HOP TRAIL POINTS

Hops are rotating creepers, the ability to climb almost everywhere is the result of evolution and a competitive struggle for light. It is helped by backward hooks on stem, which are able to attach to the surface of the tree barks or other supports, and rotating growth in a clockwise direction. This is also used in hop gardens.

2. How hops climb

The hops ability to climb almost everywhere is likely to be the result of evolution and a competitive struggle for light: hops in the open air grow up in the shady layers of floodplain forest in the spring and must be able to reach treetops in time before the foliage flakes. It is assisted by the backward hooks, which are able to attach even to micro cracks of the surface of the trees or other “supports”, but mainly rotating only clockwise. Some of its conservative parameters are also interesting in the growth of hops (which can be up to 25 cm per day), one turn of the shoot tip takes around two hours and maintains a constant curvature of the helix(ie the distance between turns is the same regardless of the diameter of the “support”). However, what it means for hops precisely and how ecological it is is uncertain.

In history, hops were originally grown in gardens and so-called “hop fields”, the systematic building of hop gardens was a much later matter, and wine-growing was a model: the liner structure of hop-gardens and the growing in the lines copies the vine growing. Various walls and barriers were used as a support for hops. At first hop growing was based on wineries, hop gardens were considered to be a special type of vineyard. Already in the second half of the 16th century worked in Žatec guild “winemakers – hop growers ”. The ever-increasing specialization of hop-growing is already evident before the mid-17th century, when a separate term “hoppers” is used regularly. Later, the hops began to use the bars, after which the hops climbed and it was easier to harvest.

Remarks:

The hops can grow up to the hight of the tallest trees in the mead, up to 20 - 30 meters.