Long bine vs thick bine

[Sadu]

First time hop grower from New Zealand here(Southern hemisphere, so early summer at the moment). I bought/planted a small Cascade plant at the start of spring and have read that one should allow 2-3 bines to grow and trim the rest.

I have decided to go with 3 since I have limited height to work with (about 10' high of concrete reinforcing mesh). I have 3 bines winding their way up the mesh now and they look amazing, about 5-6' tall now. One bine is very thick and strong, the others are long with good leaves but not as thick/strong looking.

A few days ago a new bine sprouted and it's real strong and thick looking - a lot thicker than 2 of the ones currently growing up the mesh.

Do I chop off the new strong bine and let the 3 existing ones grow; or chop off the weaker one on the left let this new thick one grow in it's place?

Or am I overthinking this?

 

[dmtaylor]

Great question. Unfortunately I do not have an answer for you. Maybe leave both the left and the new, and trim off one of the other ones and run an experiment for this season to see which of the two in question produces more by the end of the season!

 

[brewcat]

Early shoots tend to be longer. Check the length between the leaf nodes. My guess is that ones coming later are closer together. It is one reason why many growers cut the first shoots, especially on a vigorous grower like Cascade. It helps get the plant more energy.

Since this is a first year plant, let all the bines grow to help establish the plant. Next year, you might look at cutting first shoots and any bines coming up after you start training. Keep in mind that the recommendations for bines come from commercial yards trying to maximize yield per plant. On a home level with a small number of plants, it may be better to run more bines to hedge against bine damage.

 

[TooDogly]

Agreed. Think of the first year as a building year, just getting the roots established, and may only get about 30% yield. Best to just let the plant do its own thing in the first year... I think year three will see the plant fully established and getting close to 100% yield.

 

[GVH_Dan]

First year, let them grow.

After that, the first flush are usually what's referred to as "bull shoots". They look big and vigorous and will race up the twine. Cut them off, they aren't as productive.

You want a much closer spacing between the nodes because that's where your side arms develop. side arms are where the cones grow the best, so that's what you are shooting for.

 

[Sadu]

Thanks for the great replies everyone, this is very helpful.

I'm all about making the plant strong, if I get a few cones this year for a pale ale that would be great but it's not the priority.

So with that in mind I went to point the new bine at the mesh so it can find it's way up, and accidentally broke the end off. Whoops.