Hop Pruning question

I have 4 second year hops. 2 Cascade and @ Willamette. They are both doing well. I have trained 3 bines per rope for all of them. A few questions:

1. Some of the bines, about 1-2 feet up from the ground, will shoot off a side sprout. They are now about 2-3 feet long, just hanging on the ground. Shoud I just cut it off, or should I train it up the trellis also.

2. I read where you should cut all the leaves off the botton 1-2 feet of the hop plants. Is this accuraute? And if so, is it to protect from bugs or something...

1. I would leave all the off shoots unless they start showing signs of dying. As long as the main bine is climbing upward, you'll be fine.

2. Cutting the side shoots off the bottom 3-4' of each bine will help promote good air circulation and keep mildew and mold from growing. I wouldn't suggest doing this until you first start seeing hop burrs. Some people will say to do it earlier, but I like letting my plant go crazy until it starts producing hops. At that point, you want to regulate the plant so it puts more energy into producing hops than keeping the leaves green.

I trim the leaves and sidearms for the first 2-3 feet, but not until the bines are 6-7 feet tall. The summers are so dry here, it probably isn't necessary, though.

I have some Centennial in a container with 3 bines, but one of the bines has exploded into like 10 bines/side arms all coming out of the same spot on the bine. Should I just cut it off?

Noooo. Side arms are where your hops will eventually grow. Let them do their thing.

I should be more specific - it's doing this basically right at ground level. So in other words, one bine turned into 10 as soon as it came out of the ground.

So I'm wondering if this is a good or bad thing, for instance, should I cut off the 2 existing bines that are 4'-7' and train this new "super bine", or cut it off.

If it's just starting to grow and you've already trained bines that are 4-7' tall, then go ahead and cut it.

when you say that 'a bine turned into 10' do you mean the bine itself, or do you mean that there are 10 'bines' coming out of the ground from the original rhizome?

B-Hoppy, there is one shoot coming out of the dirt and then at about 1-2" above ground, that one shoot exploded into around 10 bines/sidearms all from the same spot on that single shoot.

Is there an easier way to post pics here other than having to provide a URL?

it's hard to come to a conclusion without a pic, but i've seen rhizomes that happened to be planted a little shallow (i.e.: the tip of the rhizome sticking out of the ground) and then the ring of buds all emerged from the rhizome making it look like an octopus or the spokes of a bicycle radiating outward from the main root. never seen what you're describing though?