'tipping' Hop Bines

[Bongchitis]

My Aunties best friends cousin's dog did have some good literature on the tipping and potency but someone pilfered it. Apparently the flowers can actually protect themselves, extreme heat and sunlight can degrade the resins so it's a bit of this and the other really. More sun equals a more compact plant, the more compact the plant the better and a single crown gives a good balance of this.
The way I see it, the best way to increase your yield would be to split your rhizomes.

Yeah man, there are heaps of growth parameters you can tweak but as you mention it is a balancing act. To promote a certain growth characteristic you are inevitably going to have to pay one way or another in terms of yield, work, size etc. What do they say about cake? It is fun playing though.

Splitting the rhizomes is a great idea for yield but being 1st year babies I thought I would leave them be. Increasing yield isn't really a motivator, moreso the reduced height but positive effects on yield are not out of the question (negatives either).

All I can say for now is that both plants are behaving as expected with the proliferation of laterals and look super healthy. I was never really in doubt about tipping reducing height and bushing a plant out, just the effect it would have on flowering.

 

[Bongchitis]

Time for me to get over my embarrasment!

Went away for a week in Jan when we had ultra hot days in a row. My plants didn't like being dry and sunbaking for that long and at least half of the bines died off. By this stage though they were 2ft above the fenceline say around 7ft tall and starting to produce the begginings of cones. I was spewing.

They have only just started to recover but most of the regrowth is basal and really spindly. The taller bines to remain are starting to develop cones again and I have run out of growth height so I have to thread them down through previous growth.

Note to self: Keep the water up, esspecially in pots and move location to a milder microclimate with more vertical growth space. Would hate to have seen the bine length if I didn't tip.

Anyway, The experiment continues. I was happy with everything until I neglected them now they are sick with only enough decent cones for dry hopping a schooner. Always next year.

Cheers.

 

[samward]

Anyway, The experiment continues. I was happy with everything until I neglected them now they are sick with only enough decent cones for dry hopping a schooner. Always next year.

Cheers

To resurrect an old thread, did you have any luck with a harvest in 2011??? Or did you come to any conclusions about tip vs no tip?


Cheers
Sam.

 

[Bongchitis]

To resurrect an old thread, did you have any luck with a harvest in 2011??? Or did you come to any conclusions about tip vs no tip?


Cheers
Sam.

Hahaha thought this one was dead.... at least for a couple of years.

I moved house a year ago and didn't get to take the hops with me. I am gathering some varieties now to hopefully get to a decent level in the ground, in a couple of years.

I still think that this method will yield a more uniform crop in terms of hop size and maturity at the least and I will be trying again for sure. Problem is that single plant comparisons over various years provides nothing more than the anecdotal and thus I probably never had any real way to tell if it worked based upon my own work.

I was kinda hoping when I posted the topic that others had varied experiences and we could start to gather some kind of data set and I am kind of happy actually, for the bump, because with all of these guys growing their own there may be a bit more advice etc out there.

soooo

bump

 

[adryargument]

Had 10 plants last season, they got tipped fortnightly by possums.
I found that if they get tipped, they either continue growing or the bine grows out on both sides, turning into 2 bines.

 

[Yob]

I moved house a year ago and didn't get to take the hops with me. I am gathering some varieties now to hopefully get to a decent level in the ground, in a couple of years.

Ha! I wonder how the new tenants/owners are going with the yard full of hops? You should swing by at harvest time with a few beers and a garbage bag or three..

Yon

Ed.. Phucking phone

 

[samward]

Hahaha thought this one was dead.... at least for a couple of years.

I moved house a year ago and didn't get to take the hops with me. I am gathering some varieties now to hopefully get to a decent level in the ground, in a couple of years.

I still think that this method will yield a more uniform crop in terms of hop size and maturity at the least and I will be trying again for sure. Problem is that single plant comparisons over various years provides nothing more than the anecdotal and thus I probably never had any real way to tell if it worked based upon my own work.

I was kinda hoping when I posted the topic that others had varied experiences and we could start to gather some kind of data set and I am kind of happy actually, for the bump, because with all of these guys growing their own there may be a bit more advice etc out there.

soooo

bump

Don't you know nothing ever goes away on the internet....

[topic="65777"]This[/topic] thread started getting into a discussion about tipping bines, and qwertyfly linked to this thread. So I just thought I would follow up to see if there were any results in.

All being equal a couple of us (including myself) should be resuming the experiment this spring. So we'll have to see what the results show.

Cheers
Sam

 

[hoppy2B]

If you want yield you need to grow the plants as big as you possibly can. h34r:

 

[qwertyfly]

Fist Time Hop Grower

Pride of Ringwood
Cluster
Willamette
Hersbruker
Mt Hood

All planted in a Box with no base, approx 1/2 Mtr potting mix.
I have a clothes line (unused) on each side that i plan to grow them on.

Cluster has sent shoots already.
I have had some advise to cover with straw to put them back to sleep for a bit longer,
that sounds like good advice from "Muscovy" so I have done so.

Not sure yet if I will tip, I think for a first season I would like to let them do what they will to build a strong root system.
Also as a first Time I would like to see how they grow etc...
I will try to post some pics of the planter in the next few days.
I just have so little Daylight to work with at this time of year.

 

[Yob]

If you want yield you need to grow the plants as big as you possibly can. h34r:

With what do you qualify this? Go back to the start and read this thread again.

As a first year hop grower yourself have you done this experiment already? If so post your results, if not then piss off till you do have something of value to add..

Some of us here are keen to experiment, if youre not joining in, float your own boat in the 2012 Hops thread and let us keep this on the topic at hand..

Tipping hop plants.

 

[hoppy2B]

With what do you qualify this? Go back to the start and read this thread again.

As a first year hop grower yourself have you done this experiment already? If so post your results, if not then piss off till you do have something of value to add..

Some of us here are keen to experiment, if youre not joining in, float your own boat in the 2012 Hops thread and let us keep this on the topic at hand..

Tipping hop plants.

I'm merely making a comment in terms of overall plant size Yob. The bines carry the cones, and the more bine yardage you have the greater the yield.
I don't recommend limiting the number of bines especially in the early years as pruning the top restricts the plants roots from growing. Tip pruning may have benefits for management but I very much doubt you'll see a yield increase. You won't compensate for your inability to grow hops by tip pruning Yob.
The following is a picture of my POR. I grew it from a 3mm thick by 5cm bit of rhizome, and even that was a bit iffy as it came from a rotten dead whole rhizome crown which had been left out on the ground over winter. I recon I really grew it from one bud. It had a very tentative start and almost didn't make it.
Ended up yielding 900+ grams wet.

 

[Bongchitis]

I'm merely making a comment in terms of overall plant size Yob. The bines carry the cones, and the more bine yardage you have the greater the yield.
I don't recommend limiting the number of bines especially in the early years as pruning the top restricts the plants roots from growing. Tip pruning may have benefits for management but I very much doubt you'll see a yield increase. You won't compensate for your inability to grow hops by tip pruning Yob.
The following is a picture of my POR. I grew it from a 3mm thick by 5cm bit of rhizome, and even that was a bit iffy as it came from a rotten dead whole rhizome crown which had been left out on the ground over winter. I recon I really grew it from one bud. It had a very tentative start and almost didn't make it.
Ended up yielding 900+ grams wet.

Wow! No wonder it grew so well..... Look how well you have strung it up. Looks fantastic.

"The more bine yardage the greater the yield"...... I agree. I reckon that if you take a bine that has the potential to grow say 5m and tip it then you get 2-4 growth tips that in total will produce way more than 5m growth. It may not be quite as vigorous as the 1 big bine and you wont get the really big cones but you will get many more average sized cones that are closer to the ground... thats the theory anyway.

Will this result in overall yield increase? Dunno. Does it work on other plants? Hell Yes.

 

[Bongchitis]

Ha! I wonder how the new tenants/owners are going with the yard full of hops? You should swing by at harvest time with a few beers and a garbage bag or three..

Yon

Ed.. Phucking phone

Haha, the owner is my father in law and I would not buy him a warm can of VB on a really hot day.

Hes no gardener and the hops perished long ago.

He also doesnt like anything I brew as it has too much flavour. <_<

He also doesn't like the fact that I give his daughter a good going over on a regular basis h34r:

 

[Yob]

Haha, the owner is my father in law and I would not buy him a warm can of VB on a really hot day.

Hes no gardener and the hops perished long ago.

He also doesnt like anything I brew as it has too much flavour. <_<

He also doesn't like the fact that I give his daughter a good going over on a regular basis h34r:

Photo's? :lol:

 

[hoppy2B]

Wow! No wonder it grew so well..... Look how well you have strung it up. Looks fantastic.

I think that POR yielded really late because of its slow start. Tip pruning may have given a higher yield if done at the right time. Rather than bunches of cones I just got single cones at the leaf axils mostly.
One thing I did notice with any tips that snapped off was that it just generally delayed them. Rather than bushing out new tips just started growing out from where it had been tipped.
I don't want to be negative and say that tipping doesn't work because I have considered it and it may have a place, but it doesn't seem like a magic bullet from what I've seen, particularly with some varieties.

 

[Yob]

A few weeks ago I had a new roof put on the shed/brewery.. the builders naturally crushed the shit out my fuggles/POR and Tett.. the poor thing (fuggles) was decimated and hasnt really been that happy.. anyways, one of the bines that had the growing tip murdered has since sprouted from the laterals and seems to be reaching for the sky again.. only this time with 2 tips



Bless it, anyway, will be keen to see how it goes over the next few months..

Ive tipped a couple of other bines as well, mostly on the Chinook, so I now have bines at various heights (on the same plant) so I can compare the growth.



:icon_cheers:

 

[Yob]

Firstly. sorry for the lighting, its a pretty poor day to be taking photos.



The above photo shows a bine that was snapped off in the wind (left) its showing an increase of lateral growth to that of 2 un tipped bines on the right, as the cones develop on the laterals and not the main growing bine its assumed that there will be greater opportunity for cone development.



Anecdotally, my Chinook sort of folded down on itself and then grew back up its own bine is exhibiting similar lateral growth and has in fact started to give a few burrs,

There are 3 plants I have that are all showing that either tipping or tying down the growth tip will promote the growth of the laterals.

Yeild from the bines will be the interesting thing to observe in a month or two.

 

[Hippy]

A timely reminder yob.
My bines are starting to reach the top of my trellises so I think I will tip to encourage lateral growth.

 

[Yob]

Once they get some length over the top and start to fall a bit, I reckon they could easily be tied back to themselves, less damage than 'tipping' them and can get more laterals as the tip continues to grow.

The Caterbury Goldings I have at the front of the house, reached the top and went under the eaves is exhibiting the same pattern.





I think I mentioned this in the past somewhere, there is an enzyme in the growing tip of this genus (well at least it's cousin) that inhibits the growth below it, tying down or tipping reduces the effectiveness of this enzyme allowing the development of laterals or secondary growth.

As I say though, all this is still kind of anecdotal evidence but certainly seems to be common across multiple plants with the same result.

:icon_cheers: