chinook vs. willamette

I transplanted some rhizomes from a friend about three months ago. The willamette initially took off and the chinook looked worrisome. Now the chinook is about five feet long. The willamette is a measley 8 inches. They are both receiving the same sunlight, water, and nutrients. They both are being twine trained. Any ideas as to why the willamette is doing so poorly? I grabbed some cascade rhizomes from my brother last weekend and intend on replacing the willamette this spring if it doesn't get its act together. I'm in california so there is no snow and limited frost. Will the current chinook bines die do to cold here? Should I give up on willametter now and replace it? Also, I've noticed bug bited out of the willamette, could this be what's stressing it out and preventing growth? Thanks for any feedback.

Did the tip of your williamette get broken or torn off? Should be going fine. On the other hand I've heard of people having issues growing hops in really mild climates. So not sure how well they'll fare in the spring if they don't get some good cold in the winter.

cool weather shouldn't be too much of an issue as its colder in washington and oregon which are the nations two largest hop producers.

How well did you prep your soil? pH and the like.
How avid a gardener are you? have you feed the roots at all (not the plants, the roots!)

For what it's worth, I planted 3 rhizomes this past spring: Cascade, Nugget and Willamette. I ended up getting 17-foot bines and a decent amount of cones on both the Cascade and the Nugget. The Willamette ended up being about 9 feet and no cones.

Color was good and the plant looked healthy, but it just seemed to grow much slower than the other two. Same soil, same conditions (only about 8 feet away from the Nugget) but it just didn't have the same explosion of growth mid-summer. Maybe that's typical for Willamette? I don't have enough experience to say... hopefully someone with more experience can respond.

Hopefully they're just slow growers and will pick up the pace in the spring.

conpewter said:

Did the tip of your williamette get broken or torn off? Should be going fine. On the other hand I've heard of people having issues growing hops in really mild climates. So not sure how well they'll fare in the spring if they don't get some good cold in the winter.

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Never got broken, one of the bines did but no the one in the pic. The donars for the willamette and chinook are very hearty and produce much. Healthy bines, etc. They were down the street and never had much issue, even without water, nutrients.

DarkPhyre said:

cool weather shouldn't be too much of an issue as its colder in washington and oregon which are the nations two largest hop producers.

How well did you prep your soil? pH and the like.
How avid a gardener are you? have you feed the roots at all (not the plants, the roots!)

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I'm a decent gardener but this is my first hop yard experience. The soil was really awful. The spot where they are had weeds, concrete wall, rocky, non-absorbant dirt. We yanked off the wall, filtered out a large percentage of the rocks, added 2 huge bags of organic soil. Some bone meal for nitrogen introduction and extra nutrients. then I transplanted the hops and use vinegar water for pesticide because I have a small child, a dog, and lack of interest in chemicals. I never fed the roots specifically because I didn't want to over shock the plants as rhizomes/ baby bines.

jamboparty said:

For what it's worth, I planted 3 rhizomes this past spring: Cascade, Nugget and Willamette. I ended up getting 17-foot bines and a decent amount of cones on both the Cascade and the Nugget. The Willamette ended up being about 9 feet and no cones.

Color was good and the plant looked healthy, but it just seemed to grow much slower than the other two. Same soil, same conditions (only about 8 feet away from the Nugget) but it just didn't have the same explosion of growth mid-summer. Maybe that's typical for Willamette? I don't have enough experience to say... hopefully someone with more experience can respond.

Hopefully they're just slow growers and will pick up the pace in the spring.

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It gives me comfort to know your willamette was not up to par with the other two. Maybe that is just the character for willamette, will look into that deeper. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for increased growth in spring.

Willamette doesn't grow for me in socal, despite using the same techniques that make Cascade and Chinook (and now Tettnanger) grow very well. I can't explain why this hop has been so hard for me to grow here either--finally, I just gave up on it.

cram said:

Willamette doesn't grow for me in socal, despite using the same techniques that make Cascade and Chinook (and now Tettnanger) grow very well. I can't explain why this hop has been so hard for me to grow here either--finally, I just gave up on it.

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That really good to know, I'm happy I have a replacement already if I do replace it.

As I have recently determined, the damage to my willamette and the cause of its stunt, was a fat green caterpillar, decimating the leaves for at least a week. Grrrr

hopmomma said:

.... Any ideas as to why the willamette is doing so poorly?

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Because it's Willamette.

My Willamette sprouted then died on me. Ordered another one, different vendor, and it too sprouted and then died. All 8 other varieties I planted grew just fine.

The higher alpha ones by far surpassed the lower alpha's.

Also, I'm a decent gardener, and grow lots of other plants outside, so I'm blaming it on the variety.

I have a Williamette, a Hallertau, and a Cascade that are 1 season old (planted April). My Williamette outgrew everything else and produced the most hops. But I'm in MN. Also the Williamette had the biggest rhizo, so that may have been a factor.

Being from the north, I'm not up on my Califonia weather conditions. But would there be enough sunlight to expect much growth between Sept-Nov? I would think it goes almost dormant, then starts to pack on the pounds in May/June? Ours stopped growing late July due to loss in sunlight.

solbes said:

I have a Williamette, a Hallertau, and a Cascade that are 1 season old (planted April). My Williamette outgrew everything else and produced the most hops. But I'm in MN. Also the Williamette had the biggest rhizo, so that may have been a factor.

Being from the north, I'm not up on my Califonia weather conditions. But would there be enough sunlight to expect much growth between Sept-Nov? I would think it goes almost dormant, then starts to pack on the pounds in May/June? Ours stopped growing late July due to loss in sunlight.

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I'm used to the north as well. Trying to readjust to cali weather. Still bright from about 7 to 7. And the coldest at night is about 44. Around sixties daily. The rhizome was bigger. Will keep hope. Thanks!

cram said:

Willamette doesn't grow for me in socal, despite using the same techniques that make Cascade and Chinook (and now Tettnanger) grow very well. I can't explain why this hop has been so hard for me to grow here either--finally, I just gave up on it.

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Ditto. Mine's now relegated to duty as an ornamental on the patio. I think it's sunshine related.

After a couple of years in containers, I've found some ground to plant. I'm through with the effort of watering containers for only a few oz. of hops.

stolpsTDI said:

Ditto. Mine's now relegated to duty as an ornamental on the patio. I think it's sunshine related.

After a couple of years in containers, I've found some ground to plant. I'm through with the effort of watering containers for only a few oz. of hops.

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I'm thinking maybe the willamette needs to be in an area that actually freezes, such as nor-cal or oregon/washington. Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Salute!