Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:22 am
I have even left my hops untended for 2-3 years (they're planted where I grew up, and I don't live there anymore)... the new season's bines just grow up the old dead bines, probably just like they would in the wild since no one is around to cut off the old growth. I have decided to basically leave them this way, because now instead of linear stringers like I made originally, the old bines make a matrix like a chain link fence that any new bines climb easily (supported by a three rail splitrail fence). It looks like a tangled mess, but yield is high, and low maintenance.