Stalled Zeus

[ApothecaryBrewing]

Hey Everyone,

Long time brewer, first time grower here. I got a Zeus Rhizome for free from my local homebrew club and decided to give it a go. I got a half-barrel planter, a 6 foot trellis and some twine all set up. The planter holds maybe .75 cubic yards of soil or so... Its pretty much the size of a barrel cut in half, maybe a little shorter.

Either way I planted the rhizome and was hoping for Mt. Olympus height (dumb joke). It was planted a little late, around mid-May in Upstate NY (Rochester). It sprouted and I was the happiest dad this side of the Ole Miss but after growing about 18 inches or so, it has just puttered out.

I used organic potting soil and have watered it about once a day, sometimes twice. Each watering might be roughly a gallon. I water less on days I know it will rain. I sits on the south side of my building so it gets a solid amount of sun.

Either way, anyone able to enlighten me on why it would have stalled out like that? Does it need nutrients? There is currently 2 bines trailing up separate twine runners. Are the roots just growing in spite of vertical growth?

Help please!

Edit: Here is an image from around June 14th

 

[steloco]

I have 25 zeus here in san diego, California and out off all the hops were trying to grow here that has been the hardest.
It is very easy for zeus to get root rot so unless it is super hot, take it easy on the watering. I had about 12-15 of mine start developing root rot and am just now starting to them to turn around. To do that I have been watering every 3 days. We have been having a heat wave with 100+ weather so I changed it to every two days for right now but from my understanding it seems to be a delicate hop plant that will do good with time but you got to give it a chance.

 

[ApothecaryBrewing]

Yeah after a day spent reading around it appears I was over watering and under nutrient-izing (?). I am going to pick up some standard miracle-gro or something with lower phosphorous as I have heard fertilizers with a lower P to N and K are better for early development then you raise the P levels when they start coning.

It has been super rainy so I may have to shield it from that for a day or 2 until it dries. It is supposed to storm all week unfortunately. I might pull it under the eaves. Then I will start a diluted fertilizer regiment to see if that restarts the growth.

Luckily this little guy is just 1 of 7 or so I have going. I have sourced my uncle's backyard and my mom's garden plot to grow more hops since I am apartment living and wanted a steady location for more varieties.

 

[benzy4010]

Miracle gro helped mine jump start

 

[johngaltsmotor]

That sounds like a lot of water. This year I have only watered my plants 3 or 4 times because of all of the rain and mild temperatures. But my Zeus is also the runt of my litter also (although as the smallest plant it gives the most weight in hops).
I would back down on watering to one good soaking once a week unless the leaves start to curl. 1st year plants don't do much above ground but your picture seems healthy but slow. Do they get full sun all afternoon?

 

[funnycreature]

Yeah after a day spent reading around it appears I was over watering and under nutrient-izing (?). I am going to pick up some standard miracle-gro or something with lower phosphorous as I have heard fertilizers with a lower P to N and K are better for early development then you raise the P levels when they start coning.

It has been super rainy so I may have to shield it from that for a day or 2 until it dries. It is supposed to storm all week unfortunately. I might pull it under the eaves. Then I will start a diluted fertilizer regiment to see if that restarts the growth.

Luckily this little guy is just 1 of 7 or so I have going. I have sourced my uncle's backyard and my mom's garden plot to grow more hops since I am apartment living and wanted a steady location for more varieties.

I also grow my hops in containers (30gal). I drilled holes in the bottom and emptied an entire 0.5 cft bag of gravel into each container for drainage. I used a combination of manure and top soil with "fluffing agents" for planting and once the plants were several feet high I added a thick layer of mulch. It's raining like crazy here in MD too but so far I hope that my hops is happy. Did you do anything to drain excess water from your containers?

 

[ApothecaryBrewing]

Did you do anything to drain excess water from your containers?

I punch a good 20+ holes in the bottom of the planter to allow water to trickle out. I also used an organic potting soil mixture that contained a fair amount of mulch type debris to keep things light and drainable. I think the package advertised a good ability for drainage. The gravel idea sounds killer though, wish I had thought of that.

I just picked up some all purpose Miracle-Gro (24-8-16) to help give the plant the nutrients I am sure it has been lacking. I might fluff the soil and punch a few more holes in an attempt to improve drainage and head off root rot.

Pretty sure this is the planter I am using

 

[funnycreature]

Well, good luck! I might have benefited from larger hops plants when the rain started. The roots are probably filling out most of my containers. I don't have anything fancy. More along these lines: