New hop grower question

[Leezer]

I bought 2 hops plants from Great Lakes Hops, a cascade and a goldings. They arrived May 1st and I planted them in the garden May 23rd. I didn’t expect much from first year plants, but I thought they would be larger by now. The cascade has grown to 3 feet, the goldings 2 feet. There is a decent amount of new growth at the base of the plant. We have had a lot of rain in the last month, and I have done a modest amount of fertilizing. I have included some pics and I guess my question is does this amount of growth seem right or should they be much further along by now?? (and you can tell from the pics that I have had a few busy weekends lately and am behind in my weeding). The first 2 pics are the cascade and the 3rd pic is the goldings. Thank you in advance for any thoughts on this.

 

[jkalberer]

I'm also a new grower with 1st year cascades, 3 of them. I thought I may have planted too early, I got them in sometime in April. They are all three over 6' tall now and seem to be growing faster and faster. I'm sure your plants are fine, I was told with these first years the growth is not consistent between plants. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Calder]

Looks like you have a lot of shoots growing. I pruned mine down to 2 shoots each (I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not).

2 were planted in April, both planted 4 inches down, and took 4 weeks to show:

- Centennial is about 14 feet tall with lots of side shoots

- Chinook was in too much water an looked like it was dying at 6 inches. Moved it, and after several weeks started growing again. Now about 4 feet but looking healthy.

2 were planted late may, both planted 1 inch down, both sprouted in less than a week.

- Cascade is about 10 feet tall with lots of side shoots.

- Willamette is about 4 feet tall, with some side shoots starting to show.

 

[Leezer]

Well, I went out and looked at them this evening, both grew about another six inches in the past couple days. Plus now there is a second cascade bine growing on the twine. So I'll just wait and see. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Yooper]

Well, I went out and looked at them this evening, both grew about another six inches in the past couple days. Plus now there is a second cascade bine growing on the twine. So I'll just wait and see. Thanks for the replies.

Yep, they grow up to a foot a day in warm sunny weather! I bet your rainy weather was a mixed blessing- no need to water, but no real sunny days either.

They look good, and next year they will be even better.

My plants are absolutely invasive now (some are +/- 8 or 9 years old and some are only 2 years old) and my 4 year old chinook is crazy. It's coming up all over my yard, up inside my greenhouse and over fences. I can't even begin to trim all of these crazy bines!

In a moderate climate, hops grow like weeds and will become invasive. I promise yours will be fine!

In the first year, don't trim/cut them. Let them grow and develop roots. Next year, you can cut them back to 4 bines. However, mine are growing HUNDREDS of bines coming up under my deck and porch (besides the aforementioned green house) so you may find trimming them down to four a major chore in just a couple of years!

 

[Leezer]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. And you're right about the mixed blessing of the rain. Plus lots of rain brings lots of weeds, ugh.

I haven't cut anything back, i thought I read it best not to do that with a first year plant. So thats good to know.

Can't wait to see what next year brings!