Hops

[bpgreen]

Yup!! It's a Stoneless Peach. That's the only fruit tree on the property, unless you count Wild Cherries.

Oops!! Do Hops count? That's what is beginning to grow on the arbor.

Nope. Hops grow on bines, not trees. And you harvest the cones.

[Dad&theDuke]

Hops you say?? I just planted two Cascade Hops vines on our Pergola. Training them with twine that is angled about 10-15 degrees from vertical. They are in an area that gets morning sun, dappled from 2 pm on. They are growing about 6-8 inches per day. I will take pictures after my business trip. Pretty cool vines.

Yup!! It's a Stoneless Peach. That's the only fruit tree on the property, unless you count Wild Cherries.

Oops!! Do Hops count? That's what is beginning to grow on the arbor.

Nope. Hops grow on bines, not trees. And you harvest the cones.

[bernstem]

Some friends of mine in college grew hops. They got to be ~20 feet long by the end of the season. How big is the trellis/pergola?

[bpgreen]

Some friends of mine in college grew hops. They got to be ~20 feet long by the end of the season. How big is the trellis/pergola?

The first year or so, you can probably get by with something around 10-12 feet high, but they definitely grow taller than that (I should have changed my approach this year and will need to change next year).

As an aside, since they grow so quickly, it's a good idea to fertilizer fairly heavily, at least in the spring. You don't want to fertilizer too heavily later in the year since that can encourage top growth at the expense of flowering (the comes are basically flowers). Some people will fertilize fairly heavily all year the first year, since the harvest is likely to be small, anyway and fertilizing heavily will lead to stronger plants the following year.

Interestingly, the tops die off every year and they grow from the roots the following year.

[Dad&theDuke]

My pergola is big and sturdy. Built from 6x6s with 4x6 main/cross members and concrete footings.

I will fertilize all season in an effort to promote growth. Can you Clarify the statement about the vine growing from the roots every year?

Do you mean that all the training I do is for naught? It starts from scratch every year? I was hoping for a perennial vine that re-leafs in the spring and continues where I left off the prior year. Il

[bpgreen]

My pergola is big and sturdy. Built from 6x6s with 4x6 main/cross members and concrete footings.

I will fertilize all season in an effort to promote growth. Can you Clarify the statement about the vine growing from the roots every year?

Do you mean that all the training I do is for naught? It starts from scratch every year? I was hoping for a perennial vine that re-leafs in the spring and continues where I left off the prior year. Il

We should probably start a new thread for the hop discussion. We're taking this way off track since it's supposed to be about Andy's renovation.

[Dad&theDuke]

Hopefully Andy can cut
And paste the vine portion of the thread. Thanks.

[andy10917]

Topic split from original topic by Admin

[Dad&theDuke]

Thanks Andy.

[andy10917]

BTW, the thread is now owned by BP, as he owns the first posting in the Thread.

[bpgreen]

Accidentally hit submit before finishing.

Thanks for splitting this off, Andy.

This is my fourth season growing hops, so I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I've read up on growing hops and I do have a few years under my belt.

Hops are bines, not vines.

Vines have tendrils or suckers that cling so the plant can climb, but the stem grows vertically. Grapes grow on vines (just one example).

Bines twist around things to cling so they can climb. In addition to hops, a bine most of us probably have seen (unfortunately) is field bindweed.

Hops are very hardy. They grow wild in the salt lake valley and rainfall in the summer months is about 2-3 inches (that's for the whole summer, not per month).

Dad & the Duke, unfortunately, you understood me correctly. Hops are perennial, but each year, the top dies and it grows from the root the next year.

Hops can grow from seed (that's how we get new varieties). But they also propogate from rhizomes (so the new plant is basically a clone of the parent). You can also start a new plant by sticking part of a bine in some soil (for best results, make sure you bury part that includes a bud). I've started a number of plants this way, leaving the new plant in a pot (still attached to the parent plant) for much of the season, planting it in the ground in the fall. I've read that you can bury part of the bine in the fall after harvesting the cones and they'll grow new plants in the spring. I've tried that without success.

There are many guides available on the internet. Here's one I wrote for a brewing forum I frequent:http://www.mrbeerfans.com/ubbthreads/ub ... Post331621

It's basically made up of things I've read in a number of guides, with things I've learned from my own growing thrown in.