recent invention, although they are found wild in the forests of Central and Eastern Europe and large parts of Asia. It is difficult to say who was the first to brew beer with hops.
This page describes the properties of hops and how to grow them on personal plot.
Healing properties of hops
The first mention of beer with hops is among the Finns, but it is only about 1200 years old, apparently at the same time the Slavs who inhabited it began to use it in the Baltic. At this time, hops began to be consumed in the Caucasus. In Western Europe, hops, judging by the mention of it in chronicles and medical treatises, appeared even later, around the 8th-10th centuries, in different countries at different times.
Hops are added to beer not only and not so much to increase it, so to speak, “hoppy”, but to improve its taste and preservation. Although hops do indeed have a certain effect on nervous system. In medicine, it is used as a sedative and is part of many fees.
In medicine, hops also began to be used around the 12th century, when it was already widely used. They were even paid taxes and tribute, for example, in the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, which is mentioned in the chronicles in 967. In the Middle Ages, such a tribute was widely spread in Germany, Holland and Norway. At that time, hops became the only and main additive to beer, giving it taste and aroma, and completely replaced other additives - wormwood, gravel and others.
In medicine and brewing, hop inflorescences and hop glands are used, which are densely covered with leaves of inflorescences. When dried, some of these glands crumble, forming a golden fragrant powder. Mature inflorescences are harvested in August, in good weather, after the dew has evaporated. Inflorescences that are slightly yellowed, but not yet yellow, are considered ready for collection.
In medicine healing properties hops are used as a sedative for overwork, increased excitability, difficulty falling asleep. Good results gives hops with low acidity of gastric juice, digestive disorders. Together with chaga (birch fungus), hops are used as a tonic in oncology. Hops are often used in cosmetics to strengthen hair.
Medicinal raw materials are seedlings ("cones") of hops. They found an essential oil (0.3-1.8%), which includes mono-and sesquiterpenoids (myrcene, geraniol, caryophyllene, farnesene); bitterness (11–21%) - humulon, lupulon, etc.; flavonoids, coumarins, phenolic acids (chlorogenic, coffee, etc.), coumarins, vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B6, estrogenic hormones, resinous substances.
Biologically active substances of hops have a calming, hypnotic effect, bitter substances improve digestion, the amount of biologically active substances has a bactericidal effect, has a positive effect on metabolic processes and especially on the regulation of fat, mineral and water metabolism. In scientific medicine, hop preparations are used in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, to stimulate appetite, improve digestion in gastritis, in diseases of the gallbladder and liver, spleen (Khovaletten).
They are used as an analgesic, sedative, hypnotic for increased nervous excitability, sleep disorders, neuralgia, vegetovascular dystonia, mildly pronounced spasms of the coronary vessels, tachycardia, with early stages hypertension ("Valocordin", "Valosedan", "Novo-passit").
Effective drugs based on hops for pyelonephritis, nephrolithiasis, inflammation of the bladder, dropsy ("Urolesan"); used for inflammatory diseases of the skin and mucous membranes, allergic reactions accompanied by itching; decoctions and lotions are used for radiculitis and joint diseases.
The main use of hop cones is brewing, they are also used in cosmetology to strengthen hair.
The use of preparations from the hop plant is contraindicated during pregnancy (disturbs hormonal balance) and lactation, hypersecretion of gastric juice, acute hepatitis, severe violations of the liver and kidneys.
Harvest "cones" of hops in the early ripening phase (late July - August), when they have a yellowish-green color; they are cut together with the stalks so as not to crumble.
Hops are often used and how ornamental plant, it curls well on balconies, verandas, fences and arbors, decorating them with its carved foliage. Liana does not lose its decorative effect for 20-30 years.
On plantations, the entire vine is usually cut off, then inflorescences are collected from it, which are dried in a ventilated dark place on the litter. If hops are dried without bedding, the glands with essential oil and resins that fall from it - the most valuable part of the raw material - will be lost. Hop cones contain up to 1.6% essential oil, and glands - up to 3%. IN essential oil more than 100 substances have been discovered, its composition depends on the origin of the raw materials, the time of collection and climatic conditions.
Hops use not only the cones that go into brewing, but also young shoots, while they have not yet blossomed leaves. These shoots are boiled and served like asparagus. Before the revolution, it was specially recommended to grow hops for vegetable raw materials, covering young shoots from light, bleaching them like asparagus. Such shoots are not only more tender, but also grow faster. By pruning hops and covering new shoots from the light, you can have them almost all summer. Of course, you can not cut the same bush all the time. Therefore, if you need young shoots, leave a few old large shoots on the bush to feed it. Young shoots are tied into bundles, boiled in salt water and served with breadcrumbs.
Here is the description of ordinary hops given by the famous Russian gardener Steinberg: “Hop sprouts usually appear from the ground quite early, already in April and May, therefore, at the indicated vegetable-free time, hop sprouts, which are considered very tasty, can be eaten at the table. Since hops are often found in the wild, this circumstance is of particular importance, although, in view of the indicated value of hop sprouts, hops should be bred on a small scale in every gardening and horticulture. In the spring, the hop sprouts are allowed to come out of the ground a little, and then they are crushed and used like asparagus.
What does liana hop look like and how does it grow (with photo)
Hops are curly herbaceous plant, perennial. Stems up to 6 m long, tetrahedral, covered with hooked spines. The lower leaves are opposite, long-petiolate, rounded, 3–5 deeply palmately lobed, serrated along the edges; upper leaves entire. Flowers unisexual: staminate flowers - in axillary panicles, five-membered; pistillate - in pineal axillary drooping catkins, growing into seedlings.
As you can see in the photo, the fruits of the hop plant are nuts collected in yellowish-green cones:
They, like asparagus and cauliflower, can be eaten in the spring. Blossoms in July-August, fruits are harvested in September.
Hops grow like a vine, its faceted stems twist around the support to the right, counterclockwise. And in order to better hold on, the stems are covered with special anvil-shaped hairs, from below the hairs are wide and thick, from above they have two “horns” directed to the sides along the stem, impregnated with silicon salts and very durable. Sticking with sharp ends into the support, these hairs firmly hold the shoot. At the same time, they also play a protective role. Try wading through the hops in short sleeves for an experience of a lifetime. This method of struggle was used on my advice in one kindergarten- the kids immediately stopped all attempts to climb over the fence into the street. The scratches are very painful and take a long time to heal.
Hop is a dioecious plant, female and male inflorescences are located on different bushes. Of practical importance are only female bushes, forming inflorescences in the form of cones. Since inflorescences that do not have seeds are more valued in brewing and medicine, only female plants are usually planted on plantations.
Hops have underground branching rhizomes that produce new shoots. Segments of these rhizomes are used to propagate hops in culture. Green shoots die off annually after fruiting, and grow back in spring.
This is a South Boreal-nemoral-forest-steppe North American-European-West Asian species. Widely distributed in the south of the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus, in the south of Western Siberia, in Altai and in Central Asia. In the Ural region, it is found in the Middle and Southern Urals. It grows in thickets of coastal shrubs, in moist forests.
The most decorative variety with bright yellow leaves - humulus lupulus 'Aureus'.
These photos show what a hop plant looks like:
The following sections of the article are devoted to how to plant hops and how to care for the plant.
Planting and care conditions for growing hops in open ground
Hop creepers are commonly used for vertical gardening. However, when growing hops, it should be taken into account that before winter, the above-ground mass of leaves and branches dies off completely every year, only the underground thickened rhizomes of hops remain. In the spring, after the snow melts, the hops begin to grow actively.
An important condition for growing hops is to provide a semi-shady area, protected from the northern winds. In sunny places, hops are more susceptible to disease, aphids and other leaf-eating insects.
For planting and caring for hops in open field permeable fertile loam with sufficient moisture, but not waterlogged, is best suited.
In the vertical position, the hop lashes quickly climb the supports, in the horizontal position, the growth rate is significantly reduced. To grow a solid green wall, plants are planted at intervals of 1.5–2 m. A well-developed specimen of hop forms a dense interweaving of stems and leaves by mid-summer. Knowing this feature, you can quickly decorate even the most nondescript garden buildings.
How to plant, grow and care for hops in the garden
To plant hops in poor soil, pits or ditches 60 cm deep are dug in autumn, into which manure is laid up to half, and covered with earth from above. Planting is carried out in the spring as seedlings and cuttings. Common hop seedlings are planted at a distance of 80-100 cm from each other, Japanese hops can be planted even more often (30-50 cm).
Like most vines, it needs support. It consumes a lot of nutrients and water, therefore, to ensure good and rapid development, the plant must be fed and watered. In the first year, common hops can produce many shoots - weak and substandard hops should be cut off so as not to deplete the plant. Then in the second year there will be fewer shoots, and flowering will be more abundant. In the third or fourth year, the rhizomes grow, and if you give them free rein, hops will be a real disaster for your garden, so you need with an iron hand keep this vine in the place allotted for it. When the shoots reach 60 cm, they are substituted with a support up to three or more meters long, around which they will curl. During the first half of summer, adult plants develop a powerful crown of intertwining shoots with lobed leaves and decorative cones.
After planting, when caring for hops in the garden, it is important to protect the plant from pests. Although this is not the most "tasty" plant, leaf beetles can damage it. The old method of spraying with a bitter infusion of wormwood is recommended. It's easier to buy modern chemical agent to control leaf-eating insects. In autumn, after dying off, hop vines are cut.
The plant creates a solid shadow, and under the "green tent" twilight will always reign. This must be taken into account if we plant hops near the gazebo or veranda.
In autumn, the pits for planting hops 0.5 m deep are half-filled with manure, and covered with earth on top. In the spring, hop seedlings or cuttings are planted in them. Seedlings are planted at a distance of 1 m.
In the first half of summer, hop lianas grow so rapidly that this plant is the very first to weave pergolas, supports, far ahead of lemongrass, parthenocissus, honeysuckle honeysuckle. During the day, hops grow by several centimeters. As soon as the shoots grow by 40–50 cm, a support is built for them. In the first year of planting, weak shoots of the plant should be removed, leaving strong ones.
To care for hops in the way that proper agricultural technology suggests, timely weeding, periodic loosening and watering during the dry season are necessary. In the first 3 years after planting, to ensure rapid and good growth hops should be regularly watered and fed with a solution of complex mineral fertilizer. Top dressing should be alternated: once fertilizer is applied to the soil, then foliar top dressing is carried out on stems and leaves (fertilizer should be diluted in half concentration). The method of foliar feeding is also carried out in the case of nitrogen starvation of the leaves, when they become light and small, in the case of a lack of potassium, the shape of the leaves becomes convex, and the bronze color of the leaf indicates that the plant lacks phosphorus elements.
In the process of growing hops, care must be taken to ensure that the roots do not grow beyond the plantings. You can use limiters or bury the remains of slate to a depth of half a meter.
Hop propagation: how to propagate a vine with cuttings and division of rhizomes
Reproduction of perennial hops is carried out by dividing rhizomes, root offspring, less often by seeds. Rhizomes are separated with a sharp shovel, without digging up a bush, right in the ground. Do this in the spring when new shoots appear. For planting, the rhizomes are cut into pieces 10–15 cm long with two or three pairs of buds and planted. Annual roots with a diameter of about 2 cm take root better. vertical gardening a hybrid form of Aurea with golden yellow leaves is often used. It perfectly sets off plants with dark foliage and creates a charming ensemble with coniferous plants which are now in vogue.
Between the rows make intervals of 2–2.5 m, plants are planted at a distance of one meter. After the emergence of seedlings, the soil is loosened, systematic weeding and watering are carried out. During the summer, 2-3 times they give top dressing with slurry. When the length of the shoots reaches 60–90 cm, the plants are sent along the trellises. The fruits appear already in the first year, in the second year of life, hops give quite decent yields. In order for the hops to winter better, the shoots are spudded in the fall.
To propagate hops by cuttings, they are harvested from plants aged 3–8 years.
In the spring (from mid-March to mid-April, depending on the weather), shoots are collected, the thickness of which is not less than 4 mm and the length does not exceed 8 cm. They should be light color, from cream to pale yellow. When the shoots turn green, their taste becomes slightly bitter. The tops of the shoots during harvest should still be tightly closed. In place of the removed shoots, new ones are formed, which can also be collected. Harvest of hop cones is harvested in September-October.
