Get frosted?

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tchuklobrau

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Well here in the armpit of wny we have had a fairley heavy frost every night for the last week. So far my hops show no signs of damage (knock on wood). They are laughing in the face of the frost.:rockin:

How have all the other frosted hops done? Hopefully no losses yet.
 
From 2008, Cascade buried in snow. Didn't hurt them at all.

img_1494.jpg
 
I saw some snow last night, so I was standing of my front porch at 2 AM in my boxers covering up my precious little babies. My neighbors think I'm weird....
 
I've been covering mine every night cuz its going about 2 degrees below freezing. I feel dumb now. It seems unnecessary if they can handle a snow
 
I too live in an area where it can snow or freeze until about late may. I'm wondering from this thread if my new cascade rhizome will manage. It's my first shot at this.
 
It was 15 degrees here last night- my cascades look great, but they are very small (sort of in a "holding" pattern until it warms). In fact all of my hops are just starting to peak up out of the ground, but they are not hurt by frost.
 
I live in northern pa and it's been really nice in day. But at night it's cold. Sounds like they don't mind the cold but frost could hurt.
 
My 1st year transplanted GLH cascade crowns got frosted last Tuesday (after having enjoyed about one week of nice weather). Some green shoots got hurt and lost a few leaves, but both plants have been bouncing back in a major way.
 
Like Yooper said, the frosty nights are retarding the growth. A few weeks back they were going nuts with very vigorous growth due to the night time temps only dipping into the 40's. Even if some of the early sprouts get beat back there will be others to come and situations like this is why I cut back the first flush of growth. It's worked well for me for the last 20 or so years but eventually, it's up to the individual as to how to treat them. Grow on!
 
B-Hoppy: What is your rule of thumb regarding when to cut? Is it hight of the bines or is it based on the calendar?
 
jess,

Plants grow in response to the weather conditions for the most part. This year the mild Winter and VERY early Spring pushed everything here about a month ahead and now we're paying for it. When I do yearly digging/pruning for rhizomes I usually 'top' the crown with a saw - just saw straight across. This helps to remove most of the early growth buds anyway. Top the crowns with some compost and throw the soil back on top. Depending on the weather, the next round of growth will start peeing through in a week to a month. If it looks like it's gonna frost again I'll wait till they get big enough to grab firmly (maybe 6-10 inches) and pull them with steady force to try to dislodge them from where they originate on the crown. If you don't get the whole thing and leave a little 'nub' you'll have a bunch more shoots coming from the 'nub' next year. This creates a crown VERY dense with with VERY many thin little shoots next Spring. There's really no 'boiler plate' answer to your question because of the huge number of variables from grower to grower. Now that folks are trying to grow them in non-traditional hop growing areas makes it even harder to answer these types of questions with solid information. Hope I made a little sense, I try. Hoppy Easter!!
 
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