1st Year Centennial - No Sign Of Cones Yet

[ballybrew]

Hi all,

I got such great advice on my first post back in April when I started this project, that I'm sure some seasoned pros can help me with this!

So a bit about my plants:

-I'm in Ireland.

-I have two 1st year centennial. (I know they're not native to here)

-I originally trained 2 bines, the healthiest of each snapped some time ago because of poor support/ inexperience. I've since fixed the support and took one of this bine's shoots and trained it up, and it's still going.

-They're still growing!

-I've trimmed roughly 2 foot from the root up to allow it to give more energy to roots/ the leading bines.

-I'm feeding it once a week with an organic liquid tomato fert which it seems to love!


So my question is, what should I expect from my plants for the rest of this season? Will they produce cones this year? Should I switch fertilizers to help this?

If anything, I guess I'm happy knowing the root system will be stronger for next season.

All help welcome!

Cheers!

(Note about the added photo, the bines are trained up the left cord of both upside-down V shapes, and back down the right. This is the max height I could give them this year, hence why I'm trying to train them back down. Next year they'll be in the ground with plenty of height/ support!)

 

[Northern_Brewer]

So my question is, what should I expect from my plants for the rest of this season? Will they produce cones this year? Should I switch fertilizers to help this?

If you've not seen any sign of burrs etc by now, then probably not. At best you're only like to get a few cones on a 1st-year pot plant, to be honest all you really want is one just to reassure yourself that it's a female but it's much better to save its energy for next year when you might get a more meaningful crop. Although the tomato feed certainly won't hurt, there's no real need for the potash - this year....

And just to manage expectations - you do realise that your Centennial won't taste the same as Centennial grown in a desert like Yakima? Belgium and the British Isles are pretty much unique in growing hops in a maritime climate, a terroir which gives more subtle but complex aroma profile that isn't dominated by a few big fruity notes like myrcene. Think of it as the difference between Bordeaux and Australian cabernet sauvignon.

 

[ballybrew]

Update! We have life! Now what can i do to help these little guys?

Thanks for your reply!

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Update! We have life! Now what can i do to help these little guys?

Benign neglect. Just leave them be and let them grow. A layer of mulch could be helpful. Once it gets cold enough to kill the top of the bines, you can cut them off. And then wait until next year. I didn't get a significant yield until year 3.