commonlaw

Recipes 

Hi, just planted 5 varieties of my first hop "farm" (Willamette, Goldings, Sterling, Cascade, Centennial) in my mom's back yard here in Southern California because I don't have a backyard where I live.

Anyway, as I was planting she asked whether hops had deep roots and I said I didn't think so, but now I have done some reading and in fact it sounds like they do. We had problems at our house in the past with a plum tree's roots actually penetrating an old sewer pipe which cost a lot to fix.

Should I be concerned about the hops doing the same? Are there good ways to limit the root spread without adversely affecting the hops?

Randar

Recipes 

Hops send down a tap root but it will never be as deep or powerful as mature tree roots. Most people also dig up and trim the hop mound every couple years to prevent too much spreading laterally. This will also sever the tap root.