First time growing hops

[junior1]

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[GlentoranMark]

Has it produced any hops? What size of a plant was it when you first got it and when did you plant it?

I'm assuming you coul train those hops so you don't need a ladder the pick the highest ones :)

 

[junior1]

The plants were a xmas present from my daughter and son in law. The plants are now touching my roof. Almost 20 feet high. I planted them in January this year. My daughter said that she bought them on Amazon. They have survived the Scottish frost no problem. I've been feeding them on the leftovers of my homebrew from the fermenter. I'm getting small cones showing now.

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[Robin54]

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Looking good!! so far!

 

[GlentoranMark]

As someone who grows a lot of veg, it might be best to train the plant around that window. When it comes to picking you'll need a ladder! If I read correct, you've to cut back the plants at the end of the season so it would be a good time to put a trellis over the window and the hops will do the rest.

I've got involved with a Church (I'm non religious btw) but I seen them growing in pots last year so I asked if I could put a few raised beds in. They agreed and paid for almost everything! I've a raised bed of my own (mine is the furthest away) and other people have one but I've been given a free reign. I plan on a few hop plants for decoration :twisted:

 

[junior1]

Great thanks for the information will be ready for next year

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[Fil]

while your up the ladder harvesting this year mount a little pulley up near the roof so next year you can loop some twine on it for the hops to grow up and when it comes to harvesting you can simply drop the lot down to your level if they grow too tall you can also drop the twine a bit during growth too :)

It can take a few years to establish a plant so yr1 and yr2 crops may not be spectacular, fwiw my soil is not ideal and hops in planted a few years ago provided a couple of bags per plant in year 1 virtually nothing in year 2 and i thought they had died off but they surfaced late this year and have now passed the growth point they reached in yr 1 fingers crossed :)

 

[Richie_asg1]

Is it possible to train them horizontally along washing lines once they get to 10 ft, because then a pulley at the end of each would again make picking easier. I know other climbers manage this, but I don't know if they would produce as much crop like this. Blackberries actually produce more when the runners go horizontal.

My seeds are up but are mainly an experiment as they were cheap. About 20 came up from 50 seeds for 99p. If they survive up here then I will buy named varieties later on, and these can go into the wild.