hop garden help

in early april i planted 9 rhizomes, each in their own pot.
all 9 broke ground and were off to a great. for the last month they really haven't done anything. in april they grew 2 feet but now they're growing 1 inch a week.

any idea why they would slow down?

thanks

What has the temperature been? If it gets into the mid to low fifties at night, I've noticed they tend to slow down a lot.

Overcast? Wet Feet? Cold Feet? Waited to late for heavy pruning?

I've found all these things can slow a plant to a near standstill. And after 3 years, it's only now starting to make sense.

I think this is typical behavior for 1st year plantings.

How big is the pot?
Do you plan on putting them in the ground?
Did you prune?
Do they have something to grow "up"?

1st year is really about establishing the plant and roots, next year, get ready for some bines.

My 1st years grew 5-6 bines each, about two feet and then stopped.
This year, I let them grow 2 feet and cut all plants down to two bines. They are now about 15+ ft up, with flowers on the way.

I'm by no means an expert (I have my first hops in pots this year) but it sounds like you may need to fertilize. What soil are they in?

My first year cascades and chinook are close to 20 feet... they didn't take off until the overnight low was 60 or so.

thank you everyone for your input. sorry it took me so long to respond.
to answer everyones questions.
1st weather. I'm in Chicago, the weather here has been average. Some cold nights but nothing to crazy.

2nd pruning. I didn't prune these at all. Of the 9, six of them only sprouted 1 bune. The other 3 plants have 2-3 but they're so small that I didnt want to cut them.

3rd potting. They are all in 12" pots. I was planning on keeping them in these for this year and then replant them into 20"+ pots next year and then reuse the 12" pots for next years rhizomes.

4th. Maintenence. The soil was a mixture of top soil and compost. I use organic fertilizer 1 day a week in my watering.

I thought I was doing everything right, but they're now just crawling along. Someone told me I should replant them and use a good potting soil.

does this sound like something I should do? Would they benefit from it so late in the season?

thanks

Number three is your problem. They're root bound, a 12 inch pot is too small for these root producing mofos.

you dont want top soil in a pot..you want potting soil. so it can drain.


1. bigger pots...

2. potting soil/compost.

Are the pots they're in plastic?

rarjr,

i'm in Chicago as well, and have 4 plants in 24" pots. their growth has also come to a standstill over the last 2 weeks.

I'm going to attribute it to the fact that it has rained every 2nd day with little or no hot sun. Nights do get well below 60 as well.

About 3 weeks ago, when we had a string of days around 80 degrees, they were really taking off, so i suspect they will once this atypical weather passes.

I agree--the pots are too small.

Mine are in containers for the first year, but they're big 18 gallon plastic storage bins.

thanks for the help everyone!

total hop disaster today.
so I went ahead to repot/resoil the plants today.

I went from 9 plants going slowly but healthy.
to 9 plants dead

I put them into larger pots and then i pulled them out of the soil and replanted in potting soil.

once finished I re-wrapped them around their rope and when i went back a few hours later they were all wilted with the leaves curled up.

hop mission 2009 failure. hope 2010 is a success

Hold up! Like I said before, I don't know diddley about hop growing. But, you just shocked the bajeebus out of the plants. I know other plants will wilt when moved like that and yes, there probably is a better time to transplant them. I know sometimes you have to cut plants back when you move them because they will use up all of their energy trying to revitalize everything at once. Soooo, read through this hop growing thread and see if you can find anything about this. If not, PM a couple of the most experienced members in this forum. Maybe they haven't read this part for a couple of days and a PM will get a fast response. Keep us posted. Luck - Dwain

even if only the roots are alive....they may just keep on trucking..give it some time to see.

yea, give em time. they may pull through

I'm down south from Chicago (read, south of I 80) and first years have had random spurts of growth. I have 2 Cascade and 2 chinook -- one of the two cascade has shot up quickly is now around 8 foot up. The second is about 2 foot tall. They are only now sprouting multiple bines.
The Cascades are growing quite a bit faster, but with only one bine each.

So far, I haven't been really anxious about any of the growth since this is their first year and everything I have read says that year zero is pretty much just for root growth....

With regard to your newest issue, just relax and let things be. You've effectively just told a recently divorced soccer mom that she gets to go out and date again. She's not used to the space and is pretty shell shocked. Give her time to become a cougar!