When and how to cut...

Okay, second year hops (except for one new Centennial rhizome).. Last year, I let every shoot grow.. Only the bigger of the two magnums produced cones...

This year, things are off to a good start.. As I understand things, I'm supposed to cut off most of the shoots so that the plant can put all it's energy into the remaining bine(s)...

Mainly I just need to know 'when' to do this, and how many bines to leave...

Below are pictures of the four beds, the centennials did really poorly last year and one of them died.. So I planted a new rhizome to replace it... It's the tiny plant on the right in the second picture...

So, are any of them ready to prune?
Thanks,
Mark


Second year cascades



Second year Centennial on the left, first year Centennial on the right



Second year Magnums




Second year Willamette

If there's no danger of frost in your area, let them grow a bit then cut back all the biggest, strongest 3-5 bines per plant, and train these up your trellis.

As for when to do this, I'd let your's get a bit bigger. Cut back the occasional thin, weak looking one, and start training your biggest ones. Eventually you'll have 3-5 trained and then you just cut back all the rest.

If there's danger of frost, you might consider cutting them all back until the danger is passed. The only real risk is that the crown puts a lot of energy into these first shoots, then the frost kills them, making the second round of shoots weaker.

Wait until the longest bines are 2-3 feet.

david_42 said:

Wait until the longest bines are 2-3 feet.

Click to expand...

Shoot, with the warm winter we've had all of mine are about that long. Time to start hacking I guess?

Thanks guys...

We have above freezing temps for the next 10 days, 'except' for tonight... It's supposed to get down to 26 degrees...

Should I cover them for the night with some visqueen?