Do I need to trim these?
 

Ok, so each hop plant has at most 3 bines coming out of the ground, but from there they are going crazy

My 2 Willamette
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...m/IMG_6602.JPG

Another view of the Williamette
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...m/IMG_6605.JPG

a single plant in a different container
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...m/IMG_6603.JPG

Heck yeah my junk is trimmed :D.

Seriously, i've heard that its recommended to trim the lower sidearms so that air circulates and you don't accumulate sitting water that might bring on some mildew.

I thought by the title this would be in the Boneyard.

One of my nuggets did the same thing (The other is a super slow starter. Maybe next year it will take off.)

This year I really only cut off the bines that were covered the ground around the base of the plant. I wanted to let the roots get as much nutrients as possible. Next year I'm going to try and limit the number of bines as I've found that some of them literally choked of the early bines, killing one or two, as the new growth climbed my trellis line.

Wow, I am amazed at how they grow side ways. Do you continue to train them?

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but they actually have about 5' of rise over a 15' or so run, so its got enough upslope to (for the most part) keep them going up on their own.

Are those all sidearms, or are they new shoots coming out of the planters? It's hard to do, but if they're new shoots you should trim all but the biggest and strongest bines. It will force the plant to make more cones when they finally start blooming.

Most of them are sidearms that come off the main 3 bines. I trimmed them up a little, but will do a more exhaustive search for additional bines this weekend.

I guess that is assuming that sidearms grow very long and want to climb as well.

Why do you have plastic bags over the surface of the containers? That is an invitation for disaster even with your drip irrigation setup (anaerobic soil, mold, root rot, etc.). Unless you were doing that temporarily during a storm/etc. I would remove them ASAP. I wouldn't necessarily cut off all of the side arms near the base since it's a first year plant, but I would trim away a good bit of the LEAVES near the base to allow for better airflow. That's what I did and it allowed for more cone production while still allowing for circulation near the base.

HTH

The bags are there to make a nearly closed system. It is necessary to keep the moisture level of the soil correct. Basically the hop roots are contained in a self watering, self fertilizing, highly aerated environment, sealed off from most outside influence (air is allowed to enter from beneath the roots). I think it is why they are able to do so well in the crappy Alabama climate.