So do I train these or let them be?

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harpo

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The main shoots are growing well. Now I've got several "mini" shoots springing from where the leaves come out of the main shoot. These (with one exception) are not another main bine from the crown.

Question is, do I trim, train or let be?

First year hop grower. First year hops ordered from Hopfarmer in Paonia COLO. Planted mid April.

Whaddayathink?

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Let it just grow. Your first year is all about root growth and most people say to just not worry about it and let it grow the first year.
 
as long as they don't end up dragging on the ground, let them grow. those are sidearms/laterals that produce the hops. once they are established most of the hops will form on the laterals on the upper portion of the vines. for now, you can just let them grow.
 
Yeah, let them grow. Last year i had at at least 20 side shoots per plant. I transplanted my cascade this year and was shocked to see that some of the roots were well over 6 feet long when i finally dug them out completely. Those roots are what you want. If the upper plant is stressed from over pruning then the roots will also be stressed.

BTW... Are those all the same variety of hop? If not you will regret how close together they are planted. I had some shoots that looked out of place about a foot from my cascade this year. I dug them up and they traced back 6 feet away to my centennials. Even for only a second year plant the centennial shot out 6 feet. I may suggest that you spread these plants out if they are different variety.
 
They are all cascade, with one exception. I have one chinook. The chinook is as far as I could put it away from the nearest cascade. I may transplant the chinook to another place this fall before it really takes off. These started in pots, just transplanted a week ago. Funny how the 4 cascade plants are in what seems to be 3 different stages of growth. One is a few feet ahead of the next two, and the 4th is kind of a straggler. I keep a close watch and they seem to be headed for the same level, just later. The top of my twine is about at 28' above the ground. Does that seem too high?
 
Those are sidearms and they should be left alone. For many hops, the majority of the cones develop on the sidearms.

28' is probably too much for Year 1, but too tall is much better than too short.
 
I'm at the same point of growth and 5-6 of my vines have laterals that are dragging on the ground, several are laid out flat.

Should I prune these, train them to climb or add some lift support?

(Beautiful girls you have there, OP)
 
Thanks. I was surprised they came up as well as they did. I thought they would be dragging behind. Now 3 out of the 5 are almost at the 18'+ level. The other two are about 6' (chinook) and the last cascade is growing what can only be described as "sideways". It is growing up, but has several lateral shoots that are growing at the same rate as the first one I trained. One of the laterals is thick and twisted, but growing sideways.

Another thing that surprises me is the distance between leaves. It seems that all of my bines have leaves forming around every 10"-12" or so. I haven't spent any time searching HBT, but I am thinking that this is related to tghe size of my trellis twine. Can anyone answer this for me?
 
Another thing that surprises me is the distance between leaves. It seems that all of my bines have leaves forming around every 10"-12" or so. I haven't spent any time searching HBT, but I am thinking that this is related to tghe size of my trellis twine. Can anyone answer this for me?
that distance (10-12'') is referred to as the internode and varies somewhat from variety to variety but is usually pretty close. i don't really think the size of the trellis has anything to do with it.
 
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