Bought some hop roots/rhizomes on craigslist. What do I do now?

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gannawdm

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I bought some hop rhizomes/roots from a lady on craigslist. She said they are 3 years old and were taking over her garden. The ones I've seen for sale are nice tidy little stick looking things. What I purchased is a big mangled mess. My question is what do I do with them? Should I just plant the big mangled mess? Or can I cut the big thick pieces into smaller pieces (6# or so) and plant each piece in an orderly fashion?
 
Sounds like you've got some nice rhizomes, cut them in 4-6" pieces and plant them at will, nodes up, roots down, in a hill about 3" deep. Do you know what variety they are?
 
Unfortunately she didn't know the exact variety. She bought them at a brew store. They were sold to her as "Northwest Hops". She gave me a little sample baggy from her freezer. They smelled good.
 
Around here, I bet they're Cascade hops since they're one of the most popular. "Northwest" hops are generally any that start with C, like Columbus, Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, etc. If you leave the root ball as it is, you'll get a lot of cones this year. If you cut it up it will be just like planting a bunch of first year rhizomes, which can take up to three seasons before they produce with any quantity.

That giant root ball is ruined, give me your address and I'll come remove it under the cover of darkness.
 
Thanks for the info! I will definitely plant the whole root ball then. I don't know if I'll still be around here next season, so it'd be nice to get some decent production this season.
 
So you are going to plunk a 3 year old rootaball in the ground for a year and then bail after a year?

Are you going to destroy the crowns before you go or just leave themn for some unsuspecting fool to deal with?
 
I don't know if I will be leaving or not. The unsuspecting fools will be my parents. I live in an apartment, so no room for gardening.
 
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