First Year Growth?

[a_w_taylor]

I wanted to get a response as to how people did with their first year rhizomes? I have four rhizomes going in he ground today, but I get the impression that the first year is pretty much devoted to root growth. That being said I am going to stake each plant with an eight foot pole as opposed to getting crazy with a large support structure. Is this a good move?

I am in SE CT.

Cheers

AT

 

[scinerd3000]

i had mount hood and cascade growing first year last year. I had about 8 feet of growth from both and the cascade was the only one to produce cones. Well see if they come up again this year. Essentially if you need more support, you can always build something easier although i highly doubt your going to get over 8 feet unless your rhizomes are large or seasoned for many years....although im sure it has happened

 

[Stout Man]

If ur hops are of the chinook/zeus/nugget variety you can expect some good growth. My 1st year halleratau grew the entire 15' up the trellis and then over the side a few. It only produced 1/2 oz though. But varieties like n.brewer and golding won't grow that much.

 

[a_w_taylor]

The goods:

Cascade
Fuggle
Mt. Hood
Sterling

 

[The Pol]

I had Cascade, Mt Hood and Willamette last year. Willamette outran the others, and was the first up this year.

10' on all of them last year, Willamette was the only to make cones. Right now I have about 8 shoots up on all of them. Willamette is 4", Cascade 6" and the Mt Hoods are about 2" but VERY robust and VERY aggressively spreading in the planting area.

 

[a_w_taylor]

Today - I made the 6" raised bed, filled with manure, pete, soil & water. Planted and labled the sprouting rhizomes, and I just have to wait!

 

[Zulu]

Year one is the most important year , but yields little result for the most work.
Mulch well and FEED , WATER, FEED. Balanced soil is best - PH neutral , pinch of borax helps for some reason, and corn meal acts as a natural fungicide, just a sprinkle on soil around rootball.

Dont worry about anything other than green growth and keeping bugs and / or disease at bay and keep weeds and grass out of the beds.

If you want future rhizomes , now is also the time to layer one or more the current shoots to create new rhizomes for next year. Just carefully lay them down and cover with soil leaving the end above gnd.

Use a balanced fertilizer every 6 weeks, liquid works best - like miracle grow - or seagro a seaweed based, but have also just used 10:10:10 but dont over feed if using dry ... ie put too much out or you will burn the plants.

Dont even have to worry about support first year if you dont want to. On our farm experiment we broke one pole and could not run wires to 8 plants , they did just fine along the ground and still yielded cones.

Second year , train 2-3 bines per rope , cull all rest after you see that the main ones are growing, difficult to do but helps production. Need ropes of at least 12-18 ft high - lower might reduce production of cones. Again feed in early spring , and water all the time, weekly at minimum , and twice weekly if very hot.

In second year (and beyond) you will see growth much earlier in the season, so be prepared. Ropes/twine will have to be up before the official last frost date.

 

[Jaybird]

Zulu
Nice first post. Great 411 for the first time grower.
Cheers
JJ

 

[Zulu]

Thanks Jay

Hang out on a bunch of other forums and was primarily on the imploded one.... read over here often enough and joined some time back, but hops is something I can add info to.

Long time brewer too with a full garage of equipment and 4 fridge freezers for beer. Was one of the three BCS beta testers on my RIMS

Need a new online home and checking all the other forums out

 

[Homercidal]

I planted 3 hops bines last year and got a handful of hops. One tallest plant was 12 ft. the shortest was 4. I would not count on getting any the first year. If you do, then consider yourself lucky. The second year, they say is much better, and third year about maxed out for flowers. These were cascade.

 

[killerhertz]

Dont even have to worry about support first year if you dont want to. On our farm experiment we broke one pole and could not run wires to 8 plants , they did just fine along the ground and still yielded cones.

Second year , train 2-3 bines per rope , cull all rest after you see that the main ones are growing, difficult to do but helps production. Need ropes of at least 12-18 ft high - lower might reduce production of cones. Again feed in early spring , and water all the time, weekly at minimum , and twice weekly if very hot.

In second year (and beyond) you will see growth much earlier in the season, so be prepared. Ropes/twine will have to be up before the official last frost date.

I'm on my first year as well. I've read that each year the first bine should be cut back to encourage stronger bines to come up. Is this something we should worry about the first year? I don't want to do any damage to the poor thing

 

[adamjab19]

Second year , train 2-3 bines per rope , cull all rest after you see that the main ones are growing, difficult to do but helps production. Need ropes of at least 12-18 ft high - lower might reduce production of cones. Again feed in early spring , and water all the time, weekly at minimum , and twice weekly if very hot.

I'm dealing with limited space here and a neighbor that I promised that this would not get out of control....anyway, would it be an absolutely terrible idea if I only concentrated on one bine for even the first year? I just can not let this thing get too huge.

 

[Zulu]

I'm on my first year as well. I've read that each year the first bine should be cut back to encourage stronger bines to come up. Is this something we should worry about the first year? I don't want to do any damage to the poor thing

After consulting a horticulturist friend , we agreed not to bother first year as more greenery means more rootstock, which is the aim of year one, build the best root system you can.

I could not get a clean answer out of any professional grower, so not sure what the pro's do, but it worked for us, we got plenty of cones on the vigorous varieties , like Nugget , Cascades, Centennials.

Feeding and watering most important in year one. Feeding only once the growth picks up.

 

[Zulu]

I'm dealing with limited space here and a neighbor that I promised that this would not get out of control....anyway, would it be an absolutely terrible idea if I only concentrated on one bine for even the first year? I just can not let this thing get too huge.

the problem is that if you cut all back and that one gets damaged , you have nothing, as soon as the tip is damaged that stops growing.

Even the most vigorous only got to 12 ft last year.... so not a worry year one.
as for the neighbor , your plants are your plants , if they grow vertically they are on your property, and unless there is a mandate that says you cannot plant trees , I say go for it. String up a few twines from a gutter

 

[adamjab19]

ok. ill do a few and just keep those under control.

 

[SOB]

as for the neighbor , your plants are your plants , if they grow vertically they are on your property, and unless there is a mandate that says you cannot plant trees , I say go for it. String up a few twines from a gutter

What about a few years into it when the root system has spread? I've heard of people having hops pop up many feet away from the original planting site. This could be intrusive to some neighbors. How can you prevent this? Does the root ball need dug up and cut back every few years? I would hate to have to dig up my yard every couple years...

 

[humann_brewing]

After consulting a horticulturist friend , we agreed not to bother first year as more greenery means more rootstock, which is the aim of year one, build the best root system you can.

I could not get a clean answer out of any professional grower, so not sure what the pro's do, but it worked for us, we got plenty of cones on the vigorous varieties , like Nugget , Cascades, Centennials.

Feeding and watering most important in year one. Feeding only once the growth picks up.

What fertilizer do you feed with?

 

[McKBrew]

Last year my fuggles (first year) topped out at about 16'. Only ended up with < 1oz of cones. This year I say 6" of growth for a total of 1' on some of my bines with only a couple days of warm weather.

Just planted my Centennial and Cascade last week, waiting for sprouts to see if they can catch up.

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

Have any of you ever had experience with growing them in a pot? There was a pretty cool artical in BYO about keeping them in pot that were at least 20". Since I am renting it sounds like a nice option.

here is the artical:
Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Growing Hops in Containers -

I'm in VT and I picked up 2 cascade, 1 magnum, and 1 nugget. I plan on getting them potted and outside by around May 1st. Anyone have any tips for this method?

 

[Zulu]

Yes the rhizomes will run underground , they are not as invasive as Bamboo, but the same methods can be used , a physical barrier buried 2 ft , or just do what the pro's do, each year they dig up anything more than about 2ft from the root ball, I have heard some trim to about 18" from the center.

These runners are the rhizomes we buy each year

As for fertilizer , I use a general 10:10:10 (or 17:17:17 depends on where I buy it) as I have well balanced soil with almost neutral PH too- the best answer is always depends on a soil test. I also use at least one spray feed mid season with Miracle Gro. I meant to take a soil test at the end of the season but forgot, we have clovers planted in the field to help with Nitrogen, and the spring test showed essentially balanced soil again.

Anecdotal notes - borax , just a pinch per plant seems to help growth, and also corn meal acts as a natural fungicide, just sprinkle on soil around plants.
Also read that higher phosphorus, potassium (last two numbers on a Fertiliser bag) are best for Hops, but I have not used that info myself.