Hops Bush?

My hops plants look more bushy than viney? Should I be cutting them back or is it normal for them to be bushy?

jamursch said:

My hops plants look more bushy than viney? Should I be cutting them back or is it normal for them to be bushy?

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Mine have multiple bines going from the ground, but they are still distinctly bines and not bushy. Can you post a picture so we can see? Are they going up the trellis at all?

are you cutting all the bines back? You should be leaving about 3 to grow. I asked a similar question about a year ago and the answer i got was that if you keep cutting them short they will bush out but will never produce much if any hop cones. I say let them grow.

Here's a photo of my hops. As you can see they are looking really bushy and nothing like the pics I've seen of them spiraling up strings to almost 18 feet? What am I doing wrong?

You gotta look a little harder. There's a little hop growing up the lattice in the very bottom right corner.

B-Hoppy said:

You gotta look a little harder. There's a little hop growing up the lattice in the very bottom right corner.

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Wait? What?! So what are these bushes? They are growing exactly where I planted the rhizomes.

Hahaha! We pose as hop growing professionals. You'll have to take your question to the misc. forum, anything goes there. (Had any of them Hopsdrops yet?)

jamursch said:

Wait? What?! So what are these bushes? They are growing exactly where I planted the rhizomes.

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I don't recognize the bushes (I'm not gardener) but they aren't hops. There IS a hops plant coming up in the corner, as mentioned!

B-Hoppy said:

Hahaha! We pose as hop growing professionals. You'll have to take your question to the misc. forum, anything goes there. (Had any of them Hopsdrops yet?)

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Well. I'll know soon enough if my hops are indeed going to rock some cones. I guess I don't have big expectations this season anyways.

No HopsDrops for me yet, but they were invented here in Lakewood, OH so maybe if I see them I'll grab them up. They are more fruity than I expected originally when hearing about them so didn't rush out looking for them.

Well its normal to be bushy when you are not a hop plant but some kind of weed.

You do have one hop bine growing on the fence.

Kill that weed, but look carefully before pulling it, as hop bines could intertwine inside other plants... The pic is not clear enough to tell..

How many hops are supposed to be there? The three lobed leaf in the bottom right is a hop, clockwise from that there's a weed, couple of tomatoes and something that is either a tomatillo or a weed.

Where's Lakewood? If necessary, I could stop in and offer professional (not!) advice and drink your beer this weekend. But I have a feeling it's too far from Youngstown.

I have about 6 varieties of hops, so I'm no expert, but I can recognize 'em when I see 'em.

What's going on in Y-town? That's my hood.

jamursch said:

Wait? What?! So what are these bushes? They are growing exactly where I planted the rhizomes.

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Those actually look like something in the nightshade family.

Yooper said:

Where's Lakewood? If necessary, I could stop in and offer professional (not!) advice and drink your beer this weekend. But I have a feeling it's too far from Youngstown.

I have about 6 varieties of hops, so I'm no expert, but I can recognize 'em when I see 'em.

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Ha. Lakewood is just west of Cleveland. I kinda feel stupid that I've been babying these weeds. I planted 1 cascade, 1 centennial, and 2 willamette rhizomes so I'm guessing that's my centennial in the corner.

These weeds are all growing almost exactly where I planted the rhizomes. Ugh. And you are right as I have 3 tomato plants near my weeds.

Hops send out suckers thats what is going on I don't see many weeds their, typically if it was witch grass, crab grass, or any other grass i would remove it from around the hop vines, also during the fall, and winter time when your hops die back, you can cover them with weed barrier to keep weeds out, removed during the spring time.

I grow cascade chinook,willamette, fuggle, East Kent goldings, Kent goldings, Perl,I have a 15 acres farm i am going into commercial production

B-Hoppy said:

What's going on in Y-town? That's my hood.

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Totally off-topic, but I'll be visiting my family. Youngstown is my hometown.

sroach01 said:

Hops send out suckers thats what is going on I don't see many weeds their, typically if it was witch grass, crab grass, or any other grass i would remove it from around the hop vines, also during the fall, and winter time when your hops die back, you can cover them with weed barrier to keep weeds out, removed during the spring time.

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So....these are my hops just the suckers and I should cut them down?

B-Hoppy said:

Those actually look like something in the nightshade family.

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Yeah that's what I thought too. Deadly nightshade is not something you want to be putting in a beer...