Hop growth

[zactastic]

Hello, I saw these sprouting about 10 days ago while they were staying safe in the garage the past five months. Here they are today. This is the second season of growth in their less than 2 gallon pots. Should I transfer to our larger pots right now? Also, when do I trim to allow only 1 vine to grow or can I have multiple vines ? I know I should read up more on this subject but I got them last year for fun. Ordered from Etsy I believe
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[CascadesBrewer]

They look healthy. What is your overall plan? To grow them in pots or to eventually plant them in the ground?

It is pretty common to just let young plants grow to build up their root system, but after a few years to cut back all but 3 healthy bines per plant.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I agree, they look healthy. You should probably move to bigger pots, if that's where you're gonna keep them. They'll need as big of a pot as you can get. An oak barrel cut in half would be perfect.

I suggest leaving the bines grow as they will. Next year, start limiting the bines. I typically let four grow on mine, since my towers have four legs. One bine per leg. But that's the most you should let grow.

 

[balrog]

My hops are not having a good April at this point in Massachusetts.

 

[Dgallo]

Hello, I saw these sprouting about 10 days ago while they were staying safe in the garage the past five months. Here they are today. This is the second season of growth in their less than 2 gallon pots. Should I transfer to our larger pots right now? Also, when do I trim to allow only 1 vine to grow or can I have multiple vines ? I know I should read up more on this subject but I got them last year for fun. Ordered from Etsy I believe
View attachment 845653

So you want to cut back the purple shoots. The first shoots of the season are called bull shoots. They don’t tend to be as productive as the later shoots. Later as in the next growth within a week or 2 (hops grow wickedly fast)

Here are my hops that are still in the garage.

 

[Dgallo]

Hello, I saw these sprouting about 10 days ago while they were staying safe in the garage the past five months. Here they are today. This is the second season of growth in their less than 2 gallon pots. Should I transfer to our larger pots right now? Also, when do I trim to allow only 1 vine to grow or can I have multiple vines ? I know I should read up more on this subject but I got them last year for fun. Ordered from Etsy I believe
View attachment 845653

And yes transfer them. You want at least 20 gallon pots. Mine are growing in 25 gallon grow bags (makes them much lighter). They will be going in the ground this year though

 

[zactastic]

And yes transfer them. You want at least 20 gallon pots. Mine are growing in 25 gallon grow bags (makes them much lighter). They will be going in the ground this year though

wow that's many shoots in those pots. I did 4 different strains in separate pots but ill transfer to 5 gallons now. It feels strange cutting the purple shoots so perhaps ill just do that next year or ill try it on one pot for comparison. does cutting 1 purple shoot translate to 2 or 3 more bines a couple weeks later? looks like mid april is a good time to train the bine so you get about 50 days of growth till Summer solstice.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, a 3+ year old healthy crown may burst with a hundred purple sprouts that all should be cut off. When the next round pops up let it get to maybe 10 inches in height and cut off all but the best 2 to 4 shoots, and train those. And if you really get into it you can end up with this level hop madness

Cheers!

 

[Dgallo]

wow that's many shoots in those pots. I did 4 different strains in separate pots but I’ll transfer to 5 gallons now. It feels strange cutting the purple shoots so perhaps ill just do that next year or ill try it on one pot for comparison. does cutting 1 purple shoot translate to 2 or 3 more bines a couple weeks later? looks like mid april is a good time to train the bine so you get about 50 days of growth till Summer solstice.

So to give you some background. I’m on my 5th year growing hops and grew up in the nursery business so I’ve been growing and propagating nursery stock for probably 25 years now.

When my plants go outside in a week I will be cutting back ALL shoots you see to the dirt. Then after that when the new shoots start I will only keep 3-5 of them per plant to grow. All others shoots that grow during the season will be cut back. What this does is allows the plant to put all its energy and use all its nutrients on those 4 bine ( per plant). This will greatly increase your yield.

You can do what you like, they are your plants but I strongly suggest going to at least 20-30 gallon pots. Hops spend most of their energy in the beginning growing their root system. Your hops can grow to 15-20 feet and produce a lb of hops per plant, that’s a lot of plant to keep wet and fertilize when only giving a 5 gallon pot. On a hot summer day uiu will be watering twice. If they constantly dry out, especially later in the season, it will try to keep its self alive versus flowering and you get very little cones. Additionally, you’ll need to repot again the next year, starting the cycle over as the plant will need to grow a bigger root system and put all its energy into doing so for the first portion of the season.

Like anything though, you can be as serious or as laissez faire as you’d like. When growing in the ground, you can basically just let them grown, however when growing in pots, it takes much more maintenance. I would just like to help you get your hop established and prevent you from making some early mistakes that could greatly effect the yield and future yields

 

[Northern_Brewer]

My hops are not having a good April at this point in Massachusetts.

They're happy as Larry, they're temperate plants that like a bit of cold to work properly.

In fact the big worry here in the UK is that we had such a warm winter that hops will suffer spring dormancy - start growing too soon until they get close enough to the surface to detect that the day length is too short, so go into stasis for a month and never really recover that missing month. Some varieties are worse than others - Bramling Cross is notoriously bad for it - and it looks like it could be the biggest effect from climate change here, even more than summer droughts.

 

[balrog]

They're happy as Larry, they're temperate plants that like a bit of cold to work properly.

In fact the big worry here in the UK is that we had such a warm winter that hops will suffer spring dormancy - start growing too soon until they get close enough to the surface to detect that the day length is too short, so go into stasis for a month and never really recover that missing month. Some varieties are worse than others - Bramling Cross is notoriously bad for it - and it looks like it could be the biggest effect from climate change here, even more than summer droughts.

We had a super warm February here but nothing poped up. But I had kinda given up on trying hop growing anyway after two lackluster years, and did not do my typical overwinter step of piling leaf mulch deeply on the crown and the exposed roots did not care for that at all.

 

[Blackk45]

Hello, I saw these sprouting about 10 days ago while they were staying safe in the garage the past five months. Here they are today. This is the second season of growth in their less than 2 gallon pots. Should I transfer to our larger pots right now? Also, when do I trim to allow only 1 vine to grow or can I have multiple vines ? I know I should read up more on this subject but I got them last year for fun. Ordered from Etsy I believe
View attachment 845653

It's exciting to see your plants sprouting after their cozy time in the garage. Regarding transferring them to larger pots, it might be a good idea since they're showing signs of growth. As for trimming, it depends on your preference and the type of plant you have. Some prefer one main vine for better fruit production, while others thrive with multiple vines.

 

[redrocker652002]

My wife wanted to get into the hobby with me as a show of support. She hates beer and any alcohol for that matter, but she put 3 hop varieties in large white "buckets" for lack of a better word. I am not sure what they are, but they are large. They don't seem to be doing all that well right now, and to be honest I think I wait too long to harvest. They are a PITA to harvest, but with a few beers it get easier. LOL. Once we retire and if we move to Oregon as planned, I might throw them in the ground and put some trellis up, but who knows. I have not gotten much of a yield from them, so no idea how good they are as they have been an addition to the hops I buy. Have fun with it, and make sure you have plenty of beer when it is harvesting time. LOL.