What are Bull Shoots, when should you cut them and is it best for your Hop Plants?

In spring you should notice your hop is putting up shoots, these early bines are called bull shoots. Unlike regular hop bines these ones are purple, hollow and extra spiky. They can also develop later, and sometimes you get normal bines early. However they have a fairly distinct character that you can easily pick out. It is commonly advised to cut these off. In large scale production they even trim the hop’s crown back before they get going. But why, and is it really worth your time?

Before we start though, some simple recommendations. Do not cut these shoots back in the first year. It is much better to let your plant grow and gain some strength. Do not cut off every shoot. Hops sometimes go blind and fail to produce any new shoots. So it is always good to have at least a couple growing or some healthy buds. Do not cut the shoots if you are not on top of general care. A plant barely being watered isn’t in the mood to be chopped up.

So why should you cut off bull shoots? The simple answer is that these shoots are worse for hop production. For one the space between the axils are much larger on bull shoots. Axils are small bumps on a stem where leaves, side shoots and flowers come from. Hops are of course a type of flower so to maximise production we want many axils in a short space. There is of course a balance too this like all things. Too many side shoots can also drain energy and block out sunlight. But the logic of why bull shoots are worse for hop production is pretty straight forward.

It is also about timing. You preferably want all your hops to be at a similar stage of growth at the same time. This can be very tricky with different varieties, but even the same ones sometimes grow at different rates. It all gets a bit tricky from here. You need to research the growth of each variety and make judgements based on how you think the plant looks. Preferably they should reach their peak around the summer solstice, then going into hop production. There is clearly a science to all this though the golden rule of gardening shouldn’t be forgotten. Plants do whatever they want.

Risk should always be considered when doing anything with your plant. Cuts open up the chance for disease and create a tasty opening for any insect. If your goal is hop production you might be resisting using stronger pesticides and fungicides so your ability to battle these pests is limited.

When it comes to growing hops there seems like now ends of random little tips. Read any book, forum or blog and you’ll find all sorts of small adjustments you can make to get that little extra out of your plant. But it is worth sitting back and considering how many are really worth your time. Hops are a vigorous plant, if you’re just growing for personal use or fun how big a harvest do you really need? Hobbyists often focus on cutting bull shoots as a fairly easy task to get more growth that is unlikely to have drawbacks. Just don’t take it as a golden rule that you have to though.

We sell a wide variety of hops in 9cm and 1L pots. Along with featured packs.