How tall is too tall? (They're still getting taller ..)

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maztec

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The previous owner of my house grew hops. I wanted to start growing hops, and was quite excited to see his hops sprout out of the ground in the Spring.


Once they were a few feet long, I put a string up for them to climb. The string goes up to the top of my porch, which is nearly 20 foot.

The hops grew almost a foot a day for the last two weeks and have now surpassed the top of the string.

And, they are still growing. There is about five foot of hop top that is twining around, trying to find a place to go, but getting nowhere.

What should I do? How tall is too tall?

Any higher and I won't be able to harvest them without borrowing a longer ladder.

I feel bad, because they want to keep growing. Can I train them down? Or should I look into training them across the top of my porch?

And I still have no clue what type of hops they are, I probably never will know what they are. Except, I suspect he planted a bittering hop, rather than an aromatic hop *sigh*. Why grow the one you can buy cheaply, rather than the expensive one I will never understand. Then again, I might end up getting lucky!


Thanks for the tips!

:mug:
 
I am coming to the same point with mine. Once they get too tall they will just break off. Or you could train them sideways.

I have heard some people just cut the tips and that way the bine will put out more side shoots and lead to better growth for the hop producing parts of the plant.
 
My hops are also over the top of my house so I had to cut them. I did not expect them to get that tall but hey, it's not a bad thing.
 
At this point, the logistics of harvesting become important. Too tall equals more danger. Let's be careful on those ladders people!

Train them sideways.
 
*carefully* loop them back around like a lasso and wrap the tip back around the twine like when you first trained it. Not sure where you're located but most of the plants in this area (SW lower MI) are starting to spur and the vertical growth slows drastically. Worst that could happen is you break the plant which is exactly what will happen to five feet of unsupported bine on your next windy day. Horizontal growth is an option as well as long as you don't mind climbing a ladder to re-train almost daily. Sounds like you have a very healthy plant!
 
Safety ! What's that? Do we have an OSHA inspector in the forum? HAHA I'm just kidding, I was actually trying to determine how in the hell I was going to pick these things. At the beginning of the season I contemplated hooking up a carabiner and running another line to the ground so I could lower the vines. But then I said to myself, "there's no way they will get that tall". Well I was wrong!
 
The peak of my house is 20 odd feet, my hops are floating in the air reaching for clouds. Eventually under their own weight they will break or droop grab on to a bine and start to loop on their own.

For me, I don't worry about it. I've heard of other people 'looping' them or cutting a tip so they stop growing. I like to see how crazy they will get. :rockin:
 
Let them top out and don't worry about it. I use a pulley system so I don't have to get on a ladder (after installed). They tangle up in the pulley and wrap around the lowering rope - I just give a tug and they usually come down. Otherwise I get on a ladder just long enough to cut the tangle and get back on the ground (I DON'T LIKE HEIGHTS).
 
I think these are commercially grown at 18 feet. Mine are mostly higher. Maybe you don't get any more yield after 18 feet? Either that or its a point of diminishing return.
 
I grew mine to 18ft this year (last year only 10ft) and only have cones forming on the top 9 ft. Seems kind of pointless to grow them so tall if the bottoms don't produce side chutes?
 
I have a 15 foot trellis, and mine are all bunched at the top. I've been told that hops can grow to 30 feet easily, so taller is better. I've been thinking of building an extension for my trellis, but I'm not sure how I'll do it. I've also decided to restring my trellis to keep the side shoots from reaching out to grab the plant next to it. I have 4 varieties (had 5, but one didn't survive the winter), and they're too close together, so harvesting time will be a little difficult. But, the way I strung my trellis makes it easy to lower the plants. I used eye bolts, fed the twine through them with one end tied at ground level, and the other tied to the posts. When I harvest, I tie a string to the end on the post and lower the plants down. I use nylon string, and when the plants are down, I'll tie off the nylon where the twine was and use that to pull the twine in place the next year.

Please note, this is my second year for my hops, so I'm still learning how they behave, how my trellis should be strung, and how and when to harvest. Last year, I got less than a pound of hops total from all five plants. This year, I have quite a bit, but I won't know how much until they are harvested and dried. It'll definitely be much more than last year though.
 
Good ideas there HomeBeerBrewer.

I only have three plants, but they are going insane. Their arms are at least four feet long. The arms started spreading out from the top, but are extending toward the bottom now. The bottoms are bushier than the top, but it looks like it has the start for where cones will come on at all different heights. We'll see what I actually get in the end.

I think I need to train it across so I don't start losing arms.
 
My house is already taller ... by a fair amount, but getting up to that point would be a disaster.

However, the idea of putting in eye hooks and giving the plants a nylon rope to climb up is a good idea. Maybe I'll do that next year and get rid of the pigeons at the same time.
 
I use the nylon "strings" to pull the Jute twine in the spring. I use the Jute twine for the hops to climb, and then at harvest time, or when the plants go dormant, I'll cut the plants, tie nylon strings to the twine, and lower the plants and twine, replacing the twine with nylon for the winter. The twine is biodegradable, so I just dump the hop plants and twine in the compost bin.

I wouldn't use the nylon for the hops to climb, because then I'll need to throw the plant and string in the trash. Unless I wanted to spend the time unraveling the string from the plants - which I'd rather not do.
 
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