Hops shoots

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Wahey - a hops board!

My Cascade rhizome finally produced a few shoots a few weeks back. Following advise here I snipped back the main strong shoot and now 4 more have sprang up. They're growing waaaay slower than the first one, although this could be down to the warm snap when the first one grew. My question is should I trim away another few shoots? How many shoots should you have per rhizome?

Thanks in advance...

[krockett]

Hi Kevin,

I planted a cascade myself this year. Snipped the main shoot out also. I have maybe 6 or 8 new shoots now - approaching a foot tall.

I am leaving mine as-is - I think its just the first you're meant to remove.

-D.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Cheers D. So one rhizome is capable enough of sustaining plenty cone-bearing shoots. Good stuff.

Mine are only about 3 inches tall yet, but I've been told that the growing season here in Roundwood can be a few weeks behind. No hurry...

[krockett]

Yeah I'm in Cork. Have had my rhizome planted since February as well.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Hops off-shoots!

Two hops plants growing away grando, but some off-shoots have started to grow. Should I snip this back or encourage them? I presume they're slowing down the overall growth

[Drum]

By off shoots do you mean side branching from the main vines? If so, i would just let them grow and give them something to climb if you can. Do you have any pictures?

Is it the plants first year in the ground? My theory with first year plants is to let it grow as much as it wants above ground so that there is enough leaf area to produce plenty of food for rhizome growth in the autumn. Im working with a cutting I planted at the start of june so I wasnt expecting much of a harvest but I wanted the plant to develop a good strong rhizome to survive the winter and so I can divide the rhizome for next year.

Once the side shoots are about a foot long ive been training them around the nearest bit of rope so they start growing upwards.     

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Right on both counts! (Side branches from the main vines and first years growth) It's a bit dark now so I'll try get a photo up tomorrow.

I have them growing up cord to about 7 foot high, after this the cord goes horizontal for around 10 feet to the wall. Since the vines got to the horizontal part growth has been a bit slower and the side branches started. I suppose they only like to grow up - makes sense!

How do people usually train their hop bines? I've only a bungalow so can't go up the side of the house much.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Here's some snaps of the bines. You can see as they turned off horizontally they started sprouting these side brances.

Every few days I have to go out and wind the new growth around the cord