What to trim?
- Thread starter benzy4010
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HALIFAXHOPS
Senior Member
Give them a week or so and trim the weaker ones and leave 3-4 for training. In Pots or ground?
aiptasia
Well-Known Member
It's too early. I wouldn't let mine start to grow out until May. We're still likely to get another cold blast or two and you'll just wind up with dead bines that you'll have to trim off anyway.
Once the risk of all frost has passed, let it grow out a bit for a week or two and then trim to 3-4 strong bines and cut the others back. They grow fast, so be prepared to train them.
Heat and bugs are hops killers. I've had terrible luck growing them here in FL because the heat is so extreme in the summer that it just scorches the plants. They love full sun and flower best in full sun, but with temps hitting the 100f+ mark here, they just scald brown and die (even in partial shade).
Bugs are also a problem as hops are a juicy, tender, delicious bug food. It's a constant fight to prevent bug destruction and neem oil and other food safe insecticides don't cut it IMHO. If I grew mine out again, i'd hit them with Bayer Advanced Imacloprid systemic when they first started emerging to prevent cutworms (definitely pre-flowering) and then keep hosing them down with neem oil as needed.
Once the risk of all frost has passed, let it grow out a bit for a week or two and then trim to 3-4 strong bines and cut the others back. They grow fast, so be prepared to train them.
Heat and bugs are hops killers. I've had terrible luck growing them here in FL because the heat is so extreme in the summer that it just scorches the plants. They love full sun and flower best in full sun, but with temps hitting the 100f+ mark here, they just scald brown and die (even in partial shade).
Bugs are also a problem as hops are a juicy, tender, delicious bug food. It's a constant fight to prevent bug destruction and neem oil and other food safe insecticides don't cut it IMHO. If I grew mine out again, i'd hit them with Bayer Advanced Imacloprid systemic when they first started emerging to prevent cutworms (definitely pre-flowering) and then keep hosing them down with neem oil as needed.
