Disappointing 2nd Year Harvest

[bosox]

I was under the assumption that any hops you get in the first year are a bonus, and once you reach the 2nd year, your hop plant will start producing lots of cones.

In 2010 my then first year Cascade grew great and produced about 20 cones.
This year, the same Cascade grew great again, but only produced about 25 cones.

I did basically the same things, had the plants in the same setup, and the plant sprouted almost a month earlier than it did last year. Is this normal, or did something go wrong?

 

[jjones17]

What setup do you have? Growing in the ground or in pots? More details will help.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Ive often been slated on this site with regards to harvesting first year hops. Id like to thank you as you have gone some way in proving my point. First year hops should not be harvested, they should be removed before they even flower. In the first year this puts all the growing energy back into the rhizome, thus, producing a better crop in the following years.
Your hops are struggling, dont get me wrong, they will be fine, next year you will have a good harvest.

 

[zrule]

My second year cascades: four strings of 3 bines per string produced 165 oz of hops. I harvested only a few ounces last year.

Must be your soil fertility, amount of sunlight, water or a combination of all three.

 

[rniles]

I harvested my first year ..on all three plants, I got about 6 oz dried. This year, I've surpassed that on just one plant - and that isn't on the heaviest producing plant.

I would go back and re-check everything you have going on. Nutrition, water, and direct sunlight. I would even go so far as to get some soil samples and check for PH and elements ..usually somewhere will provide a test for about $20-$30.00.

If you're in pots, then it's even more important to have everything just right.

 

[bosox]

I have it in a half whiskey barrel, climbing up some strings about 10 feet tall, and then lettimg them climb alond a horizontal rope. They grew fine, must faster than last year, but they produced about the same hops. I was excited because of how well they did last year, and thought I had a very healthy rhizome, so I was disappointed when I saw I only had another barely 1/2 ounce dried.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

I have it in a half whiskey barrel, climbing up some strings about 10 feet tall, and then lettimg them climb alond a horizontal rope. They grew fine, must faster than last year, but they produced about the same hops. I was excited because of how well they did last year, and thought I had a very healthy rhizome, so I was disappointed when I saw I only had another barely 1/2 ounce dried.

What growing medium do you have in the pots ?

 

[wolverinebrewer]

I think the issue is growing them in pots. My own experience with pots was last year with a centennial, galena and EKG. Even though they were first year, they grew about 13' but produced almost nothing. This year I had first year columbus, nugget, and cascade (thanks Homer). The columbus and nugget grew 18' in the ground and produced very well. The cascades did not grow very high in the ground but produced very well. I have a trellis system that is 17' high which allows them room to grow. I don't think you need the height as much since people on here seem to have plants that produce well at 10' or so but in my experience growing in the ground produces better.

Just my $.02.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, my LHBS had two half barrels planted with hops a few years ago. One of the half barrels sits on the edge of their asphalt parking lot, the other sits on bare earth. At some point the bottom of the latter barrel rotted out and the bines were able to spread their roots into the ground, the other still sits on solid asphalt.

The bines in the barrel on asphalt have never done anything to speak of -they're spindly and barren. Otoh, the bines in the other barrel are unbelievably robust - as thick around as a finger, grow so fast if you stopped and watched them you could probably see them growing bigger.

Bottom line, most plants want to grow root systems that are a mirror image of what you see above the ground. Constrained, they're going to have a tough time...

Cheers!