Splitting Rhizome during growth?

[Rwings39]

I purchased two Cascade rhizomes for last year's growth. One grew visibly more aggressively than the other and combined harvested a decent amount of hops for first year plants. This year, the more active of the rhizomes put out a number of bines, grew to about 7' before I neglected it with too much heat and not enough water and seemed to have stalled, but seems to slowly be growing some hops even now. Also, it's now putting out a number of new shoots which I'd like to keep if at all possible. Since my second rhizome seems to have died entirely. Nothing is happening, would it be at all possible to cut the rhizome and move half of the plant? I'm not sure what it actually looks like underground to know what or where exactly i'd need to cut it, or how best to go about it (what tools, etc) if it is okay to do so. I know it's generally a bad idea to stress a plant, especially with new growth.

Thanks for any info for this rookie hop farmer.

 

[day_trippr]

If you allow a new bine to grow to 18-24" in length with some healthy leaves you can then bury most of its length at the crown end in an inch or so of good, unpacked soil, keep the soil damp, and the bine will sprout hundreds of roots along the buried length in a week or so.

If you let the roots grow to a couple of inches length you can then cut the bine free from the crown and plant it.

Et voila! You have a baby clone!

Cheers!

 

[cshamilton]

You can cut some of the shoots and plant them. I did a bunch this year. I just made sure I got a lot of the root portion (a few feet). Everything except my columbus worked great.

I'm no pro, so you might be able to get more specific advice from someone more experienced.

Don't plan on a ton of growth from the new plants, you are just trying to get it established. I believe they will put more energy into making roots than your established plant.

 

[Rwings39]

@day_trippr So, just to be clear, leave the newly growing bine(s) attached and bury all but the tip in a trench of sorts? Would it be beneficial to strip any leaves along the buried section for root growth starting points, or less energy is put toward them since they're no longer catching light, or any other reason? Or should I leave them attached?

Thank you both for the quick replies! These are fast growing buggers when they get goin and some of the new growth is almost to the 18-24" range.

 

[day_trippr]

Yes, leave the bine attached until the buried length has grown roots. I've done this a few times and it's amazing how quickly that happens - roughly a week or so.

I usually start with ~2 foot long shoots and don't bother removing any leaves, just bury the first foot or so under an inch of soil...

Cheers!