Winterizing hop plants?

I can't seem to find any info on how to prep hop plants for winter. I'm sure it's in Homegrown Hops or The Brewmaster's Garden, but I figure putting it here would be a great help to those who don't have, or can't find, those books.

Anyone care to contribute?

ya
its easy thay dont need anything in most places.
but a good mulching is a geat idea its all i do
and it can get near sub zero here a few days a year

Im not planning on doing anything.

Cut the bines down to ground level and let them sleep for the winter.


They will be the first plant up in the spring. Sometimes even breaking through a layer of snow/slush!

The bines die back to the root, so it's only a matter of cutting the debris away. That's all the pros do, even in Yakima where freezing weather is the norm five months of the year.

Cookiebaggs said:

They will be the first plant up in the spring. Sometimes even breaking through a layer of snow/slush!

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Should you let them keep growing if they're sprouting in snow? Or should you clip them back and wait until nicer weather?

you dont have a chose the binds dies back every year to the ground
i just mulch a little after the bines are cut off becase it keeps the weeds back and adds organice stuff the the soil and that gets you more worms witch increase airation its win win

Way up north of you, I do exactly nothing (well on my better years I cut the old bine off when it finally dies - but some years I just don't have the time and it snows first). At some point spring or fall I may manage to dump some compost on there (well-aged horse poop). But the plants I haven't got back to in several years up on the edge of the field are still puttering along as weeds in competition with other weeds, and holding their own. They are not wimpy.

We see -20F sometimes, though not as much as we used to, with global warming.

Global warming lol!! Nice. Here in MI I just chop them at the ground and wait for them to sprout in the spring. They are usually pretty submerged at that point and do just fine(I live a few feet above the water table). Nothing really to do with these after the growing season.

david_42 said:

The bines die back to the root, so it's only a matter of cutting the debris away. That's all the pros do, even in Yakima where freezing weather is the norm five months of the year.

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please understand I am NOT (in any way) saying you are wrong, here.

my extremely limited experience in SW PA...I cut off two first year Fuggles literally at ground level last fall. granted, I did NOT mulch them.

both died.

Cut them to the ground in late September, cover with mulch.

Hey all. Will it be okay to leave my potted hop plant outside all winter? I know that it's okay if it's in the ground, but I wonder if the roots go past the frostline to survive.

Thanks!

How do you know when to cut off the bines?

RC0032 said:

How do you know when to cut off the bines?

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The frost will kill them - they will turn brown and wither up. Cut them down then.

Lochmiel2003 said:

Hey all. Will it be okay to leave my potted hop plant outside all winter? I know that it's okay if it's in the ground, but I wonder if the roots go past the frostline to survive.

Thanks!

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well i had 12 hop plants in 5 gal buckets last winter out side.
we had an ice storm where it was in the teens for 10 days and i had no power
there were many night when the temp droped to upper tens and all 12 lived just fine.
if its colder then that were you are i dont know but in oklahoma zone 6 i think
thay are just fine in pots out in the freezeing weather

Thanks, I appreciate the answer. I'm in Minnesota...it gets below zero easy...I think I'll let them go outside, see what happens

cuinrearview said:

Global warming lol!! Nice. Here in MI I just chop them at the ground and wait for them to sprout in the spring. They are usually pretty submerged at that point and do just fine(I live a few feet above the water table). Nothing really to do with these after the growing season.

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Are we the only state in the union that does not have globle warming ?

Pat

coyote said:

please understand I am NOT (in any way) saying you are wrong, here.

my extremely limited experience in SW PA...I cut off two first year Fuggles literally at ground level last fall. granted, I did NOT mulch them.

both died.

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I have been told you should not cut them off at ground level but rather a few feet up so you don't damage any of the plants vital system. Could have something to do with it?