jess,
Plants grow in response to the weather conditions for the most part. This year the mild Winter and VERY early Spring pushed everything here about a month ahead and now we're paying for it. When I do yearly digging/pruning for rhizomes I usually 'top' the crown with a saw - just saw straight across. This helps to remove most of the early growth buds anyway. Top the crowns with some compost and throw the soil back on top. Depending on the weather, the next round of growth will start peeing through in a week to a month. If it looks like it's gonna frost again I'll wait till they get big enough to grab firmly (maybe 6-10 inches) and pull them with steady force to try to dislodge them from where they originate on the crown. If you don't get the whole thing and leave a little 'nub' you'll have a bunch more shoots coming from the 'nub' next year. This creates a crown VERY dense with with VERY many thin little shoots next Spring. There's really no 'boiler plate' answer to your question because of the huge number of variables from grower to grower. Now that folks are trying to grow them in non-traditional hop growing areas makes it even harder to answer these types of questions with solid information. Hope I made a little sense, I try. Hoppy Easter!!
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