My Big Black Thumb (Planting Hops)

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Eric_Duel

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So I got 6 rhizomes from freshops a few weeks back but waited until yesterday to put them in the ground as we had a pretty cold spell last week. I have them properly spaced in mounds with the best soil I could mix up.

Problem is, I don't know which end goes up. :eek:

Exhibit A (source: Freshops.com):
rhizome_horiz.gif


Which end goes up?
 
Examine the rhizome very carefully. The majority of the stems (not rootlets) should be pointing in the same diagonal direction. That end goes up. I had the same issue, but you just need to look closely.
 
While I was storing them in the fridge in a moistened plastic bag, they did begin to sprout what looked like roots to me. Similar to what happens to a potato left on the basement shelves to long. Those "roots" came from the right side of the rhizome as pictured. So I planted them vertically with the "roots" down.

That was my logic at the time anyway, I just don't know plants very well.
 
No need for an up and down end. Plant it horizontal, that is what rhizomes like. Rhizomes are specially modified stems, a feature commonly used for plants to spread horizontally. Same deal for iris, ginger and potatoes (also not roots)
 
pjj2ba said:
No need for an up and down end. Plant it horizontal, that is what rhizomes like. Rhizomes are specially modified stems, a feature commonly used for plants to spread horizontally. Same deal for iris, ginger and potatoes (also not roots)
This is what I did. I figured the plant would figure out which way was up. I believe the natural position for the rhizomes is horizontal any ways. There are not carrots.
Craig
 
Freshops' instructions told me to plant them vertically with a few inches buried. That's what I did. All 5 rhizomes have sprouts now. In fact, on a few of them, the part of the rhizome that is sticking out of the ground has nothing on it, but sprouts have popped out of the ground several inches away. Leading me to believe that it doesn't matter one way or the other.
 
It doesn't matter at all, plants can "sense" which way to go by gravity. Examine a seed that is sprouting and you can see no matter what end the sprout comes out of, it will loop around until it is pointing "up".
 
I tried following Freshops instructions of planting them vertically as Evan did. Now that it's been mentioned here, I recall the instructions saying something about planting them horizontally as well, but it wasn't stated as if it were the primary method.

Horizontal planting makes some sense to me also, I guess I can see logic both ways.
I dug very deep holes and put a lot of organic compost and good soil in the holes. I'd like to have a deeper root structure rather than a shallow but wide structure. Maybe planting them vertically could help this?

I'm inclined to leave them be now that they're in the ground. I'll just rely on them to figure out how to grow.
 
Yes, leave them be if you've already planted them. I like to plant deep, it helps the plant resist drying. If I had a small rhizome, I'd plant it shallower. Plant a small rhizome too deep and it might run out of gas before the shoots break the surface. I planted a pretty sickly Fuggle rhizome last year. It took an extra two weeks (even with a shallow planting) to break the surface compared to the others.
 
Hops are tough. All eight of mine have survived and for most plants I consider a 50% death rate normal. Hops will send down a taproot that keeps getting bigger each year. They also put out more rhizomes. Once established, hop plants can live 75 years or more.

Do not let the ground dry out once they start growing. That's been my biggest problem.
 
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