MAX FACTS GROWING TIPS, NEWS AND TRIVIA
Hydroponic Hops
Colin Clark, founder of Hydro Hop Farms in Fort Collins, Colorado, is growing five varieties of hops
from 2,000 plants packed at 45-degree angles inside a greenhouse. “Most hydroponic growing
operations are limited to tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and things that have been proven to work,”
says Colin. “I wanted to show that hops could work, too, and that it was economically feasible.”
Colin’s hops are in hot demand with local microbreweries, including City Star Brewing,
whose Hydro-Pony Express HYPA, a fresh-hopped beer brewed with huge Centennial
and Columbus hop cones, may be the first-ever beer made by a commercial brewer
with greenhouse-born hops. “They are bright green, sticky and they smell great,” says
John Way, City Star Brewing co-owner. “They don’t have any sunburn on the leaves
that you get from the outdoor stuff. They are the perfect hops.”
(Source: westword.com)
Using the Sun to Solve the Drought
In the midst of California’s ongoing drought, researchers at the University of California’s Advanced
Solar Technologies Institute (UC Solar) at UC Merced are turning to an unlikely ally to help solve the
problem of water availability for California’s farmlands: the sun. “Any adoption of solar technology
will help with climate change in the long term, because it reduces our use of fossil fuels,” explains
Ron Durbin, executive director of UC Solar. UC Solar’s latest project aims to show that solar
technology can make water desalination cheaper, more accessible and cleaner. With severe
water shortages affecting California agriculture, farmers are increasingly using reclaimed
irrigation water. This approach conserves water, but it comes with a problem: salt.
Any use of irrigation adds salts to the soil, and each time water is reused, it gets
dirtier and saltier, a problem exacerbated by the widespread use of fertilizers.
(Source: universityofcalifornia.edu)
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Maximum Yield USA | November 2015