Growing Hops 2022

You could go either way. If you cut them back now you will want to do it again later in the month. Or you could just wait until then. I don't let the bines grow for real until first week in May.

 

My past experiences on cut back. If I let them grow then cut all back timed to reach the ideal grow date for light in June, sometimes it seems I stunt the growth. Can differ by variety, but if I don't cut them all and leave strong leaders alone, I get better results.
Wonder if that is what others experience.

 

I’m trying my hand at some hops this year. I went with 3 Cascade rhyzomes. I’m just gonna let them go this first year and not cut back or anything. From what I’ve read a lot of foliage the first year is good to get the roots healthy. Not sure if it’s true or not but seems the easy route to take lol. I got a good deal on a squash trellis. I figured If it will hold squash it will hold hops. Have some starting to pop out.

 

And late in the summer/early fall you will be able to sit under your trellis and think hoppy thoughts!

 

Awesome how old are your bines and how many are in that picture? Do you cut your shoots back to one strong one?

 

It is an 'old' plant. My guess is about 8 years old. And it was originally grown for ornamental reasons so there was no cut back so there are many bines (maybe 20ish).

As mentioned above, no cut back. It is my understanding that at hop farms they only want a few (three?) bines growing up their trellis (twine I suppose).

Will you get a 'better' harvest if you cut back your bines? I suppose a commercial hop farmer would say yes.

FWIW, every year I get about 15 - 20 ounces of hop cones (measured wet) and I use them to homebrew a wet hopped beer in September. I call this beer a Harvest Ale.

Cheers!

 

Yes, I have never had issues with mildew with this plant.

I do have to set up Japanese Beetle traps during their season since they like to munch on the leaves.

Cheers!

 

Rip I’m not sure where my wife got them. I just put them together. We wanted to grow stuff to make fresh salsa but I took over some of the footage to try hops. I got the trellis from Gardeners.com Squash Titan it’s called.

 

Mine aren’t up , but I cut them down in a week or 2, then pick some nice secondary shoots get them up 8 -10 feet, trim leaves up to 4 feet slowly but before mildew spores start climbing upwards.

 

Sadly, I pulled all my hops out this year. Just could not stop them from getting ravaged by Japanese beetles every year. Tried everything, natural control, chemical control, grub control, beetle traps. Just got to the point that it wasn't worth my trouble.

 

I get Japanese beetles every year. They eat parts of the leaves, but doesn't seem to hurt cone growth.

 

For fertilizer: depending on number of plants, there are a few things out there that are pretty good all rounders. Dr. Earth has a couple with good numbers; all purpose (4-4-4), Vegie (4-6-3), fruit tree (5-5-2) or the citrus(6-3-3). These are good for hops the nitrogen (first number) is the most important, but the others help plant health. Supplement with some bloodmeal (typically 12-0-0 or so) and you should be good. Just don't over do the fertilizer or you can burn your plants with too much nitrogen.

For pests: one of the best things you can use is Neem oil. It is however not the best for everything you might want in your yard. Application time, is key if you have veggies and other flowers near by that are for pollinators. Neem is the ultimate all rounder. Dr. Earth again, has things that I am going to try for the first time this year as well. Same as neem, I need to spray really early as I have honey bees as well for the first time this year... Hopefully it is not too much of an issue. For mold/fungal issue, I am a fan of copper based products and have been using Bonide copper fungicide. This year I will not as it is a big no no with honey bees...Serenade will be my fall back if the Dr. Earth stuff flops as it is bee safe or so they say. I do use Japanese beetle traps, a lot of them, and I have apparently taught the racoons and skunks that once they are full they can get an easy meal, as i usually only have to replace the bag over toss them.

I did a lot of weeding out on mine hops last week, and all of them really shot up this last week. My Fuggle seems to have had a bad winter, as I only see two of nine hills with shoot. Only looks like a couple hills of Columbus didn't make it otherwise. Going to be a busy year I think. Put up more wires and got the W clips for the lines to try this year as well.

 

I also have issues with Japanese beetles every year but a couple of traps located >50 feet away from the hop plant works for me.

Cheers!

 

I was usually able to get some hops, but not optimal growth. The plants just got so stressed.

 

ripper, your neem and mirical grow should be fine. I keep these products inside where they won’t get wet or freeze. Kept mirical grow for up to 4 years, but I do buy it in 25 lb bags for flowers and seal it tight after the greenhouse is closed.