Possible Stupid Rhizome Question

Hi there,
Just got some of my rhizomes. The rhizomes have little, white bumps or nodules all over them. They don't look like sprouting shoots or roots to me, but what the heck do I know? I've never noticed anything like this in pictures I've seen. Two different types of rhizome were in the package and they both have them. Is this a normal part of the plant or could it be a type of mold starting to form? Part of why I ask is that, with the weekend and all, they spent five days in transit in who knows what kind of conditions. Isn't it possible that, if left in a warm enough environment, they could start trying to sprout in the bag? In the case of mold, I know mold is no real harm and is easily washed off, I just don't want to hurt the rhizomes by inadvertently removing what is part of the plant. If it is mold, should I wash them right away, or should I just wait until before they're planted?
Thanks!

Chris

No no no, don't mess with the white bumps. Those are buds forming and will turn into new shoots. Go ahead and plant those rhizomes with the white bumps up! Good Luck

Thanks Gabe,
I looked a little closer at them and believe you're right. Thing is, the bumps aren't just on one side, they're all over, so planting with the white bumps up might be a moot point.
I really need to post a picture so folks can see what I'm talking about.

Chris

Sounds like the shoots had just started forming when it was dug up. Since you can't tell which side it up, just plant it & count on Mother Nature to work it out. Hops are very good at that gravity thing.

Well, I got a reponse from Dave at Feshops, and he says that it is, in fact, mold. He recommended washing in a dilute bleach solution and a light scrub with a paint brush. I wrote back asking about what kind of ratios, so we'll see. Seems odd to me, you'd think that bleach would hurt the rhizome.

Chris

Interesting, first time I've run across mold on the rhizomes. Hope it isn't powdery mildew.

Post a picture, if you can.

Can you post a pic of the spots before you bleach them?

david_42 said:

Sounds like the shoots had just started forming when it was dug up. Since you can't tell which side it up, just plant it & count on Mother Nature to work it out. Hops are very good at that gravity thing.

Click to expand...

I read on the brouchure that came with my freshops that you can plant them horizontal. Thats how I did mine. This will be my third season.

The mold thing is concerning though. I bet if you follow the bleach-water instructions it will help. I know you can also use baking soda & water too. I don't recall the amounts though.

I have a hops book at the house. I can look it up later if you need it. Just PM me.

Chris, keep us posted, I have the same issue with the jumbo cascade i got :/ I rushed to plant it in a pot for better storage, now it looks like i'll have to dig it up and wash it with the bleach solution.

fratermus I'll try to snap a picture tonight, but it basically looks like the white fuzzy mold that you would see on cheese or bread.

A while back I happened to catch a thread in the hop group on yahoo about rhizomes and mold, and how it's a relative non-issue, so I wasn't overly concerned.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grow-Hops/message/2440
I didn't think this stuff looked like part of the plants. I thought it might be mold, but I've never dealt with this sort of thing so I figured I'd ask and make sure. As stated in the thread on the yahoo group, one would have to suspect that mold spores are probably all over anything dug out of the ground, it's just when given the right environment they start to multiply. If you're planting right away, I'd bet just washing it off with plain water would be good enough. Frankly, I think the bleach makes me more nervous than the mold, but I trust Dave's expertise.
I'll try to get some pictures posted.

Here are some pics. I would've gotten closer shots, but my camera didn't want to focus.

First are two pictures of the Crystal:





Two pictures of Hallertauer:

They kind of look like mold. Its better for them to be moist than to be dry.

My hop book says very little about mold.

Pointers from my book: ( Hop Rhizome Checklist)

Appearance:

• Plump, not dried out or withered
• Healthy, not dead - or diseased looking
• May have white sprouts or rootlets

Texture:

• Firm to the touch, not soft
• Will not compress easily

Care until planting:

• Keep in a cool, damp place; wrap in newspaper, damp sawdust, or peat moss to prevent drying out.

Rinsing them is a good idea. - With a bleach-water, my guess is no more than two oz bleach / 5 gal of water. This is my typical carboy soak solution.

FYI - 1 tablespoon of baking soda per gallon of water is a good organic fungicide throughout the whole growth season. You need to catch this early so water/spray all over with this regularly.

Hope this helps!!!

Well I'm no expert (I just got my rhizomes today as well:cross, but that does kinda look like it could be mold.....

Seems like the act of keeping them moist would encourage mold. Maybe just keeping them at 42F would help after you clean/sanitize them.

Thanks for the info Schlenkerla!

No Problem - I think you'll be Ok if you can plant them soon.

Yeah that is mold! Sorry for the miss info there Chris. I was shooting blind before the photos. I thought you were talking about the bigger white sprouts that pop up at a node. Good luck with those rhizomes. I ordered from FH and didn't receive moldy roots, but then I also didn't order either of those varieties. Cheers , GAbe

ChrisS68 said:

Here are some pics. I would've gotten closer shots, but my camera didn't want to focus.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the pics.

First thing that came to mind was Mr. Salty pretzel rods.

fratermus said:

Thanks for the pics.

First thing that came to mind was Mr. Salty pretzel rods.

Click to expand...

That's what I thought!

Gabe,
No problem, I knew I shoulda had some pictures up to start with. Again, I don't think it's a big issue, I just wanted to be sure of what I was looking at. I'd also like to point out that I don't believe there's any fault with Freshops. Like I said, due to the holiday weekend, it was a good five days from the time they shipped until I received the rhizomes.

Anyhoo, maybe I'll just wash them and go ahead and get them started indoors. With the way this "spring" is shaping up, I might never get to plant them outside.

Just another tidbit:
I did some quick searches about rhizomes and bleach. I didn't really see anything hop specific, but there was alot about washing iris rhizomes. Apparently, many times soaking and washing of iris rhizomes is done as a matter of course. From what I've seen, the ratio is 1 part bleach to 9-10 parts water (seems pretty strong). Rhizomes are soaked for 20-30 minutes before rinsing with clean water. Dave did say to soak and scrub lightly with a paint brush.

Disclaimer: this is just info I'm passing along. No warranty specified or implied.

Chris

Okay, soaked, lightly scrubbed, and rinsed the rhizomes. I went a lot lighter than the 9/1 ratio. I used about 1.5 teaspoons of bleach in about 3 quarts of water. I didn't want to go too crazy with the scrubbing, so there's still some remanants of "the white stuff" in areas around the nodes. On close inspection, it seems it chose to grow on little bumps and other particular areas of the rhizome, which is why I initially thought it might be part of the plant. Hopefully the soak was enough to take it out of commission. We'll see how it goes.

Chris

hope it works out for you. I emailed Dave about what to do with mine since i've already planted them... his response was basically "don't worry, they'll be fine"