Opinions please! 3yr hops, 10' tall!

[alastairblake]

Looking for thoughts here... I have three different hop plants. All hitting 10' or taller right now. Zeus has some side arms started. This is earlier than last year I think. Some people are saying that early bines should be hacked down. I didnt.... I just trimmed to 2 to 3 per crown. Are these looking good? Too early? should I hack them down?

Location: Eastern Pennsylvania
Hops: Zeus, Cascade, Chinook
Date: 5/15/2017

 

[Ruint]

you way past the point to cut them down....let them go and feed them well! How high is the top of your trellis? I'm thinking...not tall enough...

 

[alastairblake]

26' tall. Thankfully I have a slide at the top so that if need be i can lower the cables down and cut the tops of the bines if they are going insane.

 

[Ruint]

26' will be more than adequate...no need to chop the tops...you should have 3 to 3.5 feet of distance between plants...other than that you should be good to go!

 

[dieharduscfan]

Here are mine as of last Friday. Already at 10 ft with full cones on the cascade and columbus but I live in SC and we have no winter. These are 4 year old plants and I've never cut them once they started growing every year. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1494952252.585157.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1494952271.608767.jpg

 

[dieharduscfan]

Not trying to hijack your thread Alastairblake. I just wanted to show you that the cones will come with healthy early plants.

 

[alastairblake]

Happy to hear how everyone else is doing. Any Pennsylvania people on here?

Not trying to hijack your thread Alastairblake. I just wanted to show you that the cones will come with healthy early plants.

 

[Ruint]

I lived in Milford PA for 3 years...does that count??? LoL! I now live quite a bit north of you. My hop plants are quite a bit shy (averaging 1 to 3 feet) of 10 or 11+ feet. I did crown them 3.5 weeks ago though.

 

[Omnidons-Brewing]

Happy to hear how everyone else is doing. Any Pennsylvania people on here?

Harrisiburg/Hershey area here. I have 2 second year chinooks, 1 second year cascade, and three first year nuggets and a saaz.

 

[alastairblake]

some more recent developments: Out of the Cascade, Chinook and Zeus, the Zeus has stopped climbing. all leading heads of the bines have become flowers. attatched are photos of the top of Zeus, and also some of Zeus' flowers. Do you think I have some Downy Mildew action? Penn State has recently touched on the issue in PA. https://www.facebook.com/pennstateextension4hops/posts/465984790410030