Pruning question

[messersc]

Hi all,

My understanding of how to prune hops after the first year or two is that you should allow 4 bines or so per plant to grow. I've been following that advice and am now on year 4 with strong, healthy plants.

Should I be trimming the offshoots from the main bines, though? I've been doing so until about June, because otherwise they become such a hairy mess. I have 4 plants, planted Cascade-Goldings-Cascade-Goldings, and the issue is that if I let the offshoots run wild, they inevitably run into each other. It's possible that this means I've planted the plants too close together? I'd say they have about 6 feet of space between them.

My main concern regarding trimming the bines is that I think the cones seem to only grow on the offshoots - so offshoot trimming means directly limiting the cone yield.

I realize I should know more about this stuff after 4 years ... hop plants are just so robust that it's easy to be kind of casual with them.

Thank you!

 

[dmtaylor]

I allowed 6 bines per plant for several years but yield went down, so this year I am trying just 4 again. My theory is that they produce more the taller (or longer) they get.

I do have to diligently remove the dozens of extra shoots that pop up all spring and early summer. I also uproot any that have spread out too far from the original plant, to avoid mixing up different varieties and to maintain control. Otherwise of course they could eventually take over your whole yard if you let them!

You are correct though that they only produce cones on the secondary shoots adjacent to the leaves. On these I remove these extra shoots within the first 3-4 feet from the ground only. Leave all the others higher up. This is very important or you will get no hops at all. I do try hard to train my different varieties from growing into one another, with reasonable success but not 100%. Close enough!

 

[messersc]

You are correct though that they only produce cones on the secondary shoots adjacent to the leaves. On these I remove these extra shoots within the first 3-4 feet from the ground only. Leave all the others higher up. This is very important or you will get no hops at all. I do try hard to train my different varieties from growing into one another, with reasonable success but not 100%. Close enough!

This is helpful, Dave. It sounds like we're doing similar things, although I've cut off some secondary shoots very high up, which seems like it was probably a mistake ... but I'll know for next year. Thanks!