Recovering From First Year Failure

[loofah]

Hi Everyone,

I have wanted to grow hops for a while now, more for having them as a plant than harvesting for brewing. I finally got around to it last year and planted three Crystal hop rhizomes, I got 1-2in sprouts from two of the rhizomes and then they started to whither. I didn't know what to do and they just withered away. I don't think I watered them enough as I was worried about over-watering. For context, I'm just north of Boston MA and the plants got full sun about 8am-3pm. They were at the edge of a rotating sprinkler path set up to water a new patch of grass next to them, 10 minutes daily at sunrise.

Part of me thinks I should just leave them, be better at watering, and see if they come back (I'm thinking of using a soaker hose on a timer). But I'm worried if I don't do anything then I won't get any growth this year. Should I at least dig up the rhizomes to check on them? And if so, what should I look for to ensure they're not totally dead?

I am not good with plants, and I saw some folks say Cascade are the easiest to grow, so I was also thinking of digging up the rhizomes and planting Cascade instead. If Crystal isn't a particularly difficult hop to grow though, then maybe the best course of action would be to purchase three new Crystal rhizomes and plant with the existing, to hedge my bets.

Any advice is much appreciated!
-Scott

 

[Leezer]

I don’t know a lot about Crystal, but I’m in WMass and have grown Cascade the last several years and it has always done very well. I expect to see shoots starting to come up in the next few weeks, so maybe if that doesn’t happen with your Crystal you should consider replanting something. I bought small plants from Great Lakes Hops because I’m more comfortable working with them versus rhizomes.

 

[blazin]

I don't have much experience with hops but I do a lot of vegetable gardening and I can tell you that they probably were under watered. 10 minutes per day is a very poor way of watering because it only saturates the surfaces soil and doesn't promote deep root systems. It also prevents the surface from drying out properly which promotes mold and pathogens.

You are better off watering deeply, on a less frequent basis.

If the rhizomes didn't grow last year they most likely rotted, so I would recommend new rhizomes.

 

[Joggin]

My experience when first planting them is try not to let them dry out. I water them in morning and evening with mulch on them.
Dig a hole with fertilizer so the water can drain. I also bought Great Lakes Hops once. A plant of Cashmere, but it just died. Usually, I plant rhizomes. But I guess some hops grow if they like the conditions. I have a very sunny hill and have had good success with magnum, nugget, cascade, centennial. Some varieties I've tried to grow but died were US golding and cashmere. Some grow but don't produce hops or barely like northern brewer, columbus and sterling. I would guess it gets too hot for them and would imagine they'd do better with some shade.