Hop Transplant

Just harvested about 2 gallons worth of Cascades from my 1st year crown i bought from Willamette valley. I've been growing in a large 25 gal pot. Tonight i transplanted from pot to ground. Roots had grown through drainage holes that had to be cut, but other than that it went very well. Basically cut the $5 pot off the massive root/dirt mass, so it went into it's new spot complete except for the roots i cut.

I've got about 4-5 bines that are about 10ft tall at this point, should these now be cut in order to help out the root ball? i've heard no on 1st year plants, but i also just moved it. Should i fertilize? Or just water it in well and let it do its thing? Just want this thing to go bonkers next year.

I'd minimize the trauma on the plant and let it sit in it's new spot and water it regularly. Don't cut the bines. Assuming the soil is good, don't fertilize. There's a good month+ before it get's real cold around you so let it get acclimated to the new spot and just before the first frost, cut the bines back as you would a mature plant. Good luck - these are hearty plants and it should be a good year 2 for you.

Whatever is green now may be brown in a week or so due to the shock and if you wanted to trim them back to about 3 feet, that may help. The crown will begin to throw out some more roots in it's new home and may also begin to shoot up some new growth. It probably would have been better to let the vines die back before the move as it's gonna have to expend some energy getting re-rooted. I would water it well at transplant time then just let it do it's thing. Compost is always helpful in retaining moisture and slowly releasing some nutrients while helping to enrich the soil. Personally, I'd lay off the fertilizer ~ just me though and I don't think you'll have to worry about a great year next year if you had good luck this year.

After i made the move, i thought about why i didn't wait until it died back. Our frost date is still technically 4 weeks away, but with the temps we've been having lately it's hard to imagine it coming that soon.

This is the 2nd one i've moved from a pot to ground this year. The 1st one was a Willamette that i thought had died in the pot, only to have it come back and shoot out some real hardy, yet short growth, so i moved it to it's permanent spot. That one did not seem to get "shock" at all, so we will see about the cascade. I may cut bines, like said above just to help the crown out and not use so much energy to feed bines. So cutting bines down won't do any damage to the crown/rhizome?

Just more worried about next year than anything, but seems like i should be just fine for that.

Part of the function of a plant's leaves is to allow the plant to 'sweat' (lose water). The more foliage=more water use. Water is pulled from the soil by the roots and now that your crown has lost some of it's water obtaining system, it will have a hard time supplying enough to sustain the arial portion of the plant. It's very common to prune back a certain amount of foliage when transplanting plants to help with the transition. Hops are one of the most durable plants I've ever worked with so I think whatever way you plan to operate you'll be fine.

I think a slight trim is in order then. Nothing left to pick and they are looking pretty bare as it is. Thanks b-hoppy!