Starting rhizomes in a greenhouse.

I am a lab technician at Ohio State University and we are starting a new hops program here that we are very excited about! We have plans to start the rhizomes in greenhouses this March and then transplanting them in the field after the last hard frost. Since we have a limited budget I would like to make sure that the rhizomes survive the whole process! Does anyone have a protocol I could follow or even any helpful suggestions for starting rhizomes in the greenhouse?

If it helps, here is a list of things I am wondering about:

Soil Type?
Pot size? (I am thinking 1 gal will be large enough, but the smaller the better for the sake of reducing costs!)
Watering (how much/how often? From what I understand it is very important to avoid over-watering of the young plants)
Temperature?
Lighting?
Humidity?
Pruning? (I read at some point that the first bines should be cut back, and also the plants can be cut back if they are growing too fast)
Hardening of the plants before transplanting? (Moving the plants outside for periods of time before transplanting to get them used to the conditions)
Tips on transplanting into the field?

I would be very grateful for any suggestions you have regarding these topics and other information you have. Thanks for your time!

We don't yet have a website regarding our project, but I have included a press release and a blog post below:

Press release: http://extension.osu.edu/news-relea...sibility-for-ohio2019s-booming-microbreweries

Blog post: http://gardinerlab.blogspot.com/2012/08/humulus-lupulus-research-at-osu.html

pm sent

csmith9717 said:

We have plans to start the rhizomes in greenhouses this March and then transplanting them in the field after the last hard frost. Since we have a limited budget I would like to make sure that the rhizomes survive the whole process! Does anyone have a protocol I could follow or even any helpful suggestions for starting rhizomes in the greenhouse?

Click to expand...

Seriously, don't bother. Just put them in the ground when you get them. Anything you gain by starting them a couple of weeks early will be lost by the shock of transplanting them.

Just wait until April and shove them in your prepared soil. They will do fine and you will get an experiment that more accurately reflects what your future growers will experience.

On the rest of your questions...that's 2 to 3 days worth of explaining. I'll send you a pm. You can find most of those answers here, though. You'll just have several days of reading.