Hops and Dogs

I have a bunch of hops that I planted along a 5 ft high dog fence and was wondering if it is probable that dogs would eat the hop cones right off of the plant? None of the bines are entwined in the fence yet so I still have time to rig a trellis up but am wondering if it is necessary.

You have to be very careful with dogs and hops. If your dog eats the hop cones it can kill him!

My dog destroyed all my hop vines before I got any cones. I have given up growing any for now.

When's the last time you saw your dog chewing on your garden or flower bed? If it likes green things then I'd make sure they were away from the dog's reach, otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it.

joshimus said:

I have a bunch of hops that I planted along a 5 ft high dog fence and was wondering if it is probable that dogs would eat the hop cones right off of the plant? None of the bines are entwined in the fence yet so I still have time to rig a trellis up but am wondering if it is necessary.

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You should be able to train the bines to grow up the fence and along the top. Hops cones don't grow on the lower part of the bines.

BenS said:

When's the last time you saw your dog chewing on your garden or flower bed? If it likes green things then I'd make sure they were away from the dog's reach, otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it.

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My dogs never touch anything in the garden, although they run through and destroy seedlings every now and then. One dog even eats grass but never touches other plants. Never had a concern about the hops, honestly. Now, fallen tomatoes, strawberries, fallen pears or peaches... that's a whole other deal right there.

Thanks for the input. I just figured that if dogs have eaten hops before (not on the plant), there could be a chance for them to eat them right off of the bines. It's a tall enough fence to where I'm pretty sure the cones will stay 2 feet out of reach of the beasts.

I would just say as a word of caution theres this product that keeps pets out of your garden/crops I cant remember what its called for the life of me but it does help.

Dogs that eat hops will end up putting yeast in their water dish, trying to replicate Bone Ruination and Pliny the Alpha. There is no cure.

Like Randar, my dogs don't seem to have any interest in hops. Once I left a bowl of fresh hops on the ground, like a bowl of pop corn. I watched a movie and let the dogs know I didn't care. No interest.

By the time cones develop I will likely have cut the leafs off the lowest level of my bines, which is a back up to the fact that my dogs don't care about hops.

I don't have chicken wire, I don't have a fence, my dogs just don't care. Now I have a patch of rye growing that's a whole different story. My dogs are killing my rye yield as they eat it and then puke it up on the lawn, but that's a different story.