Are My Plants Typical for first year rhizomes?

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Premnasbiaculeatus

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I've got three vines: Nugget, Cascades, and Brewers Gold. The Nugget and Cascades were planted April 1st, the Brewers Gold (which has surpassed the other two) Didn't get planted until the third week of May after Chinook failed to come up.

Please don't feel obligated to watch this whole video, if you fast forward to 8:20 you'll see what I'm talking about. My nugget only has about 1 2' bine, and my cascade has barely just finally made it to the rope. If you skim through other parts of the video you'll see just about every other plant in my garden is thriving. I'm assuming I won't get any cones this year, are they just putting all their energy into root production?

 
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i'm in northern Ontario and mine are just coming out of the ground. Cascade is maybe 2" and my EKG is about 1/2" out of the ground. this is first year growth too.
 
I can see why you are concerned if you are comparing your hops to your vegetable garden. I would kill to have any vegetables to harvest at this time of year, but I am at least a few weeks out before I get any vegetables from my garden.

If you are planting hops from rhizomes, growth can be pretty variable and a lot has to do with how vigorous the rhizomes are in the first place. I've had rhizomes that just take off and others that just kind of sputter along. It is only June, so in your locale you have quite a bit of growing season left. Don't stress as you'll likely get some cones this year.

The only issue in the spot you have your hops growing is that it does look like you have some shading so that may impact your growth a bit as hops prefer full sun.
 
I can't say if yours are typical or not since this is the first year I've tried to grow hops but here's a pic of mine for comparison. I planted them April 29th the pic was taken June 1st and I live in Northern Virginia. I may just be lucky I'm not sure because I have a friend that lives close by and his are half the size.

IMG_2257s.jpg
 
i'm in northern Ontario and mine are just coming out of the ground. Cascade is maybe 2" and my EKG is about 1/2" out of the ground. this is first year growth too.

That makes me feel a little better. However, it's not not a good comparison since you are in a much more northern climate.

I can see why you are concerned if you are comparing your hops to your vegetable garden. I would kill to have any vegetables to harvest at this time of year, but I am at least a few weeks out before I get any vegetables from my garden.

If you are planting hops from rhizomes, growth can be pretty variable and a lot has to do with how vigorous the rhizomes are in the first place. I've had rhizomes that just take off and others that just kind of sputter along. It is only June, so in your locale you have quite a bit of growing season left. Don't stress as you'll likely get some cones this year.

The only issue in the spot you have your hops growing is that it does look like you have some shading so that may impact your growth a bit as hops prefer full sun.

In the video the sun is right above the tree I've ran the trellis ropes from, so it's got a lot of shade. They get a good amount of full sun in the morning and a little more in the afternoon. I'd say about 4-6 hours total depending on time of season. Eventually I'll cut the top of that tree off and just leave the trunk.

I can't say if yours are typical or not since this is the first year I've tried to grow hops but here's a pic of mine for comparison. I planted them April 29th the pic was taken June 1st and I live in Northern Virginia. I may just be lucky I'm not sure because I have a friend that lives close by and his are half the size.

IMG_2257s.jpg

Wow you are about 80 miles northwest of me, and your hops are kicking the crap out of mine. Do you mind if I ask what variety the two on the left are?
 
All of your little guys are still establishing root systems. Most of the energy they are creating is going into those roots. I can promise, with a bit of certainty, that they will absolutely take off next year. I had a centennial that was only 3-4 feet last year. It's probably somewhere near 15 or 16 so far this year. Just keep watering and feeding occasionally. They'll be fine.

Here is something to ponder: I planted 3 rhizomes in pots, with potting soil along with some miracle grow once a week, and they yielded about 2-4 oz each at the end of last year. I would think that when the roots feel they can no longer expand, that they then turn that energy into the bines. Just a thought, really.
 
I planted two of each variety so the two on the left are Cascades then Chinook, Zeus, Magnum and finally Centennial. When I purchased the rhizomes the Cascade root was double in thickness when compared to all the others, that is why I think they are doing so well.
 
All of your little guys are still establishing root systems. Most of the energy they are creating is going into those roots. I can promise, with a bit of certainty, that they will absolutely take off next year. I had a centennial that was only 3-4 feet last year. It's probably somewhere near 15 or 16 so far this year. Just keep watering and feeding occasionally. They'll be fine.

Here is something to ponder: I planted 3 rhizomes in pots, with potting soil along with some miracle grow once a week, and they yielded about 2-4 oz each at the end of last year. I would think that when the roots feel they can no longer expand, that they then turn that energy into the bines. Just a thought, really.

Interesting, I will ponder on that. That definitely offers some comfort, I'll keep my expectations to a minimum this season and conserve my hopes for next season.

I planted two of each variety so the two on the left are Cascades then Chinook, Zeus, Magnum and finally Centennial. When I purchased the rhizomes the Cascade root was double in thickness when compared to all the others, that is why I think they are doing so well.

Wow my cascades is the dinkiest one, it was a good sized rhizome too. Not necessarily thick, but about just as long as the nugget was.
 
*Update*

I've got five whole cones growing on Brewers Gold!!!:ban:

Skip ahead to 6:00 to see...

 
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Not gonna lie they do seem very small for how long they have been in the ground.

All 3 of my plants were put in April 7th or so and are all 20+ feet tall with dozens of blooms. Maybe its just due to the weather and growing conditions here in the PNW being so good for hops, but your plants still seem very small. Especially considering my soil was pretty crap, i mean i put it in a good 6+ inches of good soil mix, but below what i added is all hard pack clay and rock, yet some of the vines on my plants are as thick as my pinky. I would expect yours to be growing way faster.

What type of soil did you put them in? Did you fertilize at all?

As a point of reference this is my Columbus the slowest of my 3 plants on May 17th
2013-05-17%2020.29.22.jpg


And this is the Columbus on July 31st
2013-07-31%2019.13.02.jpg


I wont even bring up my mutant cascade you can see on the right, as i know that is far from standard for any first year plant to be 25+ feet tall with well over 100 cones. Apparently it was a very strong rhizome.

I agree with the other poster a lot of the energy will go into growing roots instead of huge boosts of flowering, but that energy comes from the sun.
If your plants aren't growing enough leaves to absorb that sun, where are they going to get it?

If your not averse to it you may want to start hitting some of those plants with some Miracle Gro 24-8-16 or something to get them going. I cant help but wonder if they are stunted due to lack of nutrients, both my Columbus and Newport had this problem until Duboman here suggested i start doing half doses(1/2Tbps Per Gallon) once a week. Now they are strong as ever.
 
Not gonna lie they do seem very small for how long they have been in the ground.

All 3 of my plants were put in April 7th or so and are all 20+ feet tall with dozens of blooms. Maybe its just due to the weather and growing conditions here in the PNW being so good for hops, but your plants still seem very small. Especially considering my soil was pretty crap, i mean i put it in a good 6+ inches of good soil mix, but below what i added is all hard pack clay and rock, yet some of the vines on my plants are as thick as my pinky. I would expect yours to be growing way faster.

What type of soil did you put them in? Did you fertilize at all?

As a point of reference this is my Columbus the slowest of my 3 plants on May 17th
2013-05-17%2020.29.22.jpg


And this is the Columbus on July 31st
2013-07-31%2019.13.02.jpg


I wont even bring up my mutant cascade you can see on the right, as i know that is far from standard for any first year plant to be 25+ feet tall with well over 100 cones. Apparently it was a very strong rhizome.

I agree with the other poster a lot of the energy will go into growing roots instead of huge boosts of flowering, but that energy comes from the sun.
If your plants aren't growing enough leaves to absorb that sun, where are they going to get it?

If your not averse to it you may want to start hitting some of those plants with some Miracle Gro 24-8-16 or something to get them going. I cant help but wonder if they are stunted due to lack of nutrients, both my Columbus and Newport had this problem until Duboman here suggested i start doing half doses(1/2Tbps Per Gallon) once a week. Now they are strong as ever.
WOW! I can't beleive those are first years. They were rhizomes and not established crowns? I can honestly say I have no aversion to miracle grow whatsoever it's going to give me monster bines like those!
 
Yea they were just rhizomes, two of the same type per mound. Since they were only $3 each i just put two of each in, in case one didnt take.

That said they were super fresh, being in Oregon i reserved them and picked them up from my LHBS within 48 hours of them being cut at the hop farm.

As i said though i know my Cascade is a mutant, i think my Newport and Columbus are more standard...they grew up full height but arent flowering a whole lot. Theres still probably 30-40 flowers on each at this point but it wont equal much when its all dry.

Which is why I'm a bit worried about the state of your plants from how long they have been in the ground. These things grow like weeds, after 2 months in the ground i'd expect yours to be atleast 10 feet tall each. Even if you dont get flowers, more growth = more leaves = more energy = more growth...you'll want to get them to get up as much energy as they can so they can get those roots strong to survive the winter...especially out there in DC where you can have some pretty brutal winters.
 

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