What to do when bines reach the top?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JackSmith

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
47
Reaction score
8
Location
Pittsburgh
What do you do when your hop bines reach the top of the trellis or, in my case, twine? My garden is set up such that the bines climb on coir yarn that is tied to the top of my shed (12-14' high).

01.jpg


This picture was taken 10 days ago. The leftmost bines in that picture (Spalt Select) have already reached to top of their twine, climbed up the shed along the rake of the roof, and have begun coming back down the twine set up for the third-from-the-left plant (Willamette).

I know the hops won't really want to grow downward, but the seem to be doing that. I thought they'd stop growing once they didn't have anything to climb on and would instead start getting bushy. Should I snip the tips of these bines to stop them growing, or should I just let them go? If I let them go, will I end up with bines that go up to the roof them come all the way back down?

My real concern is that I don't want to mix up the varieties. (I know, I shouldn't have planted them all so close, but I was just trying my hand at growing hops before I eventually build a real trellis system.)
 
Let them go. De-tangle them as best as possible at the end of the season. If you "snip the tip" they will send out secondary growth shoots from the next leaf node back and double your trouble.

Consider it a lesson-learned on plant spacing! :D
 
I had also wondered this because My trellis isn't more than 12 foot. but I didn't even think about the fact that they might get mixed up. I'll have to be sure to keep 'em seperated.
 
I have agree with Randar. I asked the sane question last week then did a little Internet research. Short answer: ditto.

Last year I did have a mess and I was trying to avoid that but I think the process of turning a side shoot into a vertical grower makes a larger less productive mess. I think the key is take your bines down slowly. I was able to seperate my mess.

Semi related- one of the brew chains sells hop dust- a mix of different hops after pelletization. Maybe mixing a few random hops is a selling point. Something to consider.
 
Back
Top