to mulch or not to mulch

[FrewBrew]

So I've seen a lot of recommendations that you spread mulch on your hop plants, but I've also seen a lot of pictures without it... what are the reasons you'd want to use mulch? Drainage? What are the reasons not to?

I currently don't have mulch on mine and one (brewers gold) of the 3 plants is doing beautifully; the other 2 (fuggle) haven't yet sprouted. (Which surprises me since they've been in the ground for a month and a half)

 

[GVH_Dan]

Not a gardening/horticulture expert...just regurgitating what I've been told, but...

In the case of a homegrower, use mulch if you need it to retain moisture. I use a little bit of woodchips on my potted plants to keep in moisture and to make it look pretty.

On stuff in the ground, you may want it for weed control but pulling them isn't that hard. Also, as the mulch decay's it will initially rob nitrogen from the soil. So make sure you compensate by adding more.

On our fields, we use a cover of clover to keep down weeds and provide a mulch that doesn't rob nitrogen.

 

[Randar]

As Dan mentioned, you'd mulch just to aid moisture retention and prevent the sun from baking the soil as badly. As he also alluded to, hardwood mulch needs to be aged first before you can safely use it on a garden bed without fear of it taking nitrogen up as part of it's initial decomposition. You can find such mulch, so don't be afraid of using it if you'd like to. Word of warning, though, if you have mounded crowns, the mulch will slide off and lose effectiveness as you water.

You could also "mulch" them with a loose compost material, hay, etc.

Also, if you'd rather plant cover crops as many commercial growers do, you can plant nitrogen-fixing non-harvest crops like clover, hairy vetch, legumes, etc. I like to plant edamame soy beans or bush beans all around to help shield the soil and to get the best use of the limited garden space in my suburban garden plot.

Cheers!

 

[Retrofit]

Ditto.

We just had a record breaking hot day in Chicago land and I went out to trim my hops and slipped my hand under the mulch and found- moist soil! I didn't bother to water them. Second ditto on the Edamame. Randar specifically introduced me to the idea and my second year plants are doing better than my 3rd plants (which did not get nitrogen fixing plants planted with them last year).

The last thing I'd add to the thread is if leaves are used as mulch, and not finely shredded, then can act like sheets of newspaper and suffocate everything below them. My Newport is about 7' tall and my Tettnang has not broke ground. I went over to it assuming it was dead. I pulled a bunch of leaves off it that must have blown onto that plant over last fall. I decided it was dead and thought I'd dig it up later in the week. What did I get? Sprouts. It's a clean month and half behind the rest of my plants, but it is a live. I just needed to remove the leaf blanket that was trying to kill it. Beyond that issue, I'm a huge advocate of compost, mulch, and edamame.

 

[nefarious_1_]

Moisture retention. Also, it's a good idea to put a nice 4" layer over them before the winter (depending where you live) for insulation and protection from deep freezes. Like others, I'm in no way an expert but I did my homework.
Good luck!