Does "topping" hops help them bush-out?

[olie]

I have several hops plants that I'm growing for hops. This question is not about them.

I have two separate hops plants that I'm growing for decoration. They follow an 8' trellis to form a nice little archway.

Problem: Hops grow to much-much taller than 8', and the extra bines don't want to do anything nice & decorative.

Question: Can I "top" them? That is, if I snip them back about a foot below "ideal" length, will the bottoms become bushier? (That would be ideal, IMO -- more plant material around the trellis & less stray tendrils sticking out around.) (NOTE: this trick (topping) works with other things like roses & fruit trees. I'm curious if it works with climbing things and, in particular, hops.)

Question 2: If not, that, is there something else that I can do to get "more bulk, less height"?

Thanks!
~Ted

 

[Lurp Nuts]

From my experience, if a bine breaks or gets cut, it will use the next lowest side shoot as it's new main stem. So you still get linear growth, but at a 90 degree angle. The other side shoots seem mostly unaffected.

 

[user 345769]

One thing I have seen with my hops is once I start pruning I get more runners/shoots from the bottom and as @Lurp Nuts said.

I pruned my hops throughout the summer to ensure successful growth, It's important to selectively prune and train the hops in order to achieve the desired outcome. Remember that hops need to be trained annually, and if they aren't contained underground, they will spread rhizomes throughout the growing area. This year, I had to tidy up my rhizome shoots, as they were intertwining. I want to avoid any crossover between my EKG and Cascade hops. Just my $0.02
Cheers

 

[homebeerbrewer]

One thing you can do is split the rhizomes into several along the bottom of the trellis, then allow them to grow as many bines as they want. When they reach the top, you can trim them. But, no matter what you do, once they get to whatever height they’ll get to, they start with the offshoots.

One way to extend the growing period is to temporarily give them something taller to climb. Then, when they are almost to that height, take away the taller portion and let them hang down on themselves. They’ll start to grow back up themselves until they decide they’re long enough. Then the offshoots will start.