JackSmith
Well-Known Member
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).
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.)
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.)