Hop Plant Problem, advice needed

Hello,

This past spring, I pot planted a nice Cascade and it grew and grew and I got 3oz from it dried, not bad for a first year. It has since died down. I was mowing the lawn the other weekend and decided I could move the post and try and store it. When I picked it up, it wouldn't move and not thinking, I yanked hard and heard a smap. To my surprise, the root had grown thru the hole in the bottom of the terracotta pot (a big one mind you) and I snapped it in two.

I put the pot back where it was and am not sure what to do. Did I kill it? should I assume that the root in the ground needs to be protected from winter and will sprout in the spring? Should I plant my potted cascade in the ground? Just not sure what to do and any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ted

In the Spring the root in the ground and the root in the pot will both grow new bines. You don't need to do anything.

Cool. What should I do with the pot? Should I put some straw on the one in the ground?

first off, if you have room to put it in the ground, by all means do it. you won't have to worry about how to overwinter it in a pot. while in the ground, the surrounding soil will help moderate any extreme temperature swings that may occur throughout the dormant season. all you have to do is to throw an inch or two of some kind of mulch/compost over the crown before winter and you'll be good to go. i've never tried to keep hops in pots (above the soil level) throughout the winter, but i would figure that any thing you could do to keep the crown from experiencing big swings in temperature would be a big plus (a lot of insulation). as for what you snapped off and left in the ground, if it was a true root, it'll just die off and decompose. if it was a rhizome, you'll probably see tiny shoots coming up next spring. here is a good overview or the plant: http://www.oregonhops.org/culture2.html. good luck and i'm sure you'll be successful.

Mine did the same thing last fall (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/containers-cant-contain-145710/) but I made sure I dug up as much of the root I could and discarded it because I didnt want hops growing there any more. I moved the container to my parents farm and put it in the ground. I didnt get what I expected from a second year plant partially because of nutrients but also because that root that I snapped off was a good portion of the root system.

If you can put the plant in the ground I would. If you dont want hops in that spot then dig up as much of the root as you can.

I want the hops to grow exactly where they are since I set up a trellis system and they get the proper amount of sun. So I suppose I will just put the potted portion in the ground as well once the leaves die down.

Thanks for all the help and advice.