Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

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seymour
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Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by seymour » Sat Sep 28, 2013 10:59 pm

Looking good, nice work!

Dr. Dextrin

Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by Dr. Dextrin » Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:05 pm

That looks good. The challenge now is to keep them alive until spring. They'll probably be happiest remaining in the perlite/vermiculite over winter, but that'll require constant attention to keep it from completely drying out. A peat-based compost would hold water better, but then you risk them rotting off like the other cuttings have.

Getting watering right over winter is always a bit of a challenge with young plants. Erring on the side of dryness is usually best.

andybiochem

Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by andybiochem » Mon Oct 07, 2013 2:32 pm

Progress report!

All the cuttings I applied growth hormone (solution) to have died and been binned.

All the cuttings from method 1 the "Semi-ripe bine cutting" have also rotted and died. Bin.

3 out of the 4 cuttings for method 2 the "Softwood bine cutting with 3+ leaves" have rotted, and the last one looks a bit poorly too.

The cuttings using methods 3,4, and 5 all have had just one cutting die each, and are all looking pretty healthy! :D

The extra cuttings I put in the 50/50 vermiculite/perlite mix didn't take well to being messed with when I picked them out to look at the root progress. Two died off, and the last one I am trying to keep alive with one of my chilli hydroponic units:
Image
Image

The roots have spread out nicely, but are very very fragile - they snap under their own weight.


With all the soil-based cuttings doing so well at the moment, I think I'm going to go against my earlier theory that the perlite/vermiculite was the key. I'm coming round to the idea that a single leaf cutting with an exposed node has the best chances.

The nodes from which leaves grow out of the hop bine must have a high population of un-differentiated plant cells; cells that have yet to decide what they're going to be - a leaf?, a flower truss?, a root? By cutting through the node, the cells are exposed to moisture and nutrient, and I think this must trigger the conversion of generic cells to root cells.

Further, I think that the best approach to hop cuttings might well turn out to be simply plucking a leaf from the bine and quickly getting it in damp soil - as per method 4: "Single leaf pulled from node". This is the least invasive/destructive way of collecting the cuttings, and thus far appears to be just as successful. There is no need to cut the bine at all this way; no need to damage the plant.

Just waiting for that important new growth to show. [-o< [-o<

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Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by scuppeteer » Mon Oct 07, 2013 11:13 pm

Just to make you feel better, I had 300+ cuttings in the Spring from 10 different varieties. I now have 5 varieties and 13 plants, all were fresh bine cut around the leaf nodes.
As we have found out hops are not the easiest of plants to propagate unless you get root cuttings. Looking forward to next Spring when I shall conduct the growing from seed experiment. Hopefully I will be as successful as Seymour.
Dave Berry


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boingy

Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by boingy » Tue Oct 08, 2013 7:37 am

Do these cuttings stay true to type? And female?

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Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by scuppeteer » Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:53 am

Yes they will Boingy, any cutting you take will be a clone of the mother plant.
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

andybiochem

Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by andybiochem » Wed Jan 22, 2014 12:42 am

Thought I'd draw up a conclusion for this experiment....

All the cuttings have now died off. As others have suggested, it probably wasn't the correct time of year to try this - I didn't get any new growth off any of the cuttings. So, in that sense the experiment failed.

However...

Cuttings using methods 3,4, and 5 all rooted very well, and stayed alive for a good 4 months. I think that if I'd started the experiment in May - August I would have seen new growth from these cuttings.

I'll be trying again this year, hopefully with a new wild plant I spotted the other day (I spotted the tell-tale tangled mass of dead bines).

Thanks for reading!

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Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by scuppeteer » Wed Jan 22, 2014 12:57 am

andybiochem wrote:Cuttings using methods 3,4, and 5 all rooted very well, and stayed alive for a good 4 months
Are you saying they have only just died off?
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

andybiochem

Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by andybiochem » Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:04 pm

scuppeteer wrote: Are you saying they have only just died off?
Yes, four cuttings remained when I threw them out at the weekend:

2x technique no. 3
1x technique no. 4
1x technique no. 5

All were on their last legs having succumbed to rot which took hold about 2 weeks before.

Actually, apart from two that died because I forgot to water them, all the rooted cuttings just rotted eventually. Perhaps someone more green fingered than me could have done better.

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Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by froggi » Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:13 pm

Hi guys... read this thread with interest as I'm after growing some of my own hops and being a typical Yorkshireman (from Gods own county), I acquired a rough cutting from a micro brewery near my current dwelling.... on a brewery visit I nicked a piece of bine growing in the carpark :oops: .... anyways I got home and placed said segement of bine into a glass vase full of good old corporation wine (translation - tap water) and the "cutting" has not only continued to grow new shoots but also produced rudimentary roots along the section immersed in water in the vase.... Do I risk planting it in a growing medium or bite the bullet and buy some new rhisomes of the variety I want?? Eventually want the bines to cover a pergola I have plans for and to harvest for my own house beer... Cheers for any input [-o<

andyCo

Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by andyCo » Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:13 pm

Froggi, if it's showing roots then I'd transplant into some form of soil/sand mix, might be a bit late in the season but I reckon it'll still take.
I've had good success putting cuttings in water and getting them to root then moving on to soil, I was taking cuttings in lateapril/may time tho but I still think it'll be alright on a window sill or green house .

Andy

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Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by scuppeteer » Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:50 pm

If it has a good root system as you say, stick it in a 2l or larger pot with good compost and keep protected (greenhouse etc) until Spring, then plant out where you would like it to grow. Do remember to keep an eye on the soil moisture though. A pot tray is a good idea and only water from this rather than flooding the pot. This way the roots will only take the moisture they need rather than over watering the soil in the pot.
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

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Re: Experiment in Hop Cuttings (not rhizomes)

Post by timmydog » Sun Sep 14, 2014 7:35 am

One thing that hasn't been said and is probably worth mentioning is to try and fool the cutting into thinking that it's spring by artificially increasing the day length, i.e. have a light on near them (preferably not incandescent; fluorescents have a better balance of frequencies for plants) during some of the night.

I took a couple of autumn cuttings last year and they both survived indoors and were put out once the mother plant had started to grow leaves in the spring.

I'm might try again this year, in the name of research, even though it would probably be easier if I waited until spring. ;-)

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