If you’ve ever grown hops, you know these perennial climbers can get absolutely massive. They don’t just race toward the sky; they also spread underground like they own the place. If you’re hoping for a good harvest, pruning is your best friend. Thinning out the plant ensures your hops get the light and energy they need to develop perfectly.
Pruning Hops: Once a Year is Plenty
- Only prune your hops once a year.
- You can do this in either the fall or the spring.
- Give the plant a little “haircut” (thinning) once the new shoots appear.
You really only need to do a major cutback once a year. However, thinning out the new growth is the secret sauce for a great harvest. Hops produce a ton of shoots, and if you leave them all, they’ll just end up competing for nutrients and sunlight.
When is the Best Time to Prune?
Pinpointing the “perfect” time to prune hops is a bit of a debate in the gardening world. Even the experts don’t always agree! Some folks swear by a fall trim, while others prefer waiting until early spring.
If you wait until February, the plant can actually reabsorb nutrients from the dried-up vines over the winter. If you want to tidy up the brown stems before then, just trim them back to about 20 inches. Then, in the spring, you can cut everything down to ground level to make way for fresh growth.
Thinning Out Hops in the Spring
Once those new shoots start popping up, it’s time to thin them out. For the best results, pick the strongest four to six vines to keep and remove the rest. This gives your climber plenty of room to thrive.
Pro tip: Don’t toss those extra shoots in the compost! They’re actually a delicious, nutty vegetable that tastes a lot like asparagus. You can also use those cuttings to propagate new plants.
Growing Hops for Privacy? Skip the Thinning!
If you’re using your hops as a natural privacy screen rather than for brewing, you can skip the thinning process altogether. Let all those shoots grow wild—the more vines you leave, the thicker and more “opaque” your green wall will be.
