New Hop Grower needs help

[b]I have decided to become more self suficient and grow my own hops for my homebrewing.
I live in Connecticut and shooting for 8 plants in zone 6.

Any suggestions for finding free hops or people willing to help with cuttings?
Certain websites to avoid / suggest when purchasing hop rhinzomes ?

I could use all the advice , suggestions and welcome ideas and comments. Hoping to photograph whole process from building trellis , to planting , to growing for others in my beginner status to growing hops.

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Good for you- growing hops is fun and easy for the most part. I recommend “The homebrewers garden” as a good book to get you started. I’m in Vermont and have had good luck growing Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and a variety called Saxon. Nearby I have seen a very robust Northern Brewer but mine hasn’t done great (yet). Most of mine started from local rhizome cuttings and I started some others from purchased rhizomes bought locally. If you can find people in your area will to let you take cuttings in the spring, you’ll likely be able to get a larger rhizome than otherwise. One other word of advice- be patient- it can take 2-4 years for a plant to really get established and some years yield better than others. Good luck!

Any one in the CT or Mass area with HOP cuttings there willing to part with to help a new grower?

freshops.com usually has a great selection of rhizomes come spring time, also a lot of online brew shops will start to carry them as well. It’s been a while since I bought any but I believe they are only like $5-7 a piece.

I guess my next question is what type and strength (lb) rope/twine does everyone use? Certain strength rating ? Can a 10lb twine be used or is a stronger bigger diamenter strength rope needed?

You can find coir twine here:

http://www.freshhops.com/merchandise/fr ... ccessories

6 bucks for 20 lengths at 20’ per piece. There may be better prices out there, don’t know.

I used regular twine my first year and it wasn’t worth the trouble of re-tying them the 2 or 3 times they broke under the weight. If you’re going to used something else go for it, but make sure it will handle the load better than regular garden twine.

I live in Pittsfield, Mass and I have two goldings that i’m thinking of pulling.

I am in Fairfield and I can give you some zues, cascade, and columbus when the spring comes. I may have some Mt Hood too but the Zues and that hop may have intergrown.

[quote=“SolomonsCommune”]You can find coir twine here:

http://www.freshhops.com/merchandise/fr ... ccessories

.[/quote]
This is what I use.

I am very interested in obtaining some of your cuttings if your willing to part with them. I trying to keep my overall investment down.