Hop Mulching and Types

I am getting Fuggles and Glacier hop roots next week
Three questions:
Why can't they be planted less than 5 ft from each other?
Can you mulch the plants to keep the weeds down?
Good trellis design for four plants(two of each) with the knowledge that they will spread over the year(s) so it should accommodate more brines?

1) They can be planted closer but as they grow they will become a tangled mess and at harvest time it will be very difficult to know which kind lyou are picking. Also each year their roots continue to grow and spread so eventually you would end up with one huge rootball I believe.

2)Yes, Mulch

3) Im doing a straight line trellis with 4 plants and two pieces of twine coming off of each plant. 2-3 Bines per twine. I have a drawing on one of my threads of what I am putting up. Hope to get it finished and have some pics either this weekend or next.

tieflyer said:

I am getting Fuggles and Glacier hop roots next week
Three questions:
Why can't they be planted less than 5 ft from each other?
Can you mulch the plants to keep the weeds down?
Good trellis design for four plants(two of each) with the knowledge that they will spread over the year(s) so it should accommodate more brines?

Click to expand...

1) if you trim the roots every 2-3 years (at least between them), you will not have a problem with root growth. However, you will have to keep the bines several feet apart to ensure you can keep them from growing into a mass where you can't distinguish which is which.

2) Mulch? Yes. Properly aged hardwood mulch, rubber mulch, hay, cacao shells, aged manure, etc... just don't put green partially composted mulch or fresh hardwood mulch, as they will suck nitrogen from the surrounding soil

3) You should expect 2 strings per plants in a "V" shape up from the crown. Lot's of trellis designs around here. If growing more than one variety, I would avoid the Tent Pole design and stick to a top wire system (1 wire or 2 parallel wires) or 2 separate tent poles.

The planting distance probably has more to do with your gardening experience level and the conditions under which they're grown. If you grow them in a 'garden' area that is essentially bare soil, it's a lot easier to keep their potential spread in check. If you go out into the yard, dig a hole and plant them, when they begin to spread you may not see the new shoots emerging due to them being camouflaged amongst the grass or other vegetation nearby. But yes, you can grow them closer than 5 feet. I should add that I'm not familiar with how Glacier grows but by looking at the typical yield I would assume that the sidearms would probably be about the same length as Cascade (about 2-3 feet). They can reach that distance toward your Fuggles which don't produce any appreciable sidearms for me so I don't think you would have to worry about them getting tangled.

Mulch is always a good idea to keep weeds down and conserve moisture. Also, the benefit of something like compost is that it will slowly help to nourish the plants.

Once the crowns become more mature they will be able to support more vines to produce a larger crop. I grow them on poles and by stringing 5-6 vines per pole can yield the equivalent of 3 or 4 plants off of one crown.

Keep in mind though, growing hops isn't like building a house or something. If you see that the distance is too close you can always just dig them up and move after the first year. Hope that helps.