Side shoots off the main bine??

So I have a 4+ foot long, first year bine growing and it started with some lateral shoots towards the base and now has about 4-5 lateral shoots each about 8-12'' long. Do I need to trim these back or is it normal? What should I do with these, since they are in a container and I'm growing on a fence and already have two main bines on the fence twine I'm worried training these side shoots onto the fence may over crowd the main bines. Thoughts??

The side shoots will have hops growing on them eventually, so I would not trim them.

10-4 that's what I figured but I was worried about it getting tangled and sitting on the soil rather than being off the ground.

I would try to keep them off the ground if possible. How far above the ground are you training the bines to the fence? I did the sideways and up way for my container hops last year, but I was about 6 feet up on a wall.

starts at about 3 ft. and and trains out 5 ft. then up 1ft. then back 5ft. and so on. Is it normal for the side shoots to be that close to the bottom of the plant?

the sidearms form where each pair of leaves emerge from the main vine. the vast majority of hops are formed on the sidearms growing within the top 2/3 of the vine. the lower sidearms will have some hops on them but seem to be more of a hinderance than benefit and thus it's common to remove them from the lowest 3 or 4 feet of the vines. these lower sidearms can drag on the ground and are a great method for disease transmission from the soil floor up onto the growing plant - not to mention that if you aren't paying attention while walking by one that's at neck height, they will try to decapitate you. honestly, only a couple time they drew blood, it's mostly just like a very irritating scratch.

so if I trim them back do I do it at the main bine???

most of the time you can just grab the leaf and the lateral(sidearm) at the same time and gently pull them down from where they are attached to the vine. sometimes they break off clean, and sometimes they pull a little 'skin' off the vine. not gonna hurt the plant. have at it!

I've got side arms growing on 2 of my first-years also. Since this year is for laying down a good root system, I'm letting them grow. Actually I'm training them around the twine, as well to keep them out of the way, especially the lower ones.

I figured for this year, I'm going to let everything grow.

great idea, as long as you have the time. grow, grow, grow!

I've been training the lower side arms up the main twine to keep them out of the way.