clemson55

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I have read various approaches to how man bines to keep in order to get the best results. It seems like the general concensus is 2 bines the first yr or two and then 3-4 once established. Has anyone tried just 1 bine the first yr? I would think that with 1 bine you would have almost as much root growth and establishment potential as with 2 because that 1 bine would grown larger than if you had 2. At the same time it could focus the flower production a little more heavily for the 1 bine giving you a little more then either bine if you had 2 or more. I am considering trying it and just wanted to see what others thought.

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GilaMinumBeer

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Sure. Try it. My first year I trained 4 bines each plant because I wanted the plant to get the maximum benifit from photosythesis.

Homercidal

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I would think that more bines the first year would be better. The roots will need energy from the sun to grow too. You might not get as much growth up top, but probably more in the ground.

biggerk

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I'm growing cascades here in Colorado. These are year-two vines.
I dug them up and split the rhizome into two plants. (The rhizome was shaped like a "V" so it was easy to split.)

The main plant has many wonderful shoots (about 8 or 9). The secondary plant has 4 or 5 coming...

I've read several articles that said to trim the first couple of shoots and let the reset come through. Another article said keep the first three or four bines and trim the rest.

So, that's what "they" say. What's the experience out there? I even saw something that said whatever comes up, let 'em grow!


By the way: Clemson55: Go Cocks!!! (I'm a USC grad, and my wife is a Clemson grad!!!

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redneckbeagle

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check this web site out http://oregonhops.org/culture2.html

david_42

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The biggest problem with one bine: what happens if it gets munched?

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farmbrewernw

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I don't expect to get much the first year, so for me I'm going to let all the bines grow. I'm with david_42 on this one, I have deer and other animals that could easily destroy my one bine per plant crop this year. My parents have a 15yo hop plant of unknown variety that they do nothing to and it gets huge totally engulfing their wood shed each year. I probably could have harvested well over 10 pounds of hops last year but I didn't know what the variety was and at the time I didn't know the hop shortage was coming. I won't make that mistake again this year. I actually think they may be Cascades but I'll have to have them identified this year just so I know what I can use them for.

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7Enigma

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I think the big factor that changes the recommendation is whether we are talking about established or new plants. Established plants probably will benefit (hops production) from the first couple shoots being trimmed due to the large storage of energy in the rhizome as well as a large amount of nearby nutrients (due to the roots), but this could be a death sentence for a newly planted hop rhizome that has expended a ton of energy just to break the surface. Until the plant gets leaves above ground, its basically burning stored energy.

I agree with the others to let the plant do its thing the first year, or at least give it 3-4 shoots as insurance against losing one or two due to wind, animals, accidents, etc. I'm throwing around the idea of a multi-twine teepee setup, and so may just let the bines go wild, putting 2-3 on each string. I figure the plant is smart enough to know how to root, and giving more potential storage energy through the sunlight reaching the bines seems like the best decision.

Brewsmith

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I remember an older BN podcast where they had Ralph Olson from Hop Union on the show. He mentioned that for homebrewers and people growing hops at home to not trim any of the bines. Some of the literature out there says to trim them back to 4 or 5 bines, but that is really only for commercial setups. They only have the space for so many per plant with their harvesting system. Is suggestion was to just leave them alone and not cut any bine.

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7Enigma

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I'd like to hear more about this as it makes complete sense to me. Trimming anything back only makes the plant spend more energy to attempt to replace the loss of photosynthetic activity. This energy has to come from the sunlight and nutrients from the roots. This either has to stunt the overall growth of the plant, or deplete the soil of nutrients faster than just letting it grow naturally.

Now whether there is a set height a hop plant's bine needs to grow to in order to bear hops may change my opinion, but for the health of the plant, trimming just seems like a waste of plant energy and increased chance of disease (due to open wounds near the base of the plant).

I've been throwing around the idea of a multi string teepee as opposed to the traditional 1 twine per plant (with 2-3 bines per plant), and instead letting all the bines grown and training 2-3 up twine spaced a couple inches apart. It should fill in nicely (looks are somewhat important because SWMBO has no idea what these will look like when full grown!), and should allow the plant to have maximum photosynthetic capacity for growth and root development.

I really think there's something to be said about WHY commercial growers do things differently than a home grower that doesn't have to farm acres of hops. It's possible the best yields are not coming from their techniques, but rather the limitations of their harvesting equipment.

Thanks for the post and I'd be really interested if you can find that (or another) podcast.