Finally in the Ground

Finally set up the irrigation and got the soil right, I just hope the Rhizomes are still viable..I had em in the fridge for a month.

From closest to farthest
Centennial
Centennial
Cascade
Cascade
Cascade
Chinook
Chinook

Yea, who would have thought hops in a HOP forum!

Everything I've read says these plants can have their ass kicked and they still produce. Ill have a beer and pray to the gods for you, and your hops!

LMAO, right on man. Based on what I've read I over planted...only spaced them maybe 12" apart and I'm now seeing 36" is recommended, oh well..we'll see what comes up before I worry about that.

I think the biggest issue with having them close is not being able to tell which plant is which once it starts growing like crazy. But with lots and lots of trimming daily that may not be an issue?

Yes I thought about that...trying to follow a 20 foot vine back to the soil to determine if it's Centennial or Cascade could be tedious. Oh well I'll deal with it.

Optimal said:

I think the biggest issue with having them close is not being able to tell which plant is which once it starts growing like crazy. But with lots and lots of trimming daily that may not be an issue?

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Moose777 said:

Yes I thought about that...trying to follow a 20 foot vine back to the soil to determine if it's Centennial or Cascade could be tedious. Oh well I'll deal with it.

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Not just that. But as the plant gets closer to flowering it'll put on sidearms. some variant have sidearms that extend 40". And they will go sideways until they can no longer defeat gravity or they latch onto anything nearby.

they are thin a frail and detangling them is extremly sensitive laborious work but, leaving them tangled can result in not knowing if your cone is Centennial or Zues (for example).

The larger issue will come in the years ahead, when the underground shoots are intermingling; you could very well end up with a centennial popping up through your chinook (and other combinations, etc) and you would not be able to tell unless you pulled up the whole bine all the way to the root ball.

I suggest you bite the bullet now and separate, unless you don't mind a hop bouillabaise.

Just my .02



Sidebar: I will be in T.O./N.P. in early August; we should share a beer or two!

cyberbackpacker said:

I suggest you bite the bullet now and separate, unless you don't mind a hop bouillabaise.

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Or, box them in with corrugated steel sheet.

Definitely a PITA and separating will be better in the long run, but boxing in the roots will mitigate the spread of the underground system.

These suckers will still grow under/around underground "barricades"-- IME outside of proper spacing and pruning every 2-3 seasons, everything else is a band-aid type fix.

cyberbackpacker said:

These suckers will still grow under/around underground "barricades"-- IME outside of proper spacing and pruning every 2-3 seasons, everything else is a band-aid type fix.

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True. But these suckers have also been "known" to emerge up to 15 foot from the crown so....

As for me, I barricade and root prune to combine a ounce of prevention with a pound of cure.

My second year hops are growing UNDER the raised garden barrier I "contained" them with and are begining to pop out at the edges of my lawn. I'm not going to prune my rhizomes yet, but I'll be forced to next year. I'm pretty confident at what I know, but I concede this random bine maybe 2' from hop plant really surprised me.

At one foot seperation, be prepared to prune or, "Forever know not your hop!"

15 days in the ground and no sign of sprouts yet..just keeping it moist and they're getting plenty of sun so hopefully any day now I'll see them babbies sprouting up through the grass clipping mulch.

Been a month now and nada from many rhizomes..this sucks.
I can grown everything else in my yard like crazy, everyone calls me an amazing gardener but so far no lucj with hops. I'll keep them moist and in the ground and just wait n see.

I hear ya buddy, i'm on day 26 and i'm having a hard time believing that not a single one of my plants has sprouted yet.

Today while checking the soil about 6" from where the rhizome was planted in inadvertently uncovered a sprout about 1/2" below the surface. I'm guessing this means it will break ground on it's own soon but it's sorta strange that it's so far from where I planted isn't it?



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if you planted them horizontally this is very natural as the buds oriented downward will grow that way until they realize that something is wrong. then they'll turn upward. if you planted them vertically, it's probably a shoot from the lower portion of the rhizome which would break ground a litter further away than those buds closer to the surface.

All planted vertically here bc that's what the instructions called out. I haven't checked on them in a few days so maybe there's sprouts now.

Moose - Finally had my first sprout break ground today, hopefully you'll get the same result soon.



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