New hops

[DoubleFisted]

I just got some hop rhizomes from a fellow HBT member and since the snow finally lifted from the Iowa ground I was curious when the best time actually would be to plant these things. I would like to get them in as soon as possible as they are in baggies already and starting to grow. Also if I cannot plant them for a little while should I keep them refrigerated?

 

[B-Hoppy]

It's best to keep them refrigerated until you can work up an area to plant them. No matter what you do to encourage/discourage growth, the soil temp. will most likely have the biggest impact on when they start to grow. Personally, I would like to try to time planting such that they will begin to come up by the time you're past the last killing frost. If the new growth does happen to get 'frosted', the rhizomes are at a disadvantage for survival due to the loss of stored energy used to produce the first new growth. When is the last killing frost in your location?????