Low Stress Training for Hops

Low Stress Training (LST) is not a new idea and it works well for other plants. From looking at other threads, it looks like some of you are doing something similar already. It is a little like espalier.

The idea with LST is to promote what would be underutilized bottom growth to better utilized top growth.

Take a plant, hops in this case, that has a vertical growth habit and bend it horizontal. This will encourage that bottom growth to grow more and grow upward. The natural top of the plant will continue to do its thing. I think this will work especially well with hops since I read about trimming back to one or two bines per rhizome, or where they come out in a cluster. It should make a plant with one bine grow as if it were many bines. This also allows more light and air to the plant. It should make harvesting easier, too.

Wait until the plant is strong enough to take being bent, but hasn't gotten to hard or woody yet. Take a length of fishing line, twine or whatever and loop it around the stem near the top. Weight or pin the free ends of the line to the ground. This will bend the plant down, horizontal. Be careful, you can bend too much and break the plant.

Repeat this as the tip continues to grow. Do this until the plant is as long as you like. Then, just let it grow. I think the hops will have to stay weighted or pinned to retain the best horizontal position. That should be just fine.

There will probably have to be adjustments made to the ties along the way. Plants can also be tied along the bottom, now top growth, as you like.

If you're familiar with trimming a plant to make it branch out more, this is like that without the stress and potential disease or pest attack of healing cuts. You also don't loose any plant material.

Here's a fancy drawing to illustrate, and what I have right now. This is a first year Cascade. I used fishing line and a slip shot weight.

Wish i had the space to try it.

I'm interested in how this goes. Some side branches will begin to grow like main bines when you train them to climb. A couple concerns I would have are danger of mildew and creating too many sub-binds(?). The reason for trimming undergrowth is specifically to guard against mildew, reduce pest attack, and promote nutrients toward the upper portion of the plant where most of the hops are produced. Then, the reason for pruning the plant to 4 bines is to maximize the production of of the plant. I wonder how the increased foliage will bear on the bine and cone production.

Keep us posted

uh...interesting. When I search on "Low Stress Training", all the images that come up are of hops "cousin".

That aside, I have my doubts this will work. Everytime you bend the bine over and pin it to the ground, that's basically the same as what we call "laying down the bine" for the purpose of propagation. Every pin point will start rooting. The plant will be putting its energy into root propagation instead of cone production.

It would also limit the amount of time the plant has to grow up. If it doesn't hit at least 12 feet, you will seriously impact production. I would suspect that one cluster of 3 bines at 16 feet high would out produce 8 bines at 6 feet high.

I will state I'm not a horticulturalist and this is just my gut feel. I would love to be proven wrong.

Let's assume the intent of this alternative training was not to provide ground contact at the "pinning" points, and take that off the table. Then what?

I'm not sure one can relate production from more conventional approaches gone poorly to this paradigm. If the OP is going to take two of the same strain plants and do one conventionally and the other alternatively, it would be a valid and interesting experiment that I'd enjoy watching progress to a conclusion...

Cheers!

OK, so if the pinning is kept out of the soil, you just end up with a horizontally growing plant.

Now the question becomes, does just one sidearm try to become the new dominate growing tip or does one side arm per pinning point become a dominate growing tip.

And if it is the latter, will they have time to grow tall enough to produce more than if they just grew straight up in the first place?

I agree, it would be interesting to see a side by side comparison.

I basically do the same thing by growing on chain link fence rows. Works pretty well. I'm not sure that laying the bine on the ground is the best practice thoug. You're just asking for insect damage. I would let it grow about a foot tall or so and then start training it horizontally.

GVH_Dan said:

OK, so if the pinning is kept out of the soil, you just end up with a horizontally growing plant.

Now the question becomes, does just one sidearm try to become the new dominate growing tip or does one side arm per pinning point become a dominate growing tip.

And if it is the latter, will they have time to grow tall enough to produce more than if they just grew straight up in the first place?

I agree, it would be interesting to see a side by side comparison.

Click to expand...

I don't think time is a major factor unless you have a very short growing season. My neighbors gardener tore most of my CTZ plant off the fence (thinking it was a nuisance vine) mid to late June a couple years back. It made a full recovery in no time and I still got a pretty nice harvest from it. Not quite as good as it would have been, but much more than I expected. The only big difference was, harvest was delayed by about a month.

I didn't know they rooted so easily that way. I'll have to keep an eye on that. It could be bent to just above the ground or a piece of plastic could be put under it where it would touch.

I'll look more into the 12' thing, too.

It would be great to do a side by side, but this is the only one up so far. Gotta run what I brung.

As the bines grow, you'll have an abundance of growth as it is. I'm guessing this is the first year you've planted hops? They may not look like much in year one, but in a few years, you'll have difficulty keeping up with them and any attempt to make them bushier will be wayyyy unnecessary.


As noted above though, they root easily and you'll have additional growth in subsequent years if you bury some of the bines this year. Spend the first year nurturing the plant and be happy with what ever harvest you get. If i recall, i got about an ounce or so per plant in year one.

I see that. Yeah, some of these hop gardens are like impenetrable walls of vegetation.

This aint looking too well.

For one, something is eating it. I suspect snails or slugs. Okay, little bastards. You want beer stuff? I got some nice big bowls of it. Drink til you drown.

For two, I overestimated how much sun this spot gets. Well, this one spot. Good news is, just a foot or so from here, and in the direction I'm training, is more sun. LST may pay off yet. I can train to the sun.

Another week and things are looking better. I've now two weighted ends, though it's not from the LST. It's what has sprouted from the crown. Looking at other grows, I'm sure that would've happened anyway.

Another week. This aint working out. First year hops. Less than ideal light, but more than I thought when I thought it wasn't enough. Maybe hops don't grow this way. I've LST other things and there was tons of growth along the horizontals by now.

I also found a thread here where someone let them grow up and then trained them horizontal. Good looking plant, but not like I had imagined.

Oh well. I put up some trellis and turned the tips toward them. I'll try again next year with better established hops.

I think you'll find that the only way to get more lateral growth is to prune off the growing tip. Probably because this is a vine and can be trained horizontally. I didn't realize you were trying to get shoots to grow from all the auxillary buds. I grow on fences and the growth patern doesn't change when you train them horizontally. Pruning off the growing tip does the trick though. I have a trellis that is 12' high and sometimes I prune those plants so that I don't have to manually train the bines once they reach the top. Also makes a bushier plant which traps more moisture and helps keep the spider mites at bay (mites are terrible around here).

Only one way to find out. Good luck.

However, I'm leaving mine to grow UP. I already have a problem with slugs chewing the tips off(bastards). Plus some people have powdery mildew problems. I like mine to air out. Not to mention the extra sq footage growing horizontally requires.

Rahahb said:

Not to mention the extra sq footage growing horizontally requires.

Click to expand...

That why chain link fences work out nice. Wasted space. Just add hops.....

They're baaaaa-aaack!

Year two. I should get some action. This year, I intend to train only one bine horizontal.

Time to mix up some org fert and water.

Week two.

Temps got down to the teens in the past week. I had the hops covered with dead leaves and grass.

Week 3.

No training, yet. We got to mid 30s again, but it's been mostly cool to warm. A little rain. I watered with some Garrett Juice.

Week 4.

It looks so much better than last year already. :rockin:


I'm about to have to trim them to 6 inches and put on the flood light. No. Really. I read it on the internet.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6976738_growing-hops-texas.html

I haven't found where this guy, Dr. Al Haunold, actually said that, but he's a real guy.

http://inhoppursuit.blogspot.com/2010/01/cascade-how-adolph-coors-helped-launch.html

I'll still pass on that idea.

Week 5 and Week 6. No LST going on. The bine, or arm, I was going to train looks like it'd do better going vertical. There's a shorter one that looks like it's trying to have the growth I want that I'll train horizontal, if it ever takes of. If not, this will be a more conventional grow.

Subbed. I have a chain link fence I'm considering growing hops on, and I can use this for a refference.

Week 7.
It rained once.

Still pretty much a vertical grow, but I have one or two bines to begin going horizontal. Maybe by next week they'll be doing it.

Week 9.

We've had some rain, so I haven't been watering. Will water later today.

Pic1 Something bit the end off the bine. Two of the growths at the first node down are picking up the slack.

Pic2 I'll train it around the ring.

Pic3 Hared to see, but that is two growth tips from one bine that was not bitten, that I can tell.

Pic4 In this expert quality photograph we see the two biggest bines. I had not tended them in a few days and they grew into the space between the shed wall and the eve. I had to gently pull them out. The one on the right will be trained downward a little, like you see.

Pic5 High wind has bent this bine nearly in two. It's got a fold, or crease, in it. Not sure if it will live past that fold. We shall see. If not, maybe the next closest node will take over.

The white webby stuff, yeah, I though spider mites, too. It's cottonwood fluff. Maybe some other tree fluff as well. The air is thick with it right now.

The whole plant on Friday.

Today

1 The whole thing

2 The bent piece lives!

3 Around the ring

4 Lots of side growth from a bit off bine

5 This was getting LST. Something bit off the trained tip and the other tip. Damn it.

The bine which is most tied down

Week 10

Wow! This thing grows fast.

On the left is all growth from a bine which mostly trained itself to reach that welded wire fence and then had the main tip bit off. Look at all that mess. It reminds me of topping more than LST.

The ring bine has gone all the way around and is now tied to go up the middle.

I tied down the bine on the left and the one on the right is tied nearly half way down the trellis.

The bent piece still lives.

I may stand up that other piece of trellis. The two lowest bines I was going to train horizontal aren't doing much. They look wispy and frail.

Week 12. Skipped a week here.

We've had some rain. I water once a week and have not ferted again. I should fert this week.

Flower
Cones
All

My very early opinions on this one off experiment with LST for hops.

1. LST does not encourage secondary side growth. I actually am seeing more secondary growth taking over from where tips were bitten off. Topping for hops? I dunno. It's a lot of growth, but those bines are not producing like the non-bitten ones. They're also partly shaded by a crepe myrtle. No way to make a definite conclusion.

2. I've read from several sources that height is one trigger for blooming. My hop plant is about 8 1/2 feet high. It's blooming. Here's the thing. With all I've tied it, there are bines which are easily 16 feet long. See where I'm going? Height is how tall from the base; vertical. Length is how long; horizontal. Maybe it's not how far up from the ground that triggers blooming, but how far they've grown regardless of direction. Heck, some of my tied bines make up and down U-turns.

Those are just observations. I wouldn't start a farm on this.

Also, I've been picking caterpillars off for a few days now.

What the hell, hops? I've stopped training since it's making cones. Now, some of the bines are growing into the slot between the wall and eve. There's no sun in there, fool. I just pulled out several inches of bines. The sun travels left to right across the wall, not over the roof.

Week 13

More cones are coming in. Two of the little scraggly bottom bines have made their way to the wire fence and are growing up it.

No more caterpillars, that I see.

Forgot to fert.

Week 14

I cut open an unripe cone to see what's to see. I see flavor! :rockin:

Lupulin

Week 15
I've been watering and we had rain today.

I have not tied in weeks. It's doing this cascade (ha!) thing on it's own. Of course, all it has to grab on vertically is the crepe myrtle. It seems to like the wire fence. More hops cones all the time.

It's been about a month. No more caterpillars. We had some nice rain. Now it's getting hot and dry.

I picked some hops today because they looked dead on the bine or were turning brown. This is less than 1%. The vast majority look like textbook unripe hop cones.

I tore open a few of these. They have lupulin and smell hoppy on the inside. Not very strongly, though.

We had a cool spell. High 60s to 70s for lows with mid 80s to low 90s for highs. Very cool for the end of July and start of August in DFW. The hops don't seem to mind. They liked the rain, too.

Other than weather, I water when it doesn't rain.

There are some hops which have over ripened and some which were ready. Not many of either. Mostly, the cones are still getting bigger. It may be 3-5 more weeks, I guess.

Here's a short video from You Tube that I think explains very well when to harvest.

Harvested today. Some were past due. Some due and some early. It was either I get them now or let the heat take them. The heat and whatever has been harvesting ahead of me. Quite a few good cones have gone missing in the last week. They weren't on the ground. Something took them. Rodents? Birds? I did find two fuzzy white caterpillars on the bine today.

Wet weight of the big keeper pile is 3.5 oz.

Zuljin said:

Quite a few good cones have gone missing in the last week. They weren't on the ground. Something took them. Rodents? Birds? I did find two fuzzy white caterpillars on the bine today..

Click to expand...

There's only one thing I know of that steals ripe hop cones. It goes by scientific name of Homercus Brewertitus. If you don't believe me, eat one. Three days from now, the flavor will finally leave your mouth and you'll understand why critters don't touch them.

I think I'm done with LST. The first year was a total bust. This year, I grew a great plant, but really didn't see the improved secondary growth from nodes that LST generates when it works. The yield was not what I expected, either. It looks like hops just doesn't like to grow this way.

Oh, sure, it took all the bends and twists, and continued to try to right itself from the main growth tips, but any plant will, to an extent. The long branching arm growth I did see looked typical of what hops do on their own. No improved yield was seen compared to what I see in non LST hops. Possibly less.

One solid theory I did take away is that the plant does not have to be a certain height to produce. If size matters, it's length in any direction, not necessarily vertical up.

I also observed that if a tip breaks, don't sweat it. New productive growth will put on like crazy. Topping or pinching bines? Maybe.

But next year I'll let it grow straight up the trellis to the top. Then, I'll train it horizontal from the top along another trellis. Not for LST. For ease of access. If the plant has to have a total length in any direction, it will get that and then some. If that doesn't work, I'll going straight up in the traditional fashion.

Another limiting factor is probably heat. The plant slowed down when we hit the 100s. There's a lot written about that. Hops don't like it so hot. Still though, I was able to grow the plant and harvest hops while staying true to our water restrictions. Strictly true, at that. I didn't play the technicality and hand water between the allotted two days a week.

TL;DR
LST, no. Hops in Texas, yes.