Kent Golding Hops Tanking in MA

[JMass]

I live in SE Massachusetts and my Kent Goldings haven't been doing well.

I have Cascade, Willamette, Stirling and Hallertaue which all do well. I use 2 strings for each of my plants. However, l am only getting a few hops off of my well established Kent Golding bines. I didn't really trim the shoots this year. I'll try trimming next year and see if that helps. If not, I think that this plant will have to go. I haven't bothered trimming my other plants as they produce well, as I said.

Does anyone have suggestions of how to up the production? Or was this just a bad plant/variety for me?

 

[B-Hoppy]

The first thing you can so it to move it to another location. There may be a problem with the soil where it's located now. You'll have to give a year or two in it's new location to determine if it was a soil problem. The most likely 'fix' to the situation is to make cuttings from one of your other 'good' producers and swap it out with the Golding. Some varieties are just poor producers no matter where they're grown. I know someone will chime in that their Goldings produce 2 pounds per plant but it's probably because they've got an ideal growing situation. Check out the yield data for the different varieties on the Hopunion, Haas or any other location for hop growing web sites and you'll find there's a big difference between 3000 lbs. per acre for some and 900 lbs. per pound for others.

 

[JMass]

Thanks B-Hoppy,

That's a good idea. I think that this was a plant I killed somehow and replaced it in a different location with a new plant. Maybe the new location was bad or maybe the new plant was bad. I thought that the previous Golding plant/location was producing well.

I checked the Hallertau yield and that is supposed to be lower than that Golding, so something must be wrong.

 

[B-Hoppy]

Those numbers are only a reference as to how they perform over time in the specific hop growing regions. Your location may produce different results for a particular variety, so not that those yield numbers are worthless - but more of a historical guide. The most I ever harvested off of my Hallertau was about 2 ounces per plant. I gave some rhizomes to a guy near Pittsburgh and they produced like my Cascades do (2 pounds per plant) for him. So the soil and location make a huge difference as to how they perform.

 

[Greatlakeshops]

We propagate a lot of hops and Kent Golding was one of the "dirtiest" varieities we have ever cleaned up. It has a big inherent virus load that inhibits vigor and yield. If you are going to try more Goldings, I would suggest straight GoldingsUS - they have nearly double the yield in our comparison trials. Also Kent Goldings don't like "wet feet"/ heavy soil types.

 

[JMass]

Follow-up. I dug up my roots/(rhizomes?) today. What a mess. I guess there was about a wheelbarrow full. I put the roots back on the ground, probably about 3 X 12 feet and covered with soil. If that doesn't work, I'll go to a better variety as suggested by Greatlakeshops.

As a side note, I noticed my first hop sprouts today.