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I took a shot at growing some hops this year. Everything has gone fine so far, and I have healthy plants coming up about 6" tall now. But, today while I was out, it appears a rabbit came by and ate the tops off all my vines. I've taken precautions against rabbits now by putting some upright pipe around the vine to block access from the ground. But, do these vines still have a chance of producing (will the vine branch), or will I have to hope the rhizome pushes up a few more sprouts? |
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The bine (not vine) will produce lateral shoots if the tip is broken off, but will not grow any longer. |
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I too have been babying some hops this year (Glacier/Chinook) and I'm finding the birds are the bane of my existence right now but I have seen some rabbits about. So far, I'm finding that as long as the soil conditions are favorable, the plants bounce back fairly quickly. Once a rhizome has established itself, they'll continue to shoot off new vines. I'm still trying to figure out why the birds are messing with the plants though. It's not as if there's anything there for them to eat. And hops are definitely not native to my location. The nets have kept them at bay for the most part now. |
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Established hops can put out new shoots for a while, and I've read (on freshhops.com, I believe) that commercial growers often cut back the first shoots of the spring and then train the second, hardier set that comes up. So even if your first set gets chewed off, they may yet put up more shoots from the rhizome. If your hops are first year, you might not get much of a harvest out of them anyway, so don't sweat it too much if they don't grow like crazy. They're just working on getting their roots established. |
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