Transplanting first year hop question

Hello I hope someone can help me out a bit I googled and search here but couldn't find quite exactly what I was looking for. I have a 1st year Nugget growing in a planter which has started doing quite well. I live in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. After the season I was thinking about somewhat transplanting this to the ground.

I was thinking if I took a utility knife or something which the planter is plastic so should cut quite easily. Dig a hole, cut off about 1/4 or 1/2 of the bottom of my planter so I'm not pulling out completely of planter and disturbing to much of the root system. Place the portion of the root in the hole leaving the remainder of the pot either being 1/2 or 3/4 of it sticking out of ground so the roots will grow in the ground.

Do you think this is a good or bad idea and if it will work.

Any help with my task is greatly appreciated

Thank you

Here is my nugget planted 1 month ago

I also live in Southern Cali, and I have transferred about dozen or so of my hop plants, at various times in the season, mainly the beginning spring, before any new root growth or shoots pop out. The easiest method is the one you are planning on, except a few things. The soil, in the pot, should be dry, at the time of transfer. I also usually roll, the pot on its sides, and slap the bottom, to unstick the soil from the pot. This makes it a lot easier, to flip the pot over, and pull out all of the contents in one big ball. Then, I loosen up the soil around the crown/roots, and replace the old soil, with new soil. You will notice big roots, and very few, if any feeder roots (little white ones). The big roots, and the crown will look similar to these pictures. If you have any questions, I'm here to help!

Thank you for your help.

So reading what your saying its not a good idea to cut about half off of the pot and break up the roots to plant. I was planning on leaving the top half in the pot and putting the bottom in the ground leaving part of the pot still around. So I should take the whole thing out completely?

I am in the desert so we have lots of sand here I will be putting plenty of soil in the ground to mix in we have tomatoes and Cucs growing pretty well in the same sand and soil which are doing great.

I'm sorry I didn't catch that at first, I thought you were just taking the whole plant out. It does not sound like a bad idea. The only problem I see, with what your planning on doing, is that the crown will not have much room to grow. Unless those are really big pots, in your picture. However, watering might become easier because its channeled through the pot. Either way, what your planning sounds very similar, to a raised bed, instead its a round pot. I find, that my raised plants start faster, then my plants in the ground. I say go for it, then post your results, when the time comes.

Ah right on cool thank you I still have time to think about it was just checking into it, kinda getting some insight. I'm rethinking this idea now pot is only 16" but I do thank you for the help. This is my first time trying to grow hops I actually planted Centennial, Magnum and Nugget. Centennial never took off thinking I either over watered or just were bunk rhizomes. My Magnum was doing good within the first week/week and half had 2 sprouts then just died off. Prob killed it as well. My nugget is the lone survivor thank you nuggets!

I know your troubles, I too started with rhizomes. Out of six, only a lone survivor, Centennial. I quickly decided rhizomes weren't for me, so I decided to look into buying live plants. First, I saw hop plant starters, which were just really small plants. Then, I found full crowns for sale on Ebay, by a reputable dealer, named Great Lakes Hops. I said to hell with rhizomes, and bought the full crowns. They were already a year old, and previously had cones. I was so stoked, to see them arrive, and then thrive. I got Chinook, and they've done good for me in the socal heat.
Best of luck with your endeavors.

Yes I don't think I'll purchase rhizomes again. Actually may try Great Lakes Hops next year I just recently heard about them reading this forum somewhere pretty recently. Awesome glad to see you are having some luck with those. Good luck to you and thank you for your help.

One of the big concerns of rhizomes should be 'who' you buy them from. Is it the guy that dug them or a middleman? About a week ago I had to plant a few in pots for an event coming up in late June and they already broke ground. They've been sitting in my fridge since March 30th, when they were dug (and yes, they had a little bit of mold on them). When buying from the dealer that actually dug them, they've only been handled once until you get them. When buying from a middleman, you have no idea what type of conditions they've had to endure before you get them. http://www.freshops.com/ and http://rnventerprises.com/ are two operations that pretty much do the digging and sell direct to you. Not at all meaning to downplay the 'plant' suppliers, but just saying that the more times the rhizomes change hands, the more 'stuff' that can potentially go wrong with them until they're in your hands. Either way~ Hoppy Growing!!

B-Hoppy is right, about the finding the right supplier for rhizomes. I know a lot of happy customers, that continue to buy from freshhops.com. I ordered my rhizomes, from a middleman brewing store, online. It was late in Spring, Most varieties were out, and when I got them, they must have been sitting around too long, and lost their vigor. I was just upset, that I paid for a slender half-dead stick. Figured, I needed all the help I could get, so I decided to buy a year old plant. Whatever you choose, just research it first.

Thank you B-Hoppy that makes sense. Next year I will look into those you mention I did order mine through Northern Brewer but placed my order in early March didn't receive until April. I have been doing a lot of research on hops lately and learning a lot of new things that is the reason I was wondering about the transplanting question I asked above but, think I will just make a raised bed next year and stick in there. Seems better for growing space. Thank you both