B-Hoppy

Recipes 

Those structures (the rhizomes) are the plants' survival mechanisms so that if someone where to drop a bomb on the crown and try to eliminate it, the rhizomes would survive and keep the plant alive. The first hops I ever saw were growing along a roadside about this time of the year back in the mid 80's. I followed one of the vines back to the soil and saw some buds that had formed on a rhizome out away from the crown. I ripped a chunk off and buried it in a cornfield across the road from where I was renting. The next Spring I had moved into a house and remembered to go back to the corn field and transplant the rhizome at the new location. It grew like the bad weed that it is. I'd say to just stick them in the ground and don't worry about it.

hardrain

Recipes 

Yeah, went ahead and transplanted now. We're still getting some solid sun and afternoon warmth so I've put dark black compost on top of each hill to soak some of that in, will get everything mulched/insulated as that starts to fade.

What's pretty amazing is how many shoots I was able to get off of really just 3-4 healthy root systems -- I went from one plant in eight hills to now having 3-4 plants (mostly 6" shoots, some more robust crowns) in 20 full hills (took the commercial approach and crowded them in, not ideal but time at night is short and digging is a constraint). Looking forward to about 20 months from now!