How are the hops growing?

I have to say, it seems like everything, but, my hops are growing as expected here in Southeastern PA. I let the backyard plants go this year and while they are growing well, I really didn't trim them back to force flower growth.

Hops in Birdsboro at Gavin's aren't doing that well either. Either the dry weather or some potassium and/or nitrogen deficiencies are taking their toll. Most of these second year plants didn't reach the top of the trellis.

The plants that did grow well seemed to be the ones with better root systems. This leads me to believe that the lack of water during the early days of growth were the culprit.

Not really surprising, neither the backyard plants nor the Birdsboro plants were well tended to this year. Too many distractions! Having said all that we'll get hops this year, just not much more than last year.