Hop Bines Dying Off

[barhoc11]

A few weeks ago I planted a first year Cascade plant that had been growing in a container into the ground, since it was over a foot long and was very healthy.

Since planting into the ground, the Cascade has had its main bine stop growing and the end start to brown up and die. Another bine has died completely as well.

I have seen a new bine start to grow but I am betting that it will eventually die once it gets longer.

What am I doing wrong? When I moved the rhizome with its sprouted bines to the ground, I added in a bunch of good soil along with it from the pot and I only water it every other day. Should I be watering it more until it gets bigger? Do i need to do anything to make sure this plan is success the first year?

I have a Nugget plant still in a pot that is growing like crazy so I am not sure if I should even plan it into the ground or just wait. Should I move the Cascade plan back into its pot?

Any help is appreciated, I do not want to waste all of my time and effort on these hops!

 

[afr0byte]

A few weeks ago I planted a first year Cascade plant that had been growing in a container into the ground, since it was over a foot long and was very healthy.

Since planting into the ground, the Cascade has had its main bine stop growing and the end start to brown up and die. Another bine has died completely as well.

I have seen a new bine start to grow but I am betting that it will eventually die once it gets longer.

What am I doing wrong? When I moved the rhizome with its sprouted bines to the ground, I added in a bunch of good soil along with it from the pot and I only water it every other day. Should I be watering it more until it gets bigger? Do i need to do anything to make sure this plan is success the first year?

I have a Nugget plant still in a pot that is growing like crazy so I am not sure if I should even plan it into the ground or just wait. Should I move the Cascade plan back into its pot?

Any help is appreciated, I do not want to waste all of my time and effort on these hops!

Something similar happened when I tried to transplant a couple of plants my first year. The old bines died off and new ones grew (though not very well that first year). It could also be a boron deficiency I suppose, so you might look in to that. I'd bet on the transplant, though.

 

[barhoc11]

Something similar happened when I tried to transplant a couple of plants my first year. The old bines died off and new ones grew (though not very well that first year). It could also be a boron deficiency I suppose, so you might look in to that. I'd bet on the transplant, though.

So new ones grew in after the old ones that had previously grew in the pots died off? It sounds like the bines only like certain soil and are finicky to the soil?

Should I try to get my nugget out of the pot and into the ground so that if this does happen, I will have time for it to grow roots in the ground soil?

 

[afr0byte]

So new ones grew in after the old ones that had previously grew in the pots died off? It sounds like the bines only like certain soil and are finicky to the soil?

Yeah, new shoots came up from, roughly, the first node above ground. I can't say that I know the reason for it, though.

Should I try to get my nugget out of the pot and into the ground so that if this does happen, I will have time for it to grow roots in the ground soil?

I can't really answer that with any certainty. If these are first year plants (and thus won't produce much) it seems to make sense to get them established in their final home this year, though.

 

[vraftsman]

I would look first at your soil moisture and then fertilization. If they're first year from a healthy rhizome I don't see that as the same a transplant shock. Hops love water, but you don't want the soil soggy or you can promote mold growth. Personally I water mine twice a day even from the time they were rhizomes and they turned out great the first year and this (2nd year) they are off the hook. Make sure you're container has plenty of drainage, then don't be too scared to water more. I use a general purpose vegetable garden fertilizer I picked up from walmart. Another thing to consider is that if your larger bines die off, the plant will put all it's effort into throwing up new ones, so that cycle makes sense. Other questions to consider: Is your pot large enough? Is the soil around the pot too dense? Even if your pot has drainage, but the soil around retains water, there is nowhere for the excess to go.

 

[barhoc11]

I would look first at your soil moisture and then fertilization. If they're first year from a healthy rhizome I don't see that as the same a transplant shock. Hops love water, but you don't want the soil soggy or you can promote mold growth. Personally I water mine twice a day even from the time they were rhizomes and they turned out great the first year and this (2nd year) they are off the hook. Make sure you're container has plenty of drainage, then don't be too scared to water more. I use a general purpose vegetable garden fertilizer I picked up from walmart. Another thing to consider is that if your larger bines die off, the plant will put all it's effort into throwing up new ones, so that cycle makes sense. Other questions to consider: Is your pot large enough? Is the soil around the pot too dense? Even if your pot has drainage, but the soil around retains water, there is nowhere for the excess to go.

The issue is that my potted hops grow/grew fine, its the fact that I transplanted them and now they are not growing. The only other thing is that I planted the hops in soil that used to grow Iris's but I can't see how that would cause an issue.

 

[vraftsman]

The issue is that my potted hops grow/grew fine, its the fact that I transplanted them and now they are not growing. The only other thing is that I planted the hops in soil that used to grow Iris's but I can't see how that would cause an issue.

I would still look at your drainage in the soil, regardless of in or out of a pot. What kind of soil conditions do you have in the immediate area and close by? After rain does the area stay soggy or drain quickly? Maybe not an issue since I think yellow is usually a better indication of over watering than brown.

Another thought I have is animals. They like that sweet new growth at the end of the bine, and sometimes it's nibbled back in such a way that it just looks like it's dying when actually it's been eaten to the next node back. Sounds unlikely but I remember thinking, "why isn't this getting any longer?" then realizing after a few days that it wasn't really the proper bine end at all.

I'm sure people who know more than I would be happy to help if you could post a few pictures of the plant so we can all see exactly what things look like.

 

[rmyurick]

I was thinking animals also, or insects.

My mess of hops grows like a weed, ever since about year two.