Plant barely growing

[LordUlrich]

This is the first year of growing hops. I've got one plant at about 6 ft, one about 1 ft growing slowly, and one that doesn't want to get more than about a inch tall, and has been for almost a month. Is there anything I can do to get that little guy to start growing?

 

[WayFrae]

Feed it! One of my plant's growth stalled so I fed it some 10-14-10 fertilizer and it took off the next day! I have also heard that blood meal is very good.

 

[thaymond]

WayFrae beat me to it. Blood meal has worked great for me and some 10-10-10 fertilizer works great.

 

[LordUlrich]

I put some worm casings on it about 2 weeks ago, should that be enough?

 

[WayFrae]

I think worm castings are very slow release but I'm not entirely sure. Try some fertilizer that you mix with water. I just follow the instructions on the bottle to use it every time I water.

 

[duboman]

+1 to feeding but keep in mind plants are like people, they all act in their own ways. It could just be a poorer quality rhizome and it might take a while to get up and grow


Sent from the Commune

 

[Gar]

WayFrae beat me to it. Blood meal has worked great for me and some 10-10-10 fertilizer works great.

mine are very slow this year also. whats the ratio to water with these? can they be put down with out water? in ohio we have been getting alot of rain and dont want to flood them. ive also been told chicken poop is very good for them but im kinda in fear of burning them up with it.

 

[thaymond]

mine are very slow this year also. whats the ratio to water with these? can they be put down with out water? in ohio we have been getting alot of rain and dont want to flood them. ive also been told chicken poop is very good for them but im kinda in fear of burning them up with it.

I use vigoro 10-10-10. Its 1/2 cap to 2 gallons of water. You could concentrate it more, knowing you'd have rain coming. Maybe only a gallon to a full cap if you're getting a lot of rain as you're saying.

Blood meal is tilled into the soil, but I have also made a blood meal slurry with an underperforming cascade, and she has responded quite nicely. I tilled a tbsp into the surrounding soil, about and inch down, and out from the crown. I took another tbsp and added to a cup of water and shook vigorously. I poured the water onto the crown, and left behind any large solids. I repeated until I had very little solids left. I gently hosed her down then with a few gallons of water to help dilute further. This none went from this:


To this in two weeks:


Blood meal helps aid in root and green growth. The 10-10-10 helps maintain the nutrients needed to grow and eventually produce cones. I'll only do blood meal one more time this season, and that's after harvest. I'll use the vigoro on the crown until then once per week or so. I don't plan on a harvest from the cascade. My priority was to establish roots this year. Any harvest would be a bonus.