Fertilizing differently for different growth

[jkalberer]

I have not, as of now, added any fertilizer to my first year plants. I'm going to add a light amount with my next watering.

Are there certain nutrients that fuel different growth in the plant? One mix for vertical growth, and when the top is reached and outward growth is initiated, use a bit of another mix?

 

[Kahless]

Around the time the burrs should be coming in, you can switch to one with higher potassium and phosphorous in the mix in order to provide nutrients that encourage flowering. You can use tomato feed for this. Before then, equal ratio fertilizer is good.

 

[beernutz]

When burrs and cones first started appearing I began adding some extremely diluted food-grade phosphoric acid along with the liquid Miracle Gro I'd already been using to my water supply. This is my first year growing hops so I don't know whether what I'm seeing is normal or not but based on comparisons to pictures posted by other first year growers I think I'm going to have a pretty big harvest.