With all the trimmings.........

[GilaMinumBeer]

I find myself perplexed with what to do with all the hop trimmings. I know that new shootlets can be sauted and eaten like asparagus but, I haven't yet had the desire to try this.

At first, I thought to compost the cut bines and trimmings. then one day whil turning the comost I discovered I had hops growing in the compost piles. Not good at all! For some time after I would simply just throw them out but this seems an gigantic waste.

The, I though to use a dedicated bucket for "holding" the waste trimmings thus allowing them to rot into sublimation. Only to find that some were self propogating in the bucket. I assume the condensation in the bucket and the opaque walls allow for enough light and moisture to keep the hop trimmings alive.

At this point I am thinking the only way to re-use these is to shred or burn them.

Any other ideas?

 

[HBHoss]

You could let them grow but keep topping them and grow hop bushes. Then dig up the root and sell it. They seem to have a very strong will to live. You wouldn't want hop bines getting angry at you, now would you???

 

[cuinrearview]

I stuck a couple of bines in the ground along the weedline and let them grow. One is growing for sure and will find a home with a fellow homebrewer. The others I just throw into the yard and the mower takes care of them.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

The others I just throw into the yard and the mower takes care of them.

Ayup. I have tried that too. My mulchin mower usually makes good work of the left overs but I have found some pretty good sized chunks survive a beating or, they just get wrapped around the spindle.

I keep imagining a hearty little section taking root in the compost pile, me not noticing it when I use the compost and eventually spreading an unknown variety into my hop yard or somewhere else.

the heartiness of these plants is astounding. Makes me wonder how many of these bits I have thrown away have survived and are living at the dump.

 

[HBHoss]

Thankfully they are pretty easy to break.

 

[HenryHill]

I've wondered if a rooting hormone applied after scraping away an inch or so of the outer layer would allow these things to start easier. I have some rhizomes that don't seem like they will make it, and I'd love to have clones from the survivors to propagate into separate replacements.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Just replant them if they grow so well, Can you have too many hop vines?
You could send them to me, I'm apparently pretty good at killing all things green. My secret is to try and make it grow.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I've wondered if a rooting hormone applied after scraping away an inch or so of the outer layer would allow these things to start easier. I have some rhizomes that don't seem like they will make it, and I'd love to have clones from the survivors to propagate into separate replacements.

Last year after harvest I chopped the remaining bines into 6" to 12" pieces and chucked them into the compost pile. They sat there undisturbed over winter. this spring I went to turn the piles and found numerous sections that had started to take root. Of course, there was no way to identify which of the plants they came from and it took me 4 hours of sifting the pile to remove any traces of the bines.

I'll not be trying THAT again.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Just replant them if they grow so well, Can you have too many hop vines?
You could send them to me, I'm apparently pretty good at killing all things green. My secret is to try and make it grow.

I don't have room for anymore godd&mned hops!

Furthermore, after hand harvesting from 13 plants I have learned that "I" can have too many.

It's too late in the season now but, come next spring I will gladly send you some root prunings. I should have plenty as it will be the first year I do any root maintenance to my yard after starting this frustrating hop growing hobby 3 years ago. This year I only have 1 first year plant but, after seeing the other plant I pulled up after a year i doubt a second year root prune is going to slow anything down.

 

[bluehouse]

Just replant them if they grow so well, Can you have too many hop vines?
You could send them to me, I'm apparently pretty good at killing all things green. My secret is to try and make it grow.

This is my problem also, beside the fact that I live where it is to hot to grow green things about 50% of the year. Given the opportunity I still try to grow green things.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

This is my problem also, beside the fact that I live where it is to hot to grow green things about 50% of the year. Given the opportunity I still try to grow green things.

I get this too. Triple digit temps can turn this place into a dust bowl quickly. when it gets too bad I find I have to get up early enough to give the plants a morning shower just to get more moisture to the top of the plant.

This is when I start to foliar feed too. I use a garden sprayer to wet the leaves after the evening sun. Late enough to not cook the plant but early enough to not leave any water standing on the plant when the sun has set. I usually mix compost tea but, on occasion I have reverted to MG at half the normal solution.

I also have to make sure to water the soil deeply so the plant can take up more water in the cooler hours to make up for what gets lost baking in the sun.

 

[HomerT]

My second year Hallertau has taken off like wildfire. My new plants are all <9", but my 2nd year Hallertau was over 10ft as of last night. Last week I trimmed three additional bines that had emerged and grown about a foot long. On a whim, I stuck them in the ground about three feet away, burying only the last 4" or so. Last night, to my surprise, the buggers seem to have recoivered and taken root. Two of the three trimmings seem to have rejuvinated. The survivability of these plants is mind boggling. :rockin:

-Todd

 

[eriktlupus]

letthe little bastards sit in water over the winter, they'll be dead as a nail come spring.don't ask. ive got a cascade that i ran the bine through a pot with soil, when i cut it off and sent the main plant to my mom's the shooot looked like it had died,,2wks later and its sent 2 shoots up from the dead shoot.