When Should I prune my hops?

[Kungpaodog]

My hops are about two and a half feet tall right now (second year in planters.) They each have close to 25 shoots coming off of them, some taller than others.

When should I chop off the extra shoots and how many should I train up the twine for each plant?

 

[Rick500]

I have second year container hops too. I cut everything back except four bines per plant when they were about 1.5 - 2 feet tall.

Incidentally, I've been cutting new shoots as they come up and putting them in potting soil and they've been growing.

 

[marcopolo]

I also have 3 x 2nd year plants, and they're only about 6-8 inches tall. I was going to just let them all grow. I also just planted 4 more this year, so I have 7 total (5 varieties). I could use some advice on hop cultivation if anyone has some wisdom to impart....
Thanks in advance.

 

[Rick500]

I let everything grow last year, trying to build the root system. This year I figured it would be best for the plants to put all their growth into a few strong bines rather than a bunch of smaller ones.

 

[Kungpaodog]

I've been looking around a little more and it seems that around three bines per string is a reasonable number since too many per string will impede growth. I think I'll cut back to five per string right now just in case any of them get damaged, I'll still have plenty.

But I still wonder, is there any benefit to leaving more than that per string?

 

[david_42]

You don't get many cones off the lower sections of the bine, so you are much better off with 2-3 strong ones. There's a limit to what the root system can support.

 

[samc]

I was watching something on TV that showed a commercial operation. They were stringing several bines per line and not clipping the others.

I don't like to clip them off early in case some of the ones strung up get damaged early on. At some point the plants will not produce more bines. One of my plants has bines of between 5' - 8' at this point so I trimmed off the puny ones at the bottom.

 

[Kungpaodog]

Well, I trimmed them back to five per line; in case I get any damage to any bines I'll have an extra couple that will probably get chopped soon. I was also thinking about running the extras down the fence horizontally. I don't know how well it will work, but it could be a fun experiment. Since my hops figured out how to put roots out of the containers and into the lawn, I'd bet that the roots can support five bines per pot.

 

[atomicflatulence]

I was wondering if horizontal growing would work.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I was wondering today if I should start pruning too. The Fuggles are about 7 feet (3rd year) Quite a lot of crap at the bottom......Yeah, I think I should go ahead. I didn't really do it at all in the first two years, but now i am seeing a necessity.

 

[Paulasaurus]

I have second year container hops too. I cut everything back except four bines per plant when they were about 1.5 - 2 feet tall.

Incidentally, I've been cutting new shoots as they come up and putting them in potting soil and they've been growing.

So its possible to plant the bines that are cut to start a new plant? I might have to try this as my 2nd year cascade is an absolute monster and I can't even keep up with it. Letting 6 shoots go, the tallest is 8 ft at this point.

Thanks for the tip