Bine growing underground

[Kahless]

I am growing First Gold, in their Second year (they are growing well apart from two heads which have been nibbled off but I have backups).

Tonight I found a section around the base of the plant which looked like a large root had been dug up, and wondered how that could have happened, but on touching the root, it popped out the soil like a spring; turns out it was a bine which had grown out, then down, into the ground, and is completely white.

My question is, is this normal behaviour for the plant? Should I leave it underground, and would this become a root or possibly a rhizome? Or should I just trim it off with the rest of the extra bines?

Cheers

 

[B-Hoppy]

Some varieties tend to do that more than others and my Canadian Redvine is the most notorious, ha!

For whatever reason, the shoot will dip downward and grow underground for a while and then finally pop up a few inches away. This is exactly the way rhizomes form as that part of the shoot that is below the soil level will form buds at the nodes rather than leaves/sidearms as it would when growing above ground. You can actually force the newly emerged shoots to do this by bending them over and covering them with soil. A very simple way to propagate.

 

[day_trippr]

Once I've whacked the second growth leaving just the few bines I'm going to train, the next few weeks is all about hunting down runners going every which way.

I grow Chinook, Cascade, Centennial and Fuggles and the 3 C hops are crazy about sending out runners. I've found them popping out of the ground three feet from the crown, which then requires pulling the whole thing up all the way back.

The weather over the last two weeks has been stellar and everything is growing great guns. I was out weeding the beds today just a few days since the final "whacking" and finding tips poking out all over the place already

Cheers!

 

[thaymond]

Runners at top left, bottom left and bottom right. They're about 2 feet from the crown. This is Chinook. Looks like I'll have some solid rhizomes to pass on next season.

View attachment 1431050171280.jpg

 

[Kahless]

Wow, that's crazy. Another fascinating thing about growing hops.. I could almost forget that they are destined for beer making.

B-Hoppy:
Awesome! Thanks for the info. I'm going to leave this one underground to do its thing.

day_tripper & thaymond:
Thanks for the replies; based on those stories and picks I'll keep vigilant in case they come through in larger numbers (there's been more than 40 bines crowing up from the crown this year...).

One thing I wonder, is if the runner eventually ends up storing energy as a rhizome, and the shoot from the end that grows upwards and is cut (along with all other bines that grow out from it the following year), would that energy be utilized by the original plants bines as the runner/rhizome is still part of its root system? If this is the case it might make sense to keep them rather than pull them back to the crown, or is it just that they are more hassle than they are worth when they start becoming a crown of their own the following year?

 

[B-Hoppy]

Once hops become established, they have more energy than they know what to do with it. The underground parts (the crown, rhizomes, roots) will continue to get bigger as they store and share excess energy in reserve in case of an emergency. If you leave the rhizomes unattended, they will continue to grow underground for considerable distances. This is why it's a good idea to dig around the crown starting at the beginning of the 3rd year (if not the second) to help keep them from spreading farther than you'd like. Have fun!