cascade not vining

[razyrsharpe]

i have growth/leaves on my cascades...the rizome is 3 years old. it has shown growth every year. the first year, the vines reached 12-15 ft. in length. second year, they reached 6-7 ft. in length. this year, they have been out of the ground for 3-4 weeks and have not grown any length at all. they are as tall now as they were 3 weeks ago, which is less than 2 inches above ground.

i have planted mt. hood and magnum varieties AFTER the cascades broke ground and they are in need of support already. mt. hood is 3 ft. tall. what could my problem be here?

 

[PintOfBitter]

do they look ill at all?

 

[Stout Man]

Remove all the mulch/soil covering the hop plant until you come to the crown. Using a water jet of some kind works well to remove the top soil.

I thinking you are going to see tons of little shoots wanting to grow up. Cut all these back down to the crown so you have the amount of shoots you want. More shoots will inevitably grow later but this way the plant will concentrate on growing the shoots you want, not the ten dozen slowly trying to make their way up.

My chinook has been above ground for a month now, but has about 10 shoots just sitting there, barely growing. I'm just going to leave it because hops can do crazy things and shoot up all of a sudden.

I did however have to cut the shoots back on my zeus. There were literally 100 little tiny shoots wanting to grow all at once, slowing any major growth.

 

[scinerd3000]

i would look into the disease angle. If something got in its possible it will stunt growth...im not expert enough on the subject to know specifics though, although i can tell you they are suseptible to diseases. Check freshops website for disease pictures and see if anything rings a bell.
http://www.freshops.com/nutrient.html

 

[Zulu]

Get a soil test done, sounds like they need food.

For now use miracle gro until you know what they need, bet within 5 days after fertiliser they will start growing.

Cascades are weeds , and with 3 years you should be inundated with shoots all trying to grow, unless you have something eating the roots or you killed the roots by over pruning

 

[david_42]

I'd go with a root rot of some sort. That's about the only thing that would make Cascades perform poorly.

 

[razyrsharpe]

the growth that is there is healthy, but small. beautiful leaves that are emerald green. they are small though. i have two rizomes, one in the ground (the mother) and one in container, which is a nutrient rich mixture of compost and good soil. both are getting adequate water and sunlight. both are stunted in the same way.

i will try to eliminate any 'competitor' shoots so the plant can concentrate on a few vs. a huge amount of shoots. thanks for the advice, i will post my results shortly.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

What is the soils temp?

My Cascades perform sleepily when the soils are cool. Then, as soon as the days get warmer and the soil heats up they take off like crazy.

Some of my plants ar still barely a foot tall while others have already reached the top wire (14 foot). So, in addtion to checking for root rot/bogging, check the soil temps. If there is no sign of root rot and the soil is only moist (not saturated or soupy) then check teh soil temp. I haven't plotted soil temps but, I'd consider anything at 60*F or less to be on teh cool side and perhaps a source of your slow progress specific to that plant.