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Available from mid-August to mid-September.
Fresh-cut to order and boxed for express delivery.
Supple and easy to handle.
Must be unpacked on day of delivery.
Drapes naturally and dries in situation.
May shed a few small insects while drying.
Available September to July (while stocks last).
Kiln-dried to hold colour and boxed for storage.
Delicate to use.
Needs conditioning in damp air before handling.
Lightweight to display (1 - 1.5kg).
Will shed some flowers during transit and handling.
We grow Hop varieties which are selected for early flowering and best visual effect.
Grown with extra-wide spacing to allow maximum flowering.
Harvested and dried to hold the best colour.
Speedy despatch throughout the UK.
Years of expertise in decorative use.
Versatile for use in homes, pubs, event spaces, marquees, churches and film sets.
Great value for money!
When despatching fresh orders in season, bines are individually selected daily for best size and colour. They are then hand cut and pulled down from the hop garden's wirework and taken by trailer to the packhouse for collection or despatch.
Dried bines are also individually assessed for colour and quality before being packed into boxes and weighed to ensure consistency of size. Extra sections of bines may be added for completeness or, sometimes, two thinner bines packed together.
The bines are harvested in the prime and dried with expertise in our specialist kilns to ensure the best colour retention.
The colour is always greenest at the start of the harvesting season and changes as the flowers and leaves mature. Some yellowing or browning may appear - partly dependent on weather conditions during September - but we will always supply you with the best colour we have available.
If boxed, remove a fresh bine from the packaging immediately on delivery and let air circulate around it.
We recommend wearing long sleeves and gloves when handling hops as the stems and leaves can be a bit scratchy.
The leaves will wilt over the next few days but then shrivel to become just a background to the decorative flowers.
We spray hops regularly to control insects and diseases but we cannot guarantee the absence of tiny green wingless aphids hiding in the flowers to feed on the sap. A day or two after cutting, these emerge (if present) and can be seen crawling along the stem. As soon as the bines start to wilt, the aphids drop off and die. We therefore recommend that fresh bines destined for locations over sensitive indoor areas (carpets, dining tables, kitchen worktops, bars etc) are allowed to wilt for a few days (eg. draped over chair-backs in a garage) before display.
Our dried hop bines are dried in the dark in specialist kilns to hold their colour, then boxed and safely kept in dehumidified storesfor up to a year.
Being a dried product, they are naturally fragile so need careful handling. We recommend following the guidance below to minimise damage during unboxing and display.
Hop bines need to be fully dry for storage so can be brittle.Always condition dried hops before handling. Open the boxes and leave them in a damp location overnight so the flowers soften and leaves become raggy.
A fine mist spray can be used to further soften the bine. Handle while still raggy – the hops will dry out again very quickly indoors.Use a fire retardant spray in vulnerable locations indoors (eg Envirograph 3-2-1).
Use a dustsheet. There will always be droppage of hop flowers, in the box and on the floor, when handling.The hop flowers contain a yellow pollen-like resin which can stain carpets or fabrics.Do not allow pets to eat the flowers.
From Chelsea Flower Show Winner Caroline
"When using fresh bines, don't worry about the leaves. They will look limp for a few days but then shrivel back so the flowers predominate. You should only need to remove particularly large or discoloured leaves that are spoiling the effect.
To avoid a confetti-like effect when handling dried bines, make sure they are properly conditioned so they feel raggy - it should be possible to squeeze aleaf or a flower without it disintegrating. You'll still need a dust-sheet and a vacuum cleaner but it makes the job much easier!"
Hop twine is the thick, natural coir string perfect for plants to cling to and climb up.
Always used in hop gardens because of its roughness and toughness, it’s a great general purpose string for the garden. Available all year.
In old herbal remedies, hop flowers are recommended as an aid to sleep - often in the form of hop pillows.At Castle Farm we have created 'Sleepy Scent' - a unique formula from the essential oils of hops & lavender. It's very popular!
Hop plants can be despatched as bare-rooted rhizomes for planting from December to March.
Traditional full-size or new dwarf varieties can be selected to suit different gardens.(Prices on request.)
