New to growing hops. Some tips?

theclarkster85 · 04-03-2008, 06:17 PM

I bought my Cascade rhizome at my LHBS it was a spur of the moment thing while I was buying supplies. I'm not a green thumb I planted them in early march and they are about six inches tall there is about 8-10 sprouts. I have read around and I know I will need to build a support system and train them up. How many vines do I train? Do I chose just a couple of them to train? Which ones do I train and do I just cut the rest of them?The ones that I do plan to train do they all get their own indvidual line or do I train them all on the same line? As you can see I'm a bit clueless so any help whould be great. Thanks

Smogre · 04-03-2008, 06:26 PM

I run mine up some twine/rope. Don't get hung up on what kind to use. Just pick something that you think can support a plant.

There are many pictures in this section of what other people are doing with their twine/rope setups.

For me, I like to wait until the bines are about 12-18" long before I train them to rope.
I train two bines per twine/rope.
I cut all the others back to the ground.
I select the strongest looking bine.
They curl clockwise around the string.

Some folks just let em do what they'd do naturally and it works.