Suggestions on training

So my wife hates how the hops are looking and I agree. I didn't pick the best pots to put them into. Here are some questions I have:

Can I repot into better looking pots without killing them?

Is there better looking twine I can use?
Do I cut off bones that grow off the main bine? I included a pic.

Thanks.

Yes, you can repot them but the plants should have a good root ball. You don't want the root ball to fall apart when you transplant. Not sure if you have enough root growth to transplant yet.

I'd just let em go. Don't transplant yet, and let all the bines grow so they can get a lot of leaves to help the roots get established. They probably won't grow a ton higher this year, but I would find a spot with more vertical room. My second year Centennial, that I started in pots just like you, made it to the top of my 16' trellis by the beginning of June. As far as twine, I just use heavy jute twine. It's cheap and holds up for a season. I just string new twine for the following year.

Here's my setup this pic is a couple of weeks old and now I have cones and spurs all over all three plants. Next year they all go in a raised bed with some new companions. I plan on keeping the same setup where the twine is affixed to the roof to give me some vertical room. My nugget has 22 feet of room and now it's starting to take over the roof. My Willamette is disappointing at about 14 feet and my sunbeam is about 20 feet right now and has the bulk of the cones. You definitely want the vertical space for your girls to stretch out.

TangoHotel said:

Here's my setup this pic is a couple of weeks old and now I have cones and spurs all over all three plants. Next year they all go in a raised bed with some new companions. I plan on keeping the same setup where the twine is affixed to the roof to give me some vertical room. My nugget has 22 feet of room and now it's starting to take over the roof. My Willamette is disappointing at about 14 feet and my sunbeam is about 20 feet right now and has the bulk of the cones. You definitely want the vertical space for your girls to stretch out.

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Great suggestions!! Thanks for the help. If I can get some better looking pots, maybe I can move them to a better spot. My wife hates the black pots.

Just prune them so they look nice

TangoHotel said:

Here's my setup this pic is a couple of weeks old and now I have cones and spurs all over all three plants. Next year they all go in a raised bed with some new companions. I plan on keeping the same setup where the twine is affixed to the roof to give me some vertical room. My nugget has 22 feet of room and now it's starting to take over the roof. My Willamette is disappointing at about 14 feet and my sunbeam is about 20 feet right now and has the bulk of the cones. You definitely want the vertical space for your girls to stretch out.

Click to expand...

Its hard to tell from the picture if the lines are coming together at the far right, or if its just the image. Regardless you should make sure those lines dont all come together at a point! Try to keep them 4-5 feet apart at a minimum! Your plants and their side arms will hop lines if you arent careful and you will have a ball of 3 different hop varieties that you cant tell the difference between come harvest time.

What is the pound rating on the twine to use?

FuzzeWuzze said:

Its hard to tell from the picture if the lines are coming together at the far right, or if its just the image. Regardless you should make sure those lines dont all come together at a point! Try to keep them 4-5 feet apart at a minimum! Your plants and their side arms will hop lines if you arent careful and you will have a ball of 3 different hop varieties that you cant tell the difference between come harvest time.

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They're all about 5 feet apart. All side arms are carefully guided back towards their respective plants. B-) don't you worry!

skepace said:

What is the pound rating on the twine to use?

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Anyone?

Never really looked for a pound rating. I use 1/8" jute and it works fine. I might jump to 1/4" next year since they are getting bigger and I plan to train two bines per line.

My suggestions for training would be a combination of walking and bike riding. Low impact and healthy.
My suggestions for your ugly pots would be to place the black pots inside a pretty looking pot and add some spanish moss around the two pots. Transplant them after the growing season is over.

Thanks.