Nugget not looking right

[beernut70]

My nugget hops look funny this year. It may be hard to see in this picture but the runners have very few leaves and no burs yet. Usually where the leaves grow on the runners there are two leaves this plant has only one. My centennial plant has some big juicy cones already and plenty of leaves. Any ideas what might be wrong?

 

[day_trippr]

No burrs yet here, either.

Then again, I had to cut my entire hop garden to grade Memorial Day weekend so I could paint two stories of deck railing, so all 15 4th year plants are likely retarded quite a bit. That said, they reached to top of the upper deck rail two days ago - around 16 feet of vertical - and the side-arms have been sprouting like crazy the last few days as we've had a solid week of maximum sunlight here.

Last year I didn't have cones until nearing the end of July. Can't remember when the flowers were spiking but obviously it was a couple weeks earlier than that...

Cheers!

 

[beernut70]

Last year I didn't harvest cones until the end of August but the plants seemed to be ahead of schedule this year. This plant just doesn't look right. Last year the laterals had plenty of leaves.

 

[thaymond]

I'm no expert by any stretch, but you are probably fine. What fertilizers/nutrients are you using with the plant? Is it getting enough water/drainage? Any visible pests? Are there the start of any spurs on the sidearms? My Chinook plant has some long leafless sidearms, but have since sprouted some. spurs and are covered in them Some of them are 2-3 feet long.

My Nugget didn't flower until late July early August. I couldn't harvest until late August or early September, I can't remember which. Iirc about the plant last year, it had some spindly sidearms until the spurs came, kinds like the Chinook, then it filled out nice and plump. This year, she's attempting to take over the whole garden with her bushiness.

 

[thaymond]

Not sure if you can see the long sidearms without leaves on this one. I think it may be doing something similar to yours.

This is my nugget plant this year, in case you were wondering and wanted a comparison.

I've noticed that sometimes with very rapid growth days, the nodes have a hard time catching up with the new growth, and you get a long spindly looking bine with tiny leaves. Maybe this is the case? Did you have a ton of growth recently?

 

[beernut70]

They grew crazy fast this year. I have just been putting some Alaska fish fertilizer on them every couple of weeks. Maybe they will fill out once it gets burs like your did.

 

[beernut70]

Here is better picture. Think it changed sides and is a male plant now?

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

You will not know until it seeds.