Hop Plants
Cascade Hop Plants
Nugget Hop Plants
Hop plants have hit the top of the ropes again – 12 feet, bines are looped 6 feet around hose hangers (Cascades and Nugget hop plants total 18 feet tall with the loop – Magnum bines are a little over 10 feet tall). I went to drop the hop bines another 6 feet and loop them around the hose hangers I mounted last week – Murphy (Murpy’s law – anything that can go wrong, will) reared his ugly friggen head. Turns out when I looped the ropes/bines, the non-dominant bine (trailing the dominant bine by 6 feet) did not make the loop. This caused the shorter bine to rejoin the rope at the top of the hose rack, making it difficult to loop the ropes and bines without getting them tangled when the shorter bines rejoin the top rope during there climb.
Magnum Hop Plants
While the taller bine on each rope (I have 2 bines per rope) is topped out, the shorter bine on the rope will not be joined with the rope at the top of the hose rack. Something learned from this setup – issues with more than one bine per rope. Not a show stopper but an inconvenience trying to accommodate both bines on each rope. It will still function in that I will not need a ladder to lower the hop vines at harvest time.
The hops plants (at least the Cascade and Nugget hops) grew 5 feet in the last week. The Magnum hops are a little over 10 feet tall at this point – grew about a foot or two. The Magnum has more and denser vegetation than the other two. It appears to be a tie again between the Cascade hops plant and the Nugget hop plant at 18 feet in length.
While all three hop plants are sending out lateral shoots, the Cascade side shoots are much longer – 18 inches to 2 feet in length. Should start seeing hop cones soon. Hopefully the bines will fill out much more than they are now.
I may have to modify the hop trellis next year to accommodate 1 bine per rope (mount more ropes) or come up with some new ideas. Anyway I am happy with the first year hops growth. Hoping for a decent harvest despite this being the first year. Growing hops next year from established hop rhizomes / root stock should faster yet!
Lateral Hop Shoots
I finally stripped the bottom of the bines of leaves and side shoots (lateral shoots). I did not strip the hop bines the recommended 4 feet from the ground. I went around 2 feet (can’t tell me a damn thing – always been a bit of a rebel). You can see this on the bottom of the Magnum hop bine picture. The purpose of removing the lower foliage is to allow airflow to prevent mildew (especially powdery mildew) and possibly deter some pests that may come from the ground – we’ll see.
There’s this weeks status on the hops plants. I am also running out of rope, maybe 5 feet left to lower the bines for a total length of 23 feet – nothing to complain about though, proud of these hop plants!
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Tagged with: Growing Hops • hop plants • hops • hops plants
Filed under: Growing Hops
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well, we will have to see if size really does matter…..
sad to say that at the 2-month mark, my tallest bine is just 30″. The nugget are the tallest, followed by some of the fuggles and zeus. they haven’t taken off yet, and i can only hope that the crown are getting really juicy with all the rhizomes to propagate for next year. I wonder if there is a way to check on the crown production without disturbing them too much?
i actally still have a couple bines that are in the 8 to 10 inches. these are bines that are the secondary off the same crown and the primary is at least 20 inches.
i continue to go natural and have recently added composted straw/chicken sh*t from the chicken coop. i hope that the rainfall will continue to force the fertilizer for a period of days + conserve moisture at the crown. we have had a very touch year soo far without a lot of sun, but i will hope that august ignites these babies. i will be amazed if the bines reach the top of the trellis (10-12 feet) but stranger things have happened and if the growth continues until mid-september, i figure the bines would only have to do 2 inches a day from august until mid-september. judging by how yours have faired, this is a definite possibility but i would rather see total growth of 8-10 feet and really full side shoots, than have the bines take off for the heavens and not produce any flowers.
anyhow, anxious to see an update on how your side shoots are performing…..ps…my san marzano tomatoes are doing amazing….i have one plant with 40 fruit already and another 20-30 flowers still waiting to pop…..cheers j.
Hopefully your hop bines will take off soon. It was at about the 2 month mark where my hops took off. More sun the better. Worst case, you have next year and they should fair much better with a full growing season and an established root stalk / crown. Remember to mulch over them this winter to protect them from sub-zero temps.
If it’s any consolation, sounds like your tomatoes are doing much better than mine. I finally got some growth but only one of my tomato plants has any fruit to speak of. My Cherry tomatoes are doing ok but I really like a nice Beefsteak or other large tomato for sandwiches and I eat them like apples – kinda messy but I love tomatoes. Still rooting for your hops!