Well my hops are up and at it now. Its the fourth year in the ground and its become a bit of a bush at the ground level. My question is should I cut the bine back a bit at ground level or just let them all grow and try to get them on the vertical rope I’m using as a trellis?
I prune them up to about three feet or so. Keeps them height and dry also away from some ground bugs. You can plant something else under them. I have my grapes which I plan to train along a low horizontal trellis . Another area I plan on planting some flowers to fill in the space.
I’m not sure I understand when you ask about “cutting the bine back”? If you meant to suggest cutting/thinning the crown, then yes. After about 3 years in the ground you should seriously start thinking about thinning the crown out. You can either just shave the entire top of the crown with a saw (making a horizontal cut), or take a spade and chop into the crown all the way around it. You’ll reduce the amount of vegetation (new shoots) to a manageable level that way. If you choose not to do any thinning you usually end up with sort of a ‘chia mound’ due to the excessive amount of shoots. Hoppy Growing~
Yes that is what I meant, I did not know it was called a crown. and yes its becoming a bit of a chia-mound out there…I figured I would just use pruning sheers to cut back new shoots and keep some select ones to train up the trellis. It seems your suggesting cutting out a substantial portion of the root system? to keep the growth down to a manageable level it that correct?
