Last frost?

[cheezydemon]

Is the last frost critical? Things are popping up like crazy here, but they will probably be rotted back by at least 1 more frost. Last predicted frost is in month.

The bines could be outside right now no problem. 60's during the day and 40's at night for the next week or so.

Will a frost kill all vegetative growth?

 

[McKBrew]

A frost is not going to kill all vegetation, although it may be damaging to some. While not a gardening experty I do know that if you plant your rhizomes a bit early or have a late frost you can cover them with something to protect them. A pile of straw for example.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

A frost wont kill the rhisome but will kill the growth (shoots).

Put em' in the ground. Just watch the weather reports and keep mulch handy in case you need to cover them overnight. I like to use buckets filled with mulch and then turn them over the crowns.

 

[Big "A"]

Excellent suggestion Gila!

 

[cheezydemon]

My bines are a few feet tall, I would like to keep them alive, maybe wrapping a blanket would work.

 

[Beerthoven]

April 15 seems to be the rule of thumb around here for spring planting. I'm not going to put anything into the ground before then.

 

[cheezydemon]

Patience is almost always best, but if it won't kill the plant, why not take advantage of the good growth?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

My bines are a few feet tall, I would like to keep them alive, maybe wrapping a blanket would work.

Considering this, then yes blankets, towels, plastic bags, etc....

The idea is to keep the frost off the plant and protect from biting winds. Hops are pretty hardy and tolerant. Like I said before, just keep an eye on the forecast and do what you can to protect the plant from direct exposure.

Also, a common practice is the cutting of the early growth to force hardier potentially bigger shoots to develope. I know it's hard to consider but if faced with frost it is a viable option and could make things easier.

 

[david_42]

I have shoots sticking out of an inch of new snow. Even if they die back due to a frost, new shoots will grow. If the ground is thawed, plant.

A better alternative to mulching is to cut the bottoms out of soda bottles & place them over the shoots. Those water-filled tomato starters are also good & they are less likely to blow away.

 

[Smogre]

Hops are pretty darn tough.
Gila has many good suggestions.
Being in Colorado, we can get some strange cold snaps late into Spring.
So having a simple plastic pot like you buy your plants in at the garden store are usually good enough to keep the frost off the plant.

Other than that, if it freezes and kills a bine or two, who cares. I let no more than 4 bines grow from each plant. I cut all the rest off. Point being, if the bines freeze, they'll grow new ones.

So yeah, I get hectic weather sometimes and my plants get large and my yields are damn good.

 

[cheezydemon]

My thoughts exactly, what have you got to lose? And you may get 3-4 feet more of bine by puting them out early if there is no frost. (COME ON GLOBAL WARMING!!!lol not serious)

 

[Joker]

I have shoots sticking out of an inch of new snow.

Lovely spring we are having this year. :rockin:

 

[cheezydemon]

No complaints here. We are a good 10F above where we should be. Bulbs are 4-6 inches high, trees are budding up, I figure my hops are missing out on that energy.

 

[Powchekny]

I've had excellent luck protecting plants from frost by just covering the plants with a cardboard box. If you're paranoid and you have room under the box, you could even put in a gallon jug of warm water. I know it doesn't sound like much, but a gallon of water actually contains quite a bit of heat.

Tom