I never thought about growing hops for my homebrew. Wow! that could be cool. Especially with the hop shortage. I found this on growing edge

While I havenÂt come across any information on hydroponic hop production, I donÂt see any reason why it wouldnÂt be possible. Hops (Humulus spp.) are large, herbaceous perennials that produce annual vines from overwintering rootstock. Therefore, hop plants grown hydroponically would need to have their root system overwintered in a fairly large container or bed of inert media, which would contain the root system, including rhizomes with buds and true roots.

Hops can grow to over 20 feet, so a support system is needed for the vines. Hops need specific climatic conditions, including at least 120 frost-free days, for flowers to be produced. Also, hops are dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female hop vines. Only the female vines produce the flowering hop cones that are harvested and widely used in brewing beer.

The most important requirement for hop production is long days, of 15 hours or more, to promote vine growth. This is followed by a period of shortening day length that causes the vines to stop growing vertically and produce the side shoots that will bear the flowers. These day and season length requirements mean that hop cultivation is largely limited to areas between 35 and 55 degrees latitude. Where the day length is constant throughout the year, the vines will tend to continue growing and not produce flowers and cones. However, hops can be forced to flower by providing artificially long and then short days in a controlled environment, such as a properly outfitted hydroponic greenhouse.

cool, thanks, sounds like a fun experiment. I brew my own beer (alot of it) and the hop shortage is killing me. I have just planted 6 different kinds of hops and it just hit me that I have a deepwater hydro system sitting in my garage.

keep us posted.