Question For the Experiance...

I Live in west Oregon, great hop growing. In fact, Freshops is just on the other side of the mountain. Anyway, I have a number of first year rhizomes in BIG pots overwintering. Think 55 gallon drums with about a third of the top cut off. I want to remove these rhizomes whole (no cutting or anything) and put them in the ground. I dont have to do this but I know it will be better in the long run. So my question is this: Will removing them from my big planters affect the up and coming 2nd year growth/harvest? Any insight is worth its weight in flowers.

probably from a technical perspective you may damage a few of the smaller roots during the transplant but it really won't matter. from my experience they'll be much happier living in Mother Earth than a pot, no matter how big. you'll be surprised to see what has grown underground since you first planted them. have at it!

Well there is no definite answer, but I'd say; if you're careful, it will be better to get them in the ground.
By leaving them in the bucket they may get root-bound this year, so the transplant may help your yield. The transplant is, even in the best case, a little bit of a stresser.
Do what ever you choose while the plant is still dormant, this will keep stress way down.
One option is to leave them it the pot, and just cut out the bottom, or bottom 1/3. This will keep the rhizomes in a confined space, but allow the tap root grown to grow down to India.
Or just kick over the pot and pull out the plant.
After transplant (maybe just before too) some B vitamins in the water will help reduce shock. You can use "Superthrive" or just dissolve a "B complex" supplement (the ones for human consumption). I don't really know the proper dosage, but it has been shown to help transplants of annuals. If the plant is fully dormant this is probably not worth wile, as the plant isn't soaking up any water, and therefore won't get any of the B. And it's hard to shock someone who's in a coma.

If you pull the plant out, notice how big they are in comparison to what you planted last year... as long as you don't try to kill them and can provide enough food and light for them; you'll get a good yield this year.

Dig a hole a little bigger than your root mass,dump the whole root ball out,trim off some of the fine roots,put some compost in the bottom of the hole,roll the root mass into the hole and compact w compost and top soil in layers and u r good to go.1 teaspoon of borax a little miracle grow and stand back.Do all this as soon as possible before they come out of dormancy,say by the 2nd week of march.These plants are tough. Cheers Glen

Well thanks for all the great info. I forgot about Superthive, That stuff is great. I will be puting them in the ground in the next month or so Im sure. Thanks again!