Question to the garden talented people of HBT.

I was reading up in the planters sticky in this hops growing section. I'm planning on growing hops in planters/pots (whatever they're called) for 2 reasons. Firstly, my yard is small. Hop rhizomes would consume my yard, and I would also like to move them around in the off-season. Secondly, I realized that it would be nice to have fully mature plants in pots so I could take the whole thing with me if I end up buying the land I want to get.

So I have a few questions. I've read that you can't have the plant in too small of a container. Is this because the plant will continue to grow and sort-of choke itself out? Or, will the plant just grow to the space it has and stop growing? I want to know if it's actually harmful for the plant.

I've also read that half-barrels are good. Are we talking 30 gallons? Do you think I could get away with something in the 10-20 range? Also, do hops face root (or I guess rhizome) damage from being placed in pots during the cold season, or are they hardy enough to just leave outside?

Prost!

Ive only seen them in "big" barrels, more like 1/3 barrels than half, but id say there were more like 10 gallons than 30, were im guessing about 50 leters pots.

They grow here in Norway and in the winter it gets to -15 and the ground freezes solid, yet they return with a vengence and consume the side of my SWMBOS' uncles house within a month or 2.

I would go with the 30gal rathenr than 10-20 just to be safe. If this is going to be the permanent home for your hops, why cut corners?

I'm an experienced vegetable gardener and I can give you some info about what I know about growing plants in pots based on that, but I'm new to growing hops.

Generally speaking with planters, the reason you want bigger is because the vegetative part of the plant will stop growing when the roots can no longer actively grow and expand their zone of control. However much space above ground your plant is taking up, you can assume that the root zone is taking up at LEAST that amount below ground. If a vegetable runs into a barrier, or has to compete with other vegetables for root zone control because they're crowded, they become stunted and stop growing.

I'm not sure how this would apply to hops. You may need to dig it up annually and cut back the rhizome, or the rhizome may start taking up too much space and not leaving as much room for feeder roots to grow each spring.

You should also add an annual addition of organic matter (compost, or well-composted manure) and complete, slow-release (preferably organic) fertilizer, or the soil will, from year to year, slowly become infertile as the nutrients aren't being replaced.

The advantage I suppose of using pots is you can fill the pots with the perfect growing medium for the plant you're growing, controlling pH, drainage and fertility much more closely.

All that being said, when I grow large vegetable like indeterminate tomatoes, in large pots, they never get as big and tasty as the ones put right in the ground.

Hope that helps.