N00b hop growing ?s

Going to start a couple container hops, cascade and willamette, and had a couple quick questions. When the bines start growing Im told to keep the strongest three or four and train them up a wire. Should I train them up one wire, or use three to four wires, one per bine?

Also, when choosing a fertilizer, should I be looking for one with the most nitrogen? I hear that nitrogen deficiency is the biggest worry for hop plants. I found a miracle grow hose attachment that has 24% nitrogen. Or do I just need a well balanced fertilizer? Thanks

The first year is a lot of fun, so good luck, trevorc13! I think you'll find that some people will tell you to snip all but two or three main shoots and other people will tell you to let them go. Here's a photo documentary of my first year . And to be clear, I'm still a noob, so take this with a grain of salt.

I started to trim all but the first few shoots and about a month into the growing season I just let the plant do what it wanted to do. I think that it's best to prune in later years but for the first one or two, I think it's best if the plant establishes itself and you let it go. I was really lucky to get such a good harvest in my first year.

As far is fertilizer goes, I just added manure three times (beginning, middle and end) last year and a natural fertilizer called BioBloom between fertilizer applications. The soil that I used was just purchased last year, however, so that may have helped. These plants are insane resilient, so I don't think that a fertilizer will necessarily make or break the deal.

Also, I would strongly recommend being prepared for pests/bugs/insects. Maybe get in touch with some other local growers or people at your LHBS and see what pests are likely in your area.

Thanks for the input. How about the strings? One bine per string or one string for two or three bines?

gridlocked, i was reading your post from this past summer, how did the beer turn out with those?

i have a few questions to ask, but im heading out the door right now, so ill post them later

For 1st year plants let all bines grow.The 1st year the bines that come out are all you have to establish the plant so do not cut .1 rope is enough Cheers Glen

Hopfarmer said:

For 1st year plants let all bines grow.The 1st year the bines that come out are all you have to establish the plant so do not cut .1 rope is enough Cheers Glen

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So 1 rope for all of them, or let 'em grow out and let em lay where they fall?

Last year (my first year) I ran two strings from the same stake right above my rhizome, in a "V" shape. I trained 2-3 bines per string, depending on how strong they looked and which way they were naturally growing. I was sort of nervous to trim much in the first year so I just let it grow on its own and develop a good root system.

Never trim back 1st year plants,the nodes on the rhizomes are all u have the 1st year Cheers Glen

if you let all the growth from one or two rhizomes grow up onto one string you'll be fine. year two and onward will be a different story depending on how vigorous your plants grow. Don't sweat it!