Nothing yet on the sterling I planted saturday, but my second year goldings has three good looking shoots growing.
Is that a Clemson tiger paw I see?
I’ve got 5 plants of Newport going here in Eastern Massachusetts, second year on them. Didn’t get a single cone last year, but all bines were up over 10 feet tall, 3 of them topped out the 12-foot trellis I have them on.
As of yesterday I have sprouts just popping through on all 5 plants.
I may want to get rid of some of them for next year and go for other varietals. With huge amounts of luck I may be in a new house next spring and will be able to start more or less fresh with them all.
[quote=“TheCarl”]I just went to look at my hop garden this year, which is its second year, and noticed that all six of my plants are back in full strength with at least 10 shoots each. I read that for the second year your suppose to trim the first few sprouts and then keep the latter 3-4 sprouts.
What do I do in this situation? Do I just find the 3-4 healthiest looking sprouts and prune the rest?[/quote]
Second year, let them all grow to get more root growth. Third year, trim back the first ones once they are a foot or so. They use the reserve energy to start, then supply new energy to the plant, the second ones up will be grown will all new energy and will be the best. Or so I’ve heard.
[quote=“ipa”][quote=“TheCarl”]I just went to look at my hop garden this year, which is its second year, and noticed that all six of my plants are back in full strength with at least 10 shoots each. I read that for the second year your suppose to trim the first few sprouts and then keep the latter 3-4 sprouts.
What do I do in this situation? Do I just find the 3-4 healthiest looking sprouts and prune the rest?[/quote]
Second year, let them all grow to get more root growth. Third year, trim back the first ones once they are a foot or so. They use the reserve energy to start, then supply new energy to the plant, the second ones up will be grown will all new energy and will be the best. Or so I’ve heard.[/quote]
My second year cascade and chinook are going crazy. I have like 25 shoots each. Should I let these all go as they are just second year? How would you decide which to trim? They all look the same to me.
The whole idea behind leaving all the shoots climb during the establishment year is to help the rhizomes develop a solid root system. The thinking behind this method is that hops can produce an excess of energy (through photosynthesis) than what is needed to grow the vines and produce the cones. The more foliage that is allowed to grow during the first year will provide for a great root system and healthier crown. Since it looks like your plants did very well during their establishment year, you can definitely remove all the shoots except for the ones you want to keep and let climb. Most likely you’ll have a bunch more shoots coming in the following month or so from buds that have formed lower on the crown.
It’s a common practice in some commercial yards to allow all the growth remain for the first AND second seasons, but in a commercial setting the plants don’t have the luxury of TLC that most home growers provide. So if you have enough room to string all of them up this year without them becoming too crowded/dense, go for it. Next year you’ll most likely have to do some pruning to keep them from getting out of hand. Some info: http://oregonhops.org/culture1.html . Hop On!!
I checked mine and I have four nice hills with multiple sprouts. I’ll let them come on up a foot or so, then pick a couple of healthy ones and clip the rest. I have Columbus and Centennial, not sure if the Magnum survived or its a shoot from the Columbus.
Wondering about shoot color.
I have some that are seriously purple, not a little purplish…but purple! Others are true green.
Just wondering if this is a variety thing?
Nugget=purple Mt Hood = green
Whacha got?
I peeled back a little bit of mulch and all my sprouts were fairly dark purple. I’d assume variety or nutrients would play a role in the color of sprouts.
I’ve got Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Fuggle, Golding, Horizon, Hallertau, Tettnang, and Willamette here in Ohio. Just built a water distribution system for them. I’m excited to see how they fare in this second year. I didn’t harvest last year.
Hello everyone im in Bremerton WA. My hops are in pots :cheers:
That is not a good sign if they’re already 3ft tall in your area…bring them over to Port Orchard and I’ll put them on my familys farm. This is your best option 
My hops on the other side of the mtns are only 6" to 1’ tall. Your hops are doing good over there.
Da*n weather. I just got my rhizome order from NB. SE Wisconsin is ark building weather. I put them into degradable pots,in soil, in garage. We are expecting snow Thursday night, but garage will stay above freezing. I hope to get them in the ground in early May. Logic flawed, or am I on the right track?
Good thinking, they’ll like the warmer temps and then when you can put them in the ground the pot vanishes and lets them expand. How long does it take for the pots to degrade?
What size is your bigger pot? I had some in a half wine barrel and even that was too small for them. When I put them in the ground I was able to pretty much just lift the whole ball out of the barrel.
twelve months, but I’m planning on taking a box cutter and slashing the sides that will allow the roots to expand, and the pot to decompose quicker.
[quote=“pinnah”]Wondering about shoot color.
I have some that are seriously purple, not a little purplish…but purple! Others are true green.
Just wondering if this is a variety thing?
Nugget=purple Mt Hood = green
Whacha got?[/quote]
Some will have purple initially, but they’ll green up quickly. Mine all have some purple. Later on a purplish color can mean a potassium deficiency, but not early on. Its just that the carotenoid pigments are made regardless of light exposure whereas chlorophyll is made in response to light.
Good call on the degradable pots. I wish I would have thought of that. I received my rhizomes over a month ago (from a different supplier). I put them in pots to get them started. Have a couple of 2’ vines and one almost 4’ now. Planted them about a week ago. I broke some small shoots and some roots taking them out of the plastic pots. Degradable would have been a better choice.
Well last year I only had them in a 1’ deer by 1’ wide pot. Got some hops out of it not much. this year they are in a 3’ by 3’ and they seem to be liking it. I put them in the garage all winter long in a corner. When I went to pull them out I notice they had small shoots about a month ago. moved them to the middle of garage while I went to get them new pots, took me like two weeks to get them and they were growing. heading for the sun they were, starting to twin themselves threw the spokes of the bicycles. Then put them outside and they have been taking off. I wish I could show you all a picture but I guess the file is too big for this site. They get plenty of sun, from 9am to 7ish pm.
I’m in mid-Iowa (zone 5) and got my rhizomes yesterday or the day before from NB. They’ve been sitting in my fridge. I’m planning on putting them in the garden temporarily so they don’t rot in my fridge (that’s happened to me before).
Will they be easy to move once I’m ready to put in their permanent homes? Do they mind being transplanted?
It’s amazing what a week of warm weather will do. These guys had only just broken ground this time last week. Tallest one is about 18" so far. The big rain we had last night is only going to help 
