Moving hops mid-season

[DanMalleck]

Hi folks
I have seen questions about moving hops, but most talk about only the rhizomes. Mine is about moving full plants.

I have three hop plants I planted about six years ago in three 30 gal storage containers. The containers are half submerged in the ground (I did this to avoid hops being bothered by the acidity of a nearby black walnut).

Now I'm moving to a new place across town. It's August, so the vines (do you call them bines?) are growing nicely--about 10 feet tall.

Can I just cut them down from the line they're climbing, coil them up and move them? Or should I cut the vines back and just move the rhizome. Obviously the latter would be easier, but I don't want to damage the poor plant and be set back about six years.

 

[bristela]

Hi folks
I have seen questions about moving hops, but most talk about only the rhizomes. Mine is about moving full plants.

I have three hop plants I planted about six years ago in three 30 gal storage containers. The containers are half submerged in the ground (I did this to avoid hops being bothered by the acidity of a nearby black walnut).

Now I'm moving to a new place across town. It's August, so the vines (do you call them bines?) are growing nicely--about 10 feet tall.

Can I just cut them down from the line they're climbing, coil them up and move them? Or should I cut the vines back and just move the rhizome. Obviously the latter would be easier, but I don't want to damage the poor plant and be set back about six years.

I did similar last year with what were first year plants. I got a die-off of about 90-95% of the above ground growth. Fortunately, I did this after harvesting. There was some recovery before everything went dormant for winter. They've all come back up this year and are doing well. My instinct is to retain as much of the greenery as possible so that they're not starting completely from scratch in their new home.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

PS they are indeed called bines, apparently because their support comes from growing around a support in a helix rather than using tendrils or suckers.

 

[Genacide]

I just moved 5 plants in containers last week by cutting the twine at the top and coiling the bines in/around the pots. I had them to their new home in less than 2 hours and see no signs of any damage yet. If it was post harvest I would have just cut them near the ground, but they aren't ready for harvest yet and didn't want to lose a growing seasons worth of hops.