preparing soil for hops

[nexy_sm]

Hi all guys,

i have a piece of ground I would like to prepare for moving moy hops in the next spring. At the moment hops are on the spot where street light glows pretty strong and they didn't produce any cones.

So, I wanted to ask you how to you exactly use manure or compost (i am able to get cow manure). Do you dig a hole in a groung and place there manure and hops, or you mix soil and manure or ... what? How do you add manure/compost in the May or June?

My plan was to dig complete piece and turn ground (don't know english phrase for that) while adding manure. What I don't know is how to apply manure at the moment of planting.

Thanx

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I have always made sure that the soil can drain the water. They need a lot of water but do not like to be standing in water.

 

[Newsman]

Don't use raw manure at planting time. Turn the soil and mix in the manure now and let it go until spring, or build a compost pile and let the manure "rot" over the winter (turning it over ever couple weeks, maybe adding water to help keep it from getting too dry and spontaneously combusting!) Then add the composted manure in the spring.

 

[nexy_sm]

Does this mean onle one manure addition per year? How do you exqctly plant them. What do you put in the whole except plant? Mixed manure and ground? Do you put pure manure on the bottom and after that mixture and the plant? Do you use manure tea in the middle of the season?

 

[Newsman]

Nexy, you could use manure tea. The best bet is to use decomposed manure mixed with soil to plant your hops, and then you can add more decomposed manure around the plants during the growing season as needed.
The problem of using raw manure with any growing plant is that it can "burn" the plant. That's why you want to use composted manure.

 

[nexy_sm]

Ok, thanx. Is half earth half manure fine or less manure should be used? If I dig half meter hole fill with mixture and plant hop in the upper part, would that be fine?

 

[Newsman]

Ok, thanx. Is half earth half manure fine or less manure should be used? If I dig half meter hole fill with mixture and plant hop in the upper part, would that be fine?

If you're talking "rotted" / composted manure, that may be overkill. Maybe 2:1 dirt to composted manure. Remember you can always ADD composted manure, but you can't take it out. Maybe something like some peat moss or other soil additive as well to help with drainage, since hops are supposed to like soil that drains well.

 

[Malted_hops]

The first thing to do is have a lab do a soil test, your state agriculture dept will usually do them for free or for a small fee. If you have a local college with a Ag dept, they might be able to do it also. The results of this test will tell you exactly what you need to do to your soil. Randomly adding stuff to your soil will end up causing more problems than you started with. +1 to the advice of using composted manure, the best way to use it is to spread a thin (1") layer over top of your planting area. http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/10-easy-soil-tests?page=0,0 shows some home tests you can do while you wait for the lab results to come in.