Bines Everywhere!! Too Late for Cuttings?

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ChrisS68

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I swear, it feels like yesterday we were digging out from the snowfall of the decade...
We've had the typical Illinois spring; we're barely out of the crummy weather and everything is already starting to grow. My schedule is kinda goofy so I haven't had the time to tend to the hops as I'd like. I was planning on taking some cuttings this year as the crowns are getting a little unruly. I knew the hops had started coming up, but checking on them in the dark I had no idea. I went out to take a look at them today and bines are popping up all over the place! Some are already a few inches long.
My question is: is it too late to take cuttings without adversely affecting the main crown and this season's harvest? When I originally got my rhizomes, some did have bines growing so I know it can be done...
Thanks!

Chris
 
If by "cuttings" you are talking about splitting your rhizome into multiple plants, you're too late. That should be done while the hop is dormant.
 
crud
Yeah, I was talking about cutting off some rhizomes. Figured taking a few wouldn't hurt... Unfortunately, we went straight from snow on the ground to everything sprouting.
 
can this be verified by multiple people in this part of the states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illionois, Michigan) please? sorry beerkrump, it's just that i've heard other people being able to split the rhizome even early spring, such as now, as the ground is usually just slightly thawing and the rhizome is just starting it's "go" mode. ChrisS68 i share your lovely weather up here. snow one day, sunburn the next...
 
Not completely sure about the difference between stress on the main plant and buying rhizomes. But i did not put the ones i bought 2 yrs ago in the ground till may and got great results. as for rhizomes from an existing plant ill let you know shortly as i just finished moving all 11 original plants and all their rhizomes 2 days ago. personally i say at this time take the rhizomes and leave the main crown alone.
 
yeah, I wasn't going to do anything with the main crown, just looking to cut back some of the rhizomes that are working their way out of the hop mounds and into the lawn.
Thanks guys
 
chrisS68,

One thing you can do with no harm to the crown would be to locate the end of one of the rhizomes that's now creeping away from your crown and, with a shovel, lift the soil underneath. Don't worry about snapping off some of the shoots, there are more to take their place. Try to loosen the soil back toward the crown and just snip the rhizome off as close to the crown as possible. Don't worry about harming the crown. I excavated a 6 or 7 year old crown that I wanted to get rid of last spring and wanted to make sure it didn't grow once it was dug up. I remember kicking it out of the way of the mower for about 2 months and when I looked close at it, there were a bunch of little sprouts coming up. From what I've seen, a plant that's been in the ground for 3 years can be completely dug up, trimmed back and replanted with no real loss of harvest. Sure the longer it's been in the ground - the more vines you can string up but how many is too many. I ran about 4 vines up each of 5 poles from one crown and ended up with about 8 lbs of dried hops one year. The problem is that once the crown gets too old, it ends up looking like a 'chia hop' and is very hard to maintain. Keep trying different things with them - that's the only way you're gonna learn. Have fun.
 
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