I forget, is it time to train the bines

[olotti]

My 3rd yr cascades in potsare growing fast, well one pot is growing like crazy, so I trimmed everything back from the initial burst of growth and now they're growing fast again. Should I trim all this second growth back and then takes some bines to train from the third growth or can I find a couple of the stronger growing bines in this second growth and just train those. I always forget how many times I cut growth back before training any bines.

 

[Kent88]

I'm in my second year growing hops. As I moved and we're renting at the moment I have to keep my hops at my parents' house. I haven't had a chance to get over there and prune yet.

I think you should be able to start training some bines, but I'm not too sure.

I wouldn't mind finding a good resource or two for identifying bull shoots (is that the correct term?).

 

[Yooper]

Yes, you can go ahead and pick the best shoots from the second growth.

That said, I have 12 year old hops and mine are shooting up all over the place, including under my deck and out in my yard (I have 7 varieties, about 9 plants), so this is a "do as I say, not as I do" bit of advice.

They are completely out of control, and it's a jungle out there.

 

[Kent88]

@Yooper, what varieties do you grow?

 

[Yooper]

@Yooper, what varieties do you grow?

Centennial (3 plants), cascade, chinook, Zeus, northern brewer, EKG, and hallertauer.

They grow like feral weeds, and are up over my greenhouse, my trellis, my garage, etc.

I’ve tried willamette twice, and it just will not grow here but the others are thriving and will outlive me for sure!

 

[Kent88]

Are bull shoots typically off-color? I have seen some pictures/video where they definitely aren't solid green.

 

[cswis86]

Most of my shoots look purple when they come up. I don't think color is a good indicator of a bullshoot. Typically they grow much faster than the other shoots, are inflexible, and have larger than normal spacing between leaves.

 

[Kent88]

I just pruned mine. I figured I would just prune off the longest bines. None of them seemed as hollow as I thought bull shoots might be.

 

[spunxter]

Idk it seems im still getting bull shoots from mine and im getting nervous about continuing to remove them. Def bull shoots though, vigorous hollow and long spacing, some cultivars the bull shoots seem to have some longitudinal lines. Hope its still ok to cull them. I have 10 dif. Varieties, almost all of them 3 yr except the 2 hallertau which r 2nd yr . All looking good this yr except the goldings. They dont seem to like it here in my yard in central jersey.

 

[Senormac]

Yes, you can go ahead and pick the best shoots from the second growth.

That said, I have 12 year old hops and mine are shooting up all over the place, including under my deck and out in my yard (I have 7 varieties, about 9 plants), so this is a "do as I say, not as I do" bit of advice.

They are completely out of control, and it's a jungle out there.

..... pictures or it never happened

 

[Yooper]

..... pictures or it never happened

I should have taken pictures today. We've had a very late spring, so they were very slow to appear, but since it's been over 80 degrees for three days in a row (but cold at night), they grew about a foot. My oldest grandson claims that they have tentacles and grab you as you walk across the deck and always gives them a wide berth. (Those are the cascades, which do seem to grow very well and quickly here).

 

[Kent88]

Can someone find / upload a photo of a cross section of a bull shoot? How hollow are they?

 

[GiavaBear]

Can someone find / upload a photo of a cross section of a bull shoot? How hollow are they?

Here is a picture of one of my bull shoots. I apologize for the horrible focus