no sidearms?

[jack_a_roe]

how many years till my plants should be getting sidearms? do some varieties not grow that way?

I have 2nd year plants of a bunch of varieties and only my kent golding is starting to produce sidearms. The rest just have burrs coming thru off of the main vine and leaves. Are they just too young right now or what? The other varieties are chinook, cascade, glacier, nugget, columbus...

 

[Snowden]

I don't have a tremendous amount of experience growing hops, but I can say that my first year Cascade has a good amount of side arms with lots of cones fast developing.

Some questions for you:

-how much sun do your plants get each day?
-have you been fertilizing? If so, what is the nitrogen: phosphorous: potassium ratio?

 

[podz]

If you want to induce heavy flowering, you should probably be hitting them with something like 10-30-18.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

They need a CCA permit before they can have sidearms.

I'd agree with Snowden and consider looking at growing conditions. I had 14 varietals growing and they all produced side shoots the first year.

Another question, have the main bines topped out? There is a condition called "apical dominance" that could be suppressing side shoot production.

 

[jack_a_roe]

they get plenty of sun, save the columbus, gonna cut some trees down for next year to increase that aspect. and haven't been fertilizing at all...been meaning to but haven't had time and have no idea where to start with that.

is it too late to give them some nutrients for this year?

 

[Snowden]

Shouldn't be too late to fertilize. Look for something with a high phosphorous content (second number). I personally use water soluble Fox Farms fertilizer on my hops and veggie garden to good success.

 

[jack_a_roe]

right on will do. thanks a bunch!