Moving - Heavy trimming ok?

[Mathematics]

I have 3 plants, 2nd year, all in 16" dia pots. The plan was to put them in the ground this spring, however we're now moving across country so I left them in the pots.

The various vines are 4-6ft long so far, and growing quickly... any suggestions on how to move with these guys without stressing them too much? Can I just trim them down to a few ft and wrap the vines around a cut down (1ft tall) tomato cage?

I'm sure this would minimize their flower output pretty significantly, but as long as it's not going to kill the plants I'm ok with it. Any hops at all out of these guys this summer and I'd be a pretty happy camper.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[TeeJo]

It's pretty hard to keep a hop down!

Being as it's still early in the year, my bet would be that if you bucked them all off at ground level, they would still be fine. Might or might not see a rop at all, but... You will at least still have the crowns.

I have started dug up sections of root and rhizome, as late as August, and had pretty good growth a root development.

Speaking of roots, how rootbound are your pots? I would thin that a 16 inch pot would be bunged up almost solid with roots in the time you have had them.

TeeJo