Does "topping" hops help them bush-out?

[olie]

I have several hops plants that I'm growing for hops. This question is not about them.

I have two separate hops plants that I'm growing for decoration. They follow an 8' trellis to form a nice little archway.

Problem: Hops grow to much-much taller than 8', and the extra bines don't want to do anything nice & decorative.

Question: Can I "top" them? That is, if I snip them back about a foot below "ideal" length, will the bottoms become bushier? (That would be ideal, IMO -- more plant material around the trellis & less stray tendrils sticking out around.) (NOTE: this trick (topping) works with other things like roses & fruit trees. I'm curious if it works with climbing things and, in particular, hops.)

Question 2: If not, that, is there something else that I can do to get "more bulk, less height"?

Thanks!
~Ted

 

[Lurp Nuts]

From my experience, if a bine breaks or gets cut, it will use the next lowest side shoot as it's new main stem. So you still get linear growth, but at a 90 degree angle. The other side shoots seem mostly unaffected.