My hops are starting their 3rd season and through some neglect on my part have become quite unruly,When I initially planted them I covered a small area with landscape cloth and mulch, bordered by timbers. The vines quickly found their way under the cloth, along the timbers and up the support poles. I thought to myself "cool, bonus hops". I am second quessing that decision and plan on giving them a serious trimming, I will pull back the mulch and cloth, and cut any vines that leave the main plant. what is the best way to cut rhizomes below the surface? Step a shovel in around the plant? How far from the center of the plant? How often should this be done? Has anyone found a way to more effectively contain their plants? I'm thinking bury a Steel/plastic ring around the plant. 1/2 a barrel sized.
plant trimming
- Thread starter pendries
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Shovel in the ground all the way around the plant about 8 inches from the center of the crown. Once you have lifted the rhizomes that are growing away from the crown, go back and trim the remainder as close to the crown as possible. Pretty much, from the third year on, every Spring you should do the same thing. The landscape fabric is a nice way to postpone a nightmare. I would suggest to get rid of the fabric and mulch heavily instead because there may be one that 'got away' and was able to hide under the fabric undetected. A couple years from now your neighbors may come knocking on your door. The rhizomes will only grow out about 3 feet in any one season, so if you do the pruning every year you'll be able to keep up with it and not have the problems you have now. It may sound like a lot of work but it's really not - as long as you don't have 50 plants to keep track of. Hope all works out well for you.
