Slow start for my hops?

[chromesphere]

Hey guys,

Had a couple of questions about my cascade hop plant. I think maybe its having a slow start? this is a photo of it today. Its picked up alot of growth over the last week (maybe due to warm weather in melbourne), but i have seen hop plants that are much larger at this stage of the year. What do you think?

Also as this is the first year for these hops (planted dec 2014) i was wondering how i prune it? Do i take off the smaller bines and leave 2-3 of the more vigiously growing bines, or just leave it alone?

Thanks for your help!
cs

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Dont prune it.

Keep it moist and give it regular feeds of something like fish emulsion ad powerfeed

 

[Dan Pratt]

Looks about right for first year. Let it go wild and don't expect too much, come year 3 it will be awesome.

 

[chromesphere]

No problem guys thanks for the advice, i will leave it as it is and feed it with some liquid fertiliser. Hoping i get SOMETHING off it this year.
Cheers
CS​

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I would be getting a trellis up real quick. It will take off quicker than you realise

 

[chromesphere]

I actually have one behind it, its a wooden cross pattern trellis, not ideal but the best i can come up with in my small backyard!

 

[chromesphere]

Well, there was obviously no need to worry, 2 weeks after my original post and my cascade has been growing atleast an inch a day! Its really shot up.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Your going to need a MUCH BIGGER trellis

 

[chromesphere]

LOL you said it Stu!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Actually...I would ditch the lattice and run some wire/rope up to the gutter fascia...then over the roof

And keep the water and power feed/fish emulsion up to the them They will be hungry and need a fair bit of water

 

[chromesphere]

Im thinking next year maybe drilling into the brick (neighbours garage wall) and putting some eyelets and wire for it to climb up. I also think i should isolate it from the rest of the vegie patch so it doesnt take over. Digging a trench and putting down (something rot resistant) to stop it encrouching on the neighbouring vegie patch. Ill change things up next winter!

Ive been dumping alot of water onto it over the last couple of weeks, i read hops will pretty much consume as much water / nitrate as you are willing to pump into them!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

It will only grow up so wont take much space in the garden and it wont really spread like grass

 

[chromesphere]

I was expecting rhizomes to wonder everywhere in the vegie patch (like mint I guess), does that happen?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Not like mint.

They will spread but not excessively

 

[chromesphere]

Oh good, I wont go nuts trying to contain it then

 

[wynnum1]

Giving some trace elements may be worth doing liquid fertilizer may have some but most are very weak.

 

[Yob]

A sprinkling of slow release usually will sort that out. I try to sprinkle it before I mulch but seem to have forgotten this year for some odd reason..

 

[chromesphere]

So....needless to say, I had nothing to worry about! Not sure how this fairs or what it will translate to as far as yeild goes but its gone kind of viral... The set up is obviously not ideal either but it should still work when its harvest time all the same. I can get to it quite easily actually.

 

[BottloBill]

So....needless to say, I had nothing to worry about! Not sure how this fairs or what it will translate to as far as yeild goes but its gone kind of viral... The set up is obviously not ideal either but it should still work when its harvest time all the same. I can get to it quite easily actually.

European variety is it?

 

[chromesphere]

Cascade