Transporting Hops from PA to CA in July

[PhillyDave]

Title says it all: I am moving cross country and want to take my 2nd year hops. They are in containers on my roof in Philadelphia and just starting to sprout. I expect them to be in full swing in July. I found other posts which suggested pruning them to 3-4 feet and then moving them.

Does anyone have any additional advice, or is there anything I should be doing between now and July to prepare the plants for the move?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[jotakah]

Moving plants in the middle of the growing season is going to be rough on them regardless of any planning you do. How are you moving? Car/Uhaul? If in a Uhaul, they will be in the dark until you arrive in CA. How long will you be driving?

When I moved to Oregon from Idaho, I moved hop plants with me. Only a 8 or 9 hour drive. But transplanting them back into the ground mid-growing season really pissed them off. They were fine the next year, but you may want to abandon any hope of a decent harvest this year

It might be easier to just take rhyzome cuttings and plant those when you get to Cali. Because I think either way you're really moving these plants for them to grow next season (2015)

 

[PhillyDave]

Yes, I've definitely written off this year. It will be a few days cross country, but I may just leave them in the containers until the beginning of next year so I won't need to deal with transplanting shock on top of the traveling ordeal.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[PapaBearJay]

Yes, I've definitely written off this year. It will be a few days cross country, but I may just leave them in the containers until the beginning of next year so I won't need to deal with transplanting shock on top of the traveling ordeal.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I would actually just continually cut back each successive bine to within say 3 feet throughout the season until you're able to move. (i.e. every two weeks cut back all the new growth leaving say...2-3 nodes of growth every time you cut back.) Yes, this will make your plant more bushy this year in the long run, but will also force it to stay compact and vegetative for a majority of the season. Yes, you won't get to harvest anything, but it should be easier to maintain this season.

 

[PhillyDave]

So you're suggesting this will prevent the flowering cycle and thus it will constantly in the growing phase? That's an interesting point.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[PapaBearJay]

So you're suggesting this will prevent the flowering cycle and thus it will constantly in the growing phase? That's an interesting point.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Depending on the amount of growth, yes. Hops have what is referred to as a 'juvenile' period. They are unresponsive to day-length until they have reached a certain size (i.e. number of nodes). Yes, they should continue to grow vegetatively until dormancy is initiated by cooling temperatures and shortening daylength, but shouldn't flower.

 

[PhillyDave]

Thank you for the advice! This now has me curious, and I think I will try an experiment where I try your suggested method with half my plants and then let the others grow until I move, at which point I'll trim to 3 feet. Then I'll report at the end of the season what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[PapaBearJay]

Thank you for the advice! This now has me curious, and I think I will try an experiment where I try your suggested method with half my plants and then let the others grow until I move, at which point I'll trim to 3 feet. Then I'll report at the end of the season what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

How many plants do you have? Want to document for us throughout the season with pictures?

 

[PhillyDave]

I have 7:
Cascade
Centennial
Columbus
Willamette
Goldings
Fuggle
Hallertau (Just planted Rhizomes)
I'll take pictures in the next few days.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

If I remember right California has an ag inspection at the border of the state. They asked me if I had fruit or plants in the car when I went across the state line. We had a huge jade plant in the back seat and had to take it out for inspection. If it is in a trailer you should have no problem. Might just look into their ag laws. Hope it helps.

 

[PhillyDave]

Ray! These are your babies making the trek! Thanks again for the awesome rhizomes, I got a harvest out of the cascades and Columbus first year.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Ray! These are your babies making the trek! Thanks again for the awesome rhizomes, I got a harvest out of the cascades and Columbus first year.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Hide them well and keep them cool, I doubt they will search to hard because you are traveling east to west not south to north! Glad to hear about the harvest!