Hops growing after harvest?

[Dland]

The way I set up my hop poles this year, I was easily able to put the vines back up after harvest. This way they can "charge up" a little more for next year. In the past, I've just left the vines down and figured they were finished for the season.

Got me to wonder if commercial hops growers left the vines down after harvest or hoist them back up to build more energy.

 

[pvtpublic]

Commercial growers cut down the entire bine and toss those bines onto a trailer. They have a prossesing machine that pulls the entire bine in, and rips off all the leaves and cones with a bunch of loops on spinning shafts. The bines get spit out and the leaves and cones fall down a shoot with a vacuum pulling from the side. The leaves get sucked onto a grate and the cones fall down onto a conveyer. It's kind of like winnowing grain. It's super cool to see in action!

 

[Dland]

Yeah, I figured the pros had a quicker way than me. I wonder if my hop rhizomes will benifit from more growing time after harvest, seems like it could not hurt. Kind of like not mowing the daffodil greens after flowers done, until after they start to wilt.

 

[pvtpublic]

Those guys look like they're established enough that they could handle being chopped. Giving them too much of a helping hand could result in them spreading across the yard and becoming a weed everywhere. Especially if they pop up alongside a different variety.

 

[mashpaddled]

Letting the plants continue to grow after harvest is good for the plants. I only cut out what I need in order to harvest and leave the rest of the bines strung up until they die back in the fall. I train up strings tied to the top of poles and then there is a second line up to the garage roof. I usually cut at the top of the pole so there's still six feet or so of bine for a few months.