Just bought my first hops on Saturday. Should I trim them to a few bines?

[Trj1393]

Bought them from a nursery on Saturday. Transplanted them to larger pots

http://imgur.com/TmtselX

 

[Homercidal]

No. First year plants need all the leaves and roots it can grow. They will put as much energy as they can into building a healthy plant. After the first year then you can start thinking about cone production tricks.

 

[Terek]

no, let them go. Don't expect much yield, as the plant is going to focus on root growth. Next year you will want to trim them down to 5-6 bines. I have a few cascade I started last year that put out lik 15 bines. I cut them back to 6 ea. I also have a few chinook that are about 8 years old. I trim them back to around 15-20 bines. If I just let it go, they will overtake the side of my house.

attached is a pic from last year when I didn't have much time on my hands, so I just let the chinook plant grow. This was harvest day, and it started with the bines crawling up one cable going from the ground to my satalite dish. I ended up with 4 lbs off this one. Im pretty sure I will get twice as much this year with a trellis.

If you look at the ground to the left of the ladder, all that green against the house is bines spredding along the ground down the length of my house