Re: Humulus lupulus: Hops
- To:
- Subject: Re: Humulus lupulus: Hops
- From: M* &* L* D*
- Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 06:57:53 -0800
From: Janet Smithen:
>
>I'm so happy the vine talk has turned to hops. I have a golden variety I
>just love: Humulus lupulus 'Aureus'. It twines on a west facing trellis
>and up over an arbor. Nothing stops it, to at least 20 ft. and the
>beautiful maple shaped leaves shade the arbor all summer. Then it
>dangles its piney scented flowers from the top during the autumn. I cut
>it to the ground when it starts looking shabby: November.
>
>My question: the basal clump has grown quite large and thick; at least 3
>ft. by 6 ft. Shall I try to dig up the whole thing and chop it apart
>before re-planting, or shall I just "spade prune" around the outside of
>the clump?
I looked through all of the written materials that I have collected on hop
growing, and surprisingly, I only found one source that mentioned this
situation. It says that hop plants should be divided or severely root pruned
every three years. It also suggests an annual spring minor root pruning.
Rhizomes should be pruned before new shoots are 6 inches (15 cm) tall. Cut
back roots to a 1 foot square (30 cm) around the crown. Remove the roots
outside this area. It mentioned using a sharp knife, but seems like a shovel
would work OK.
It is also common (in commercial hopyards and otherwise) to prune the shoots
in the spring to limit the number of shoots coming from the rhizome.
If anyone is interested in buying hop rhizomes, I bought mine from Freshops
in Oregon. In 1999 they had a selection of 10 different cultivars priced at
$3 per rhizome. Their website is:
http://www.freshops.com/
--Mark
central San Joaquin Valley, California
USDA zone 9; Sunset zone 9
