Hop Growing Thread 2013!

Just tell the city they have no business with your trellis. Especially if your neighbors don’t mind.

Unless it is on public property :oops:

NICE trellis 560!!! My girl might be more tolerant of my hop growing operation if I had erected something like that in the yard!

NICE trellis 560!!! My girl might be more tolerant of my hop growing operation if I had erected something like that in the yard![/quote]

Well we live in a neighborhood where I would have had to get just the raised garden bed approved. So I had to make it nice and being an architect does not hurt.

You should have heard all the comments last summer…“what the hell you growing over there!?”…

My wife is about to kick me out because the hops are taking over her part of the garden. :cheers:

[quote=“560sdl”]Well we live in a neighborhood where I would have had to get just the raised garden bed approved. So I had to make it nice and being an architect does not hurt.

You should have heard all the comments last summer…“what the hell you growing over there!?”…

My wife is about to kick me out because the hops are taking over her part of the garden. :cheers: [/quote]

Yeah, I’m a police canine officer and the neighbors are already asking if I’m allowed to grow that stuff in my backyard, and if my dog alerts on it… LOL

[quote=“pscdouglas”]There. I did it. The suspense is over.

I’ve got 4 2nd year plants in raised beds in Glens Falls, NY and they are still under a few inches of snow. BUT, the sap is running and this weeks temps promise to be in the 40’s-50’s all week, so I’m hopeful that I’ll see those tips in a week or two.

Chinook, Nugget, Spalt Select and Sterling. With any luck this year will be EPIC.[/quote]
Grew up just west of Glenns falls so I’m rooting for you! Hoping to buy land up there eventually that will be good to growing.

Being in a townhouse with limited yard space, I was only able to build a trellis for my four first year cascades about 10 feet tall. Obviously they’d like to go double that height. I’ve already got a ton of bines climbing and tallest is around five feet. Any suggestions on what to do once they reach the top of my trellis? I was thinking of possibly training them to grow horizontally towards the back of the house. If that doesn’t work, would keeping them around 10 feet be detrimental to hop growth/production?

[quote=“intelo315”][quote=“pscdouglas”]There. I did it. The suspense is over.

I’ve got 4 2nd year plants in raised beds in Glens Falls, NY and they are still under a few inches of snow. BUT, the sap is running and this weeks temps promise to be in the 40’s-50’s all week, so I’m hopeful that I’ll see those tips in a week or two.

Chinook, Nugget, Spalt Select and Sterling. With any luck this year will be EPIC.[/quote]
Grew up just west of Glenns falls so I’m rooting for you! Hoping to buy land up there eventually that will be good to growing.[/quote]

My plants are tall now, got them on rope and a fence suspended about 8 feet to the bottom, 12 feet to the top. They are doing great but I need to cut some branches from the nearby trees, they are shading them out. this is the perfect area to grow hops!

Hey there Lawbadger,

I have my Cascades growing 8 feet vertical then horizontally from there to my roof eve. I already have hundreds of burrs popping out, and a good portion of them are on the horizontally growing portion of the bine, I haven’t seen any issues growing them horizontally other than having to go out there and train them around my horizontal rope every two days. No big deal with only 4 plants.

second year cascades on bamboo trellis.

I was wondering someone can answer my question. I had three bines growing only to have something eat the lead growth off of one of the bines. This was over two weeks ago and I have yet to see any growth from this bine. Is this to be expected?

If this is the case, i plan on letting a new bine grow as opposed to trimming it, but i’d rather this existing bine grow instead.

[quote=“mppatriots”]I was wondering someone can answer my question. I had three bines growing only to have something eat the lead growth off of one of the bines. This was over two weeks ago and I have yet to see any growth from this bine. Is this to be expected?

If this is the case, i plan on letting a new bine grow as opposed to trimming it, but i’d rather this existing bine grow instead.[/quote]

In my experience, once the lead tip is removed you will get no more growth up from that tip. It doesn’t grow back. The secondary leave pairs will start to grow sideways though, so it’s not a total loss. I do what you do and start training another bine as soon as I see the tip of one gone.

Also of note: it is good practice to trim off all of the leaves from soil level up to about 12" to aid in the fight against mildew and the other nasties. You want your crown to stay pretty dry. I use a soaker hose but if the foliage is dense at the bottom then when you water it the leaves hold some of the water close to the stems and it takes longer to dry out. I’m about to do the second pruning of the season and will be doing just this.

Thanks for the input. That is what I was figuring. since that bine stopped growing at about 3ft, I’m just gonna prune that entire bine off. That way there will be more reserves for the new bine.

Definitely! The strongest ones don’t necessarily emerge first.

Again this year this particular plant is sending out monster bines. There are two this size and they’re both about 14’ long already. I think its a Columbus. The others are about half the diameter but also 10-14; long. Its been a good year so far.

[quote=“mppatriots”]I was wondering someone can answer my question. I had three bines growing only to have something eat the lead growth off of one of the bines. This was over two weeks ago and I have yet to see any growth from this bine. Is this to be expected?

If this is the case, i plan on letting a new bine grow as opposed to trimming it, but i’d rather this existing bine grow instead.[/quote]
After the top bud (Apical bud) has been broke off upward growth stops and only lateral growthy can continue. It is very imporant to be very carefull not to break the bine when handling it.

My bines on may 23 2013 (4th year) Galena, Saaz, Cluster(l-r). the top of the pole is 15’. The bines will be 15’ in 30 days.

Nice looking setup! My Cascade hops will be ready to harvest in two weeks, the Kent Goldings are just now spitting out burrs. Funny how different varieties behave so differently.

4 of my varieties are over 15’ tall and putting out spurs. The rest, including 3 first year are not far behind at at least 6’.

I planted some shoots from each of the second years in the woods and even those are taking off.

[quote=“560sdl”]4 of my varieties are over 15’ tall and putting out spurs. The rest, including 3 first year are not far behind at at least 6’.

I planted some shoots from each of the second years in the woods and even those are taking off.[/quote]

Your woods are going to be rife with hops. You ARE the man!

:cheers: