How many vines to keep per rhizome?

[olie]

I'm growing my first hops in planters, and each rhizome sends up several vines. (Rather, they will; they're just breaking ground, now.)

My question is: do I train & keep all vines? Just the biggest/strongest one and cut the others back? Something in between?

I have lots of room, so COULD keep them all; I'm just not sure what's best for the plant.

Thanks!

 

[Zymurologist]

My question is: do I train & keep all vines?

If this is the first season for your rhizomes I would not prune them at all

 

[Jako]

to the question 4-6 bines per plant.

after the first few feet pick the best ones. at the same time i like to trim the leaves off the first few inches of the bines then as the bines grow i will take up to 2 feet of all lower leaves etc off to keep pest and dieses away.

this is after the first year as posted above. this allows for a strong healthy root system going forward. also not stressing the plant keeps it health and prevents pest and disease.

 

[Kent88]

I'd keep four. The first year I had hops I kept four per plant. I didn't get many cones, but they're on their 4th year, I believe, and they're doing fine.

I had rose chaffers chew the leaves, and I accidentally pruned one of the bines halfway up to the clothesline and the four bines still got it through the first year.

 

[willy_mugobeer]

Going to chime in here with a dissenting opinion, and say that under the right conditions, almost anything is possible. This photo is from my second floor office window last August -- a second year Zeus plant. One plant, ten strings up to the eaves, two bines per string - so total, 20 bines producing, and I harvested about six pounds dry weight from this one plant. Positive factors - 1) Zeus is a big producer; 2) southern-facing brick wall, 3) five or ten gallons drip-irrigated to the roots pretty much every day, and 4) lots of good compost laid down as a side-dressing in the early spring.

Ramped it up this year with two new strings, so 24 bines currently racing up the twine. So far, so good.

 

[corkybstewart]

Before I moved 3 years ago I had 20 or so plants. Keeping them trimmed to 3, 4, or 6 bines per plant was impossible so after pulling the first few rounds of extras coming up I gave up and just let them grow. It worked fine. Might limiting them to 3 be better? Possibly. but there's more to life than spending your days pulling hops bines out of the ground.