Grow Hops with LED Grow Lights

Hops, water, malt, and yeast are the four basic raw materials for producing beer. Hops are essential for adding distinctive and better flavors for beers. With the explosion growth of craft brewing all over the world, the demand for hops has also increased. Many growers join the hop cultivation to reap profits. But traditional hop cultivation is hard to get plants grow as growers want. Climate condition including temperature, lighting, and water, plays an important role in hops cultivation. Recently, the use of supplemental lighting, in particular the LED grow lights, contributes to more successful hop production through enhancing root and leaves development, improving vegetative, and regulating flowering. Let’s take a look into the hop cultivation with LED grow lights.

What is hop?

Hops are the twining herbaceous plants mainly used for beer brewing and pharmaceuticals. They are considered to be short-day plants, which require a short period of daylight for flowering. Hops are dioecious flowering bines, having separate male and female plants. Generally, female hop plants will develop into cones, which are desired for brewing to impart beers with aroma and bitterness.

The hop plants have annual climbing bines above ground and perennial underground. The plants climb the iconic trellises of hopyards, and they can reach about 6 to 8 meters. Start from seeds, hops sprout, then develop leaf, extend bines. Later, flowers emerge, developing to cones. At last, start dormancy after the maturity of cones. Knowing former life cycle of hops allow growers distinguish the growing stage and take relevant actions to gain better growth of hops timely.

Where do hops grow?

Hops are native in temperate areas, such as North America, Eurasia, and South America. They grow best between 35 and 55 degree latitudes. Since hops are sensitive to day length, they can only be cultivated in temperate regions in the past. Therefore, the beer brewing factories need to import hops from other countries. Luckily, the use of supplement lighting, especially the LED grow lights, brings significant progress to local hop cultivation. Growers use artificial lights to produce optimal photoperiod, control flowering and introduce the yield.

Why LEDs?

Although hops are often grown in greenhouses, they can get natural light in a limited period. As a consequence, supplemental lighting is required. But why LEDs?

Compared to conventional light sources, the main advantage of LED grow lights is their ability to provide optimum lighting spectrum composition for specific needs. For hops cultivation, it is important to select the LED grow lights such as Horti-Top that can inhibit the flowering of hops in the early season. Red light is effective in inhibiting flowering of short-day plants while adding far-red light to red light will improve flowering of long-day plants. Horti-top has a spectrum rich in red light but without far-red light, making it ideal for planting hops.

What are the effects of LED grow lights on hops?

LED grow lights are beneficial to hop cultivation. From modifying photoperiod and providing optimum spectrum, LED grow lights can enhance root and leaves development, improve vegetative, and regulating flowering. And thus, growers can achieve year-round production and higher yield.

• Enhance root and leaves development

Root is the basement for healthy and successful hop growth. LED grow lights provide light spectrum of various wavelengths, such as blue light and red light, to reach better plant growth. This light light spectrum are typically designed and effective in simulating biomass and root development. Except for the high light quality, the efficiency and longevity of LED lights make them ideal for enhancing leaf areas and root length.

• Improve vegetative

Hops are photoperiod sensitive plant, which means day length is essential for vegetative growth. Additionally, hops are short-day plants. Long day length is key point for maximum vegetative bine before flowering. Hops require more than 15 hours of daylight during the vegetative stage. LED grow lights supplement lighting for hops and extend the photoperiod. When hops receive sufficient photoperiod (more than 15 hours a day), they are productive with good vegetative and canopy growth.

• Regulate flowering

As mentioned before, hops are short-day plants. Flowering of hops can be regulations by day length or photoperiod. Growers usually use LED grow lights to extend photoperiod and interrupt the night period to prevent hops from flowering. Shortening the photoperiod is the common practices used by growers to induce flowering of hops. When photoperiod is shortened (less than 15 hours of daylight a day), burrs emerge and cones develop. Then, hops flower. But flowering can be induced only when hops achieve the minimum node numbers (about 10-20 visible nodes).

How to grow hops with LED grow lights

With the addition of LED grow lights, hop plants receive optimal lighting conditions. In theory, hops can be grown year-round. Take growing hops in greenhouses as an example, we show some tips about how to grow hops with LED grow lights, and gain higher yields.

• Hops are flowering bines, and they can reach approximately 6 to 8 meters. In order to supplement light for hops plants, LED grow lights hang over the plants at the top of the trellises.
• When natural day length fade and not sufficient for vegetative growth, turn on the LED grow lights at least half an hour before sunset. Then, keep LED grow light on until it reach the photoperiod at a minimum of 17 hours. The working time of supplemental lighting depends on your location. Supply the long-day condition for hop plants until they develop sufficient vegetative bine or nodes. This is critical for the ability of plant to bloom and reach higher yields.
• When there is adequate vegetative bine growth, shorten the photoepriod to induce flowering. The photoperiod should not be longer than 15 hours. A 10 hours photoperiod is generally taken as a reference.

LED grow lights supplement light for hops and provide the light they actually need, helping hops grow better. LED grow lights also can regulate enhance roots and leaves development, promote vegetative and regulate flowering. Thus, selecting the right LED grow lights for your hop plants is critical. Atop is a professional LED grow light manufacturer, which provide customized lighting solutions with optimal spectrum and premium quality to meet your specific needs.

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