Early Sprouting?

We've had unusual weather here in SoCal this winter. Although it is now cool (for here) and raining, Last month there was some very warm weather, a week with highs near 80. I was just doing some weeding around my hops this weekend and found that my Crystal had sent up a couple shoots already! Anyone else see this kind of activity? Now that it's cool again do you think they will go dormant or just die back?

I definitely don't know, but somewhere last week a similar thread came up w/ the same, and many said to not worry about it. If another cold snap hits the plants will realize they're coming up too early and readjust. Others said to keep an eye and if they keep growing, you may want to cut them back until its real grow time. I'm not sure myself... you may want to search for that thread again.

Here's the thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/hops-broke-ground-102173/

No need to worry in SoCal as the temps won't get to freezing for extended periods.

That said, I usually clip my first shoots back to encourage stronger shoots later in the season. The commercial farms in the pac. NW valleys employ a practice called crowning that accomplishes the same thing. I am, however, quite a bit farther north in latitude than you and have no experience with your growing season.

14 of my 16 are sprouting. the other 2 have some serious root rot. looks like red crown rot or something, which is why I have spare rhizomes on order. I've been watching them all though due to ants, squirrels and other things that want to screw with my wonderful hops.