No flowers below six feet

AnthonV78 · 07-20-2011, 09:20 PM

I have 4 hop vines growing - two are in their first year (not much going on there) and two in their second year.

The second year vines are growing nicely (One is at about 10 feet, the other is the runt at just about seven feet).

The taller of the vines has no hop flowers below six feet, the other has no flowers below four feet. This seemed wierd to me. I had expected to get flowers on the entire plant.

Other info: I'm in NH and we have had a pretty dry summer. I'm not real great about watering (couple times a week). Some of the lower leaves have a few dry/dead spots (smaller than a pencil eraser) - nothing I consider too severe. I also dont do much of anything for fertilizing/feeding (I put down some manure and turned it into the soil at the beginning of the season.

Any thoughts?

**Reno_eNVy** · 07-20-2011, 09:35 PM

All flowering plants control their flowering using hormones. One of the hormones (damnit, I need to find my Plant Physiology textbook to get the answer... but I don't think it's florigen) will flow from the top to the bottom of the plant. During Spring and early Summer the light schedule it should receive will keep it in a vegetative state so the top bud (aka apical meristem) produces hormones that flow down and hinder flowering. Once the proper light schedule comes along to signal a flowering state (all controlled by the plants' circadian rhythm, or biological clock) another hormone will flow from top to bottom to promote flowering.

Long story short, for some reason your plant is using up all the flowering hormone before it reaches the lower few feet... either that or the plant isn't producing enough of said hormone.

Make sure you have a regular watering and feeding schedule so they can perform at their best.

**B-Hoppy** · 07-21-2011, 03:23 AM

Different varieties produce hops at different lengths along the vine. Some are mostly concentrated at the upper 1/3 of the vine and others may produce most of their crop along the top 2/3 of the vine. I know it varies from variety to variety but am not sure if the location where they're grown has any bearing. I can't find my reference book but seem to remember the 1/3 - 2/3 proportions.

**beerloaf** · 07-21-2011, 04:37 AM

I have a 1st year Chinook plant that is around 23 ft currently and would probably grow taller but it ran out of space to grow on. No flowers below 7-8 ft however above that its like a crazy crackhead because there are flowers everywhere. I wasn't expecting much of a grow season from any of my 7 plants however so far it's looking good. Hops can be goofy like that and it seems to be normal.

beerloaf

**Pappers_** · 07-21-2011, 04:57 AM

My first year Cascades are full of flowers in the top half of the bines. They have grown at least 20 feet.

My first year Willamettes are struggling, maybe half as tall as the Cascades, fewer leaves, and no flowers.

**tchuklobrau** · 07-21-2011, 11:57 AM

99% of my centennial conage is in the top 2/3. however the lower 1/3 just started putting out a ton of sidearms and flowers. looks like i will be getting a 2nd harvest.