first year hop bine troubles

[alexdoumlele]

I am in central Virginia, outside of Richmond and have decided to try growing some hops this year. I ordered one potted cascade and one potted centennial and one nugget rhizome from northwest hops.
I have had them in the ground for about two weeks and the cascade and centennial have appeared to be stressed. (the nugget rhizome is yet to emerge) After one week in the ground the leaves started to appear dry and curled, At first I thought it was downy mildew but the symptoms do not match up completley. I think this might be attributed to some nights with near freezing temperatures and a combination of being stressed from shipping and delivery.
I am not sure what to do, I have read that cutting back the first couple bines each spring makes for a tougher, hardier bine to emerge. However I do not want to cut them back and have them die off or stop photosynthesizing.

If anyone could offer some help/insight or stories of similar situations I would be more than grateful.

 

[brooksy]

I wouldnt trim any first year bines. The only times I have had withered dry leafs was necause of over fertilization, or because of umder watering. If it was me I'd just let them be. The first year is about creating strong healthy roots. How did you plant them/fertilize them?

 

[alexdoumlele]

planted in a well drained loamy soil. After being planted for a couple days i applied a bone meal/blood meal mixture as well as some potassium. I could have not applied enough, though I was sure to be cautious on not over fertilizing. The weather since planting has not been the best, hot days followed by low temperatures and rain. I have kept them moist and tried to avoid overwatering. The roots do seem to be taking off like wild fire.
Although I have never grown hops before I have experience with numerous other plants and my gut feeling is telling me that the weather factors have stressed them i.e. (near freezing after a week of planting, and then tonight we have the problem of frost again)
guess I will have to wait and see

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Give them another week, I am in PA and the weather is defiantly strange, most of mine that have sprouted are having a tough time. Since you only have three can you take some 2 liter soda bottles and cut the bottoms off and use them for mini greenhouses? We had snow last night and temps in the 20's. I wonder what mine will look like when it melts. They are very hardy, and will grow fast once the temps stabilize.

 

[monkeeroot]

After being planted for a couple days i applied a bone meal/blood meal mixture as well as some potassium.

If you got any of the bone meal/blood meal mixture on the leaves it might be causing the browning.

 

[JBOGAN]

When i use bone meal or blood meal i dig a hole in which i place the plant. In that hole i place a tablespoon of dried bone mean and blood meal and cover that with 2 to 3 inches of dirt then place the plant in the hole. That lets the roots seek out the food on their own time instead of shocking the plant.

 

[alexdoumlele]

I was pretty careful not to get it on the leaves and any dust that may have fallen onto the lower leaves I misted off but it still may have been that. Fortunate enough last night for temps to not go below 32. I covered them with 5 gallon buckets overnight and they did fine.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Buckets are great , kind of like farmers duct tape. Glad to hear they made it through the night. I lost all of my cut rhizomes in the pole barn and now have to dig all day on Thurs.

 

[Jayhem]

Just curious: Have you tested the pH of your soil? Depending on what has been leaching into your soil from upslope the pH could be very high or low and cause growing problems. I'm in VA as well, maybe 50 miles NW of you and my first year hops didn't really get going till May 1 last year. This year they have exploded and I have 2 foot tall bines already! I tested my soil pH at 7.0 and I fertilize twice a year, once with high nitrogen fertilizer as the bines come up and once when they flower using 10/10/10 garden fertilizer.