Hops Reached Top Of Trellis?

[river_bouy]

Hi Guys,
I am trying to grow my own hops for the first time.

Planted a Chinook rhizome about 1 month ago and it has already reached the top of 'trellis'.

What to do now? I can't really extend the trellis higher, but could lower the bine to lay on the ground so it can keep growing up.

 

[MarkBastard]

Just leave it how it is.

 

[Adam Howard]

You can cut the top of the stem off and in losing that the plant will begin to throw lateral shoots which bear most of the flowers.

 

[PhantomEasey]

You can cut the top of the stem off and in losing that the plant will begin to throw lateral shoots which bear most of the flowers.

I've been pondering this for a while Adamski, is it similar in principle to 'dead heading' roses where nipping the tip off the bine causes it to throw it's energy into concentrating on cone develop rather than bine development?

 

[BjornJ]

Barls mentioned this as well, I think he said he pinched off the vine when it reached the end of the trellies and it started shooting side ways in stead.
His trellies are probably 3 meters tall though.
Would this work on my balcony? Let it grow to 1 meter tall then pinch it off?

Guessing the hop growers would have done this to ease harvesting if it worked down to 1 meter

thanks
Bjorn

 

[Adam Howard]

I've been pondering this for a while Adamski, is it similar in principle to 'dead heading' roses where nipping the tip off the bine causes it to throw it's energy into concentrating on cone develop rather than bine development?

I've got 5 different plants and don't have the tallest structure for them to grow up. If you don't cut the tip off they get the same signal to proliferate laterally when the apical shoot gets right up above the trellis without anything to hold on to. Swings around in the wind for a bit and then gives up.

 

[PhantomEasey]

Ah yeah so it's pretty much just jumping the waiting period for the unsupported bine structure to break off from exposure to the elements.

Thanks mate

 

[river_bouy]

Do the side shoots need something to hang on to?

I'm thinking I will just leave it and hopefully the plant put it's energy into side shoots.

 

[Adam Howard]

You can just leave it but hops hang on to anything you give them. One string is pretty inadequate for a season of growth. I'd look at doing a few more. Laterals will climb too if you let them.

 

[MarkBastard]

Do the side shoots need something to hang on to?

I'm thinking I will just leave it and hopefully the plant put it's energy into side shoots.

The laterals are pretty happy to climb the main bine.

 

[MaltyHops]

You can cut the top of the stem off and in losing that the plant will begin to
throw lateral shoots which bear most of the flowers.

Just started thinking whether it might be good to do this deliberately
to get lots of laterals happening. It looks like I'll probably have 3-6
bines climbing up 3-4 sisal strings I've got around each pot.

Thinking maybe cut the apical head off the first bine to go up a string
at say a foot above the soil and let that go its way, then the next
bine that climbs on that string top it off at 2 feet off the soil, the
next bine topped at 3 feet and so on - ought to make it pretty
bushy.

T.

 

[Superoo]

where are you river buoy to have your hops away that quick !!!! ?

 

[Adam Howard]

Just started thinking whether it might be good to do this deliberately
to get lots of laterals happening. It looks like I'll probably have 3-6
bines climbing up 3-4 sisal strings I've got around each pot.

Thinking maybe cut the apical head off the first bine to go up a string
at say a foot above the soil and let that go its way, then the next
bine that climbs on that string top it off at 2 feet off the soil, the
next bine topped at 3 feet and so on - ought to make it pretty
bushy.

T.

Nah you're really better off having the initial shoots get to a good height before cutting them off. The taller it is the more laterals you get. My hops get to around 3 metres tall before they run out of climb, when they begin to fill in there's a huge amount of leaf matter for energy production, combine that with a potassium addition and flowers are GO!

 

[river_bouy]

where are you river buoy to have your hops away that quick !!!! ?

Hi Superoo,
I'm in Sydney. And this is a first year plant. I was pretty surprised too how quick it went up.

I've heard chinook are one of fastest to grow.

I planted some hallertau about the same time and it is only about 2 feet tall. The Tettnanger I planted was the first to sprout, reached about 2cm and stopped?