Hop growing (again)

[Tom]

So, those first hop shoots are poking up, at last. Happy days. Two questions for the experts:

1: Are the bull shoots a different colour? Like, that strange phallic purple shoot, will the later ones be more 'normal' (not normal for a penis, mind, normal for a plant)?

2: If I cut off the bull shoots on my first year plant (delivered a couple of weeks ago), will extra shoots come up, or should I let them go for the first year?

[Shane Phelan]

Bull shoot? 

Did you read the FAQ in the wiki?

Completely forgot that was there, a very useful read, my hops are also shooting up. 

[Tom]

From the Brew Wiki:
My plant has started growing and the first shoot is growing very fast!:
Pinch it out, i.e. cut it off. The first grower has very long internodal gaps  [...]and for its size it will give less cones than slower growing ones.. etc.

But nothing about the first year growth. Should I pinch out bull shoots in newly bought rhizomes, or would that weaken it too much?

[Shane Phelan]

I was reading this:

You've prepared the bed before winter, and now, after the long cold months, the hop shoots are finally poking their white/maroon heads above the surface.

These shoots, which will appear around March/April, are known as Bull Shoots, and will race up your support, and won't be far short of a ladder to the sky. They will produce flowers, and will be very impressive to behold. However, as a hop grower, you're more interested with the shoots that will follow, if you cut these down.

That's right, you've waited all winter for the first signs of life, and now you've got to cut them back.

Wait a couple of weeks for all the bull shoots to emerge, then cut them back to soil level. In a couple of weeks more you'll see the true hop shoots, which will grow much slower, won't reach as tall, but will crop much heavier, and thanks to them not encroaching into passenger airspace, they'll be easier to reach when harvesting. The reason they crop heavier is that the distance between the leaf pairings, and therefore the distance between the potential hop tendrils, is shorter. That way, instead of 3 or four bunches of hops per foot of plant, you get more like 5 or six.

From here.

[Tom]

Not being funny, Shiny, but I would take everything you read from my own blog with a pinch of salt, but thanks for finding it for me!

Tube, do you think then that I should only pinch out the bull shoot if I see others forming at the base, otherwise leave it? I'm just worried that if I pinch out the only shoot to grow I'll upset the plant!

[Shane Phelan]

Didn't even realise!  I had added it to my bookmarks and everything. 

[Tom]

Well, at the end of this growing season it'll be a more complete site, once I've got these newbies out of the way, and got a hop-drier sorted etc. And thanks for looking.

At the moment there's one shoot on the Early Bird, at soil level, and three on the smalled Progress. They're above soil level, but not much higher. But they look bulky, like the quick ones did on the Nugget last year.

[matthewdick23]

hi there

went to get my cutting from the shed- had planted it in loose soil and left it covered in bubble wrap in the shed- a little light

was going to get it and put it inside in windowsill to get going with some sunglight and water

this is what i found



never done hops before- that look alright? good to put in sunlight and water now? then transplant once more established?

[matthewdick23]

cut it back- k- to what length?

do I let the others grow out and just trim the biggest/first one?