Rhizomes?

So I am off to the lhbs to get rhizomes. I live in Minnesota and I am not sure what kind to get. I am not a hop head so high alpha acid hops are not my cup of tea. I like pilsners and blondes but I also want some for APAs. I am getting to different kinds. Any suggestions?

Liberty and Magnum do well here in Sothern California. I’ve used Liberty in a number of lagers, ales, and Ambers.

I went with cascade and hallertau.

Now I am just curious with when I should plant them?

How long can they sit in the fridge befor I plant them?

I have not actually planted hops but did a ton of research a couple years ago.  If you soil is thawed, you can plant them now.  Mulch them in well with composted manure and get your trellis system figured out.

Paul

Yeah, as soon as the ground is soft enough to dig it’ll be fine.  They might get moldy in the fridge if you don’t have good circulation, I always like to plant ASAP.

I live in Northern Michigan and my hops are about 3-4" high right now thanks to that early warm spell we had.  I would plant now, but use straw mulch to protect them from any freezing/frost.
I’m growing cascade, nugget and chinook, they seem to do best up here.  I tried fuggles/hallertau and other european varieties and they didnt grow to well.  Stick with domestic.

So let’s say I plant them tomorrow and they grow a couple of inches and there is a freezeand the tops freeze am I SOL?

My established plants came through the freezes here just fine.

I am a little skeptical lol. My ground is soft so I can dig a whole and plant. So if I plant tomorrow and the top freezes after it’s sticking out of the ground I will be ok?

In my experience, hop rhizomes are very resilient, and can withstand harsh treatment.  Although I don’t live in or around your area, I do live in dessert like conditions, where the rhizomes have displayed much strength against the brutal heat.

I say plant away. But if you want peace of mind, you could start them in small pots to develop their roots and move them inside if it freezes.

How big around are they and how many shoots can you see on the rhizomes?  If they only have one shoot, it grows and then freezes and dies, you’re probably SOL unless it has been going for a while or is a nice fat rhizome.

If there is more than one bud per rhizome, it should be fine even if it freezes unless it is a crazy hard freeze and all of them have grown above the soil.

I would check the weather for the next week or so.  If you’re not expecting a hard freeze, plant them.  Then keep an eye on the weather - once they sprout above the soil, if you are worried about a freeze just cover them with an upturned pot overnight, they should be fine.

Btw, I just checked MN weather - there is a freeze alert for a good chunk of the state, so I would wait until Wednesday or Thursday and then plant them.

If they’re still just beginning to bud out from the rhizome I’d go ahead and plant them 3-4" down. It’s going to take them several days to break the surface.

How many rhizomes do you guys normally plant per hop variety? Ive heard 4 rhizomes per hill is the way to go from hopsdirect, but thats in a farming setting.  Is 1 rhizome sufficient to get decent yields of each hop after 3 years or so? What kind of yields do you see from 1 single rhizome after year 1, 2, 3 etc?

I guess it depends on how big of a hurry you’re in. First years don’t typically produce a lot. If you’re dying for at least a brews worth this year you might go two or three.  I’ve always just planted one rhizome per mound and found that if they make through the first season and winter there’s more than enought shoots that come up in year two and after that it’s game on.

I planted mine in rows next to the south side of the house to try to provide a little shade in those blistering hot summer months. Planted about 5 feet apart, centenial (5, only 4 up so far) along one section separated from the rest as they seem to spread and tangle alot underground. Cascade (5, all 5 are up)along the sunniest wall because I have heard that they are prolific on the foliage front and one single sterling (no sign yet but it’s only been a week, the guy who gave me the rhyzomes only had 1 sterling and it was only 3 years old so there wasn’t really much pruning to do) on the west side of the house in front of the bedroom window so it will help us sleep when we have the window open.

we have had a couple light frosts since they broke ground but no one seems to mind. I would guess that right next to the house they are probably kept a little warmer than they would be in the middle of the yard.

I couple tricks for early spring emerging plants in colder climates:

Plant on a north facing slope if you have one. This will discourage early growth and decrease the chance that they will emerge/bud(for trees) before the last killing frost has happened. You might also be able to build up a bit of a mound of earth (or earth and logs: google hugelkulture) and plant on the north side of that. I don’t know if that would work or not though.

Place large dark colored rocks near the base of your planting. If you are getting warm sunny weather the rocks will heat up a little during the day and help buffer night time temp swings a bit. Also think about prevailing winds and try to figure out a way to block them a bit to further moderate night time temps.

And as several others have mentioned you can mulch with straw, cover with pots or even mulch with slightly under finished compost.

One rhizome is plenty if you are patient and have a good planting spot.  After a few years in the new house I wasn’t getting a crop so I ripped them out, but they were not planted in a good sunny place, just the best place I was willing to put them.

For me it depended on the quality of the rhizomes. The first time I ordered hops, the rhizomes were pretty sad looking so I planted two per hill in 3 hills to increase the odds that a plant would grow.  The second time I ordered hop rhizomes, they looked pretty healthy so I planted one per hill and one rhizome in each of two large pots.  Last year I split off two Willamette hops rhizomes and planted them each in a new hill.  They didn’t produce any hops last year, but they did grow and are already growing at the same rate as my other Willamette this year.  I also planted the potted hops in the ground and got a small amount of hops in their second year.  I live in more of an urban environment so I dont have a lot of choices.

A lot of production depends on the weather, their location, and how much you take care of them. The first year I planted hops, I got hop plants to grow in all three hills and some hops to harvest the first year.  I didn’t really expect too much because the first year really establishes the plant itself.  I had a lot of hop production the second year, but the weather was great and I was diligent with their upkeep.  The third year was almost nothing because the weather was terribly hot and dry and I wasn’t keeping up with them like I should have been. Last year the weather wasn’t ideal and I was somewhere in the middle of keeping up with them and I got a decent yield.  This year I plan on being better about tending to them and I’m hoping the weather cooperates.  There is nothing like stuffing your freezer with vacuum sealed bags of your own hops.

I bought 2 Centennial Rhizomes about three weeks ago.  I started them in a 16" pot inside my house, as I didn’t want to take any chances with the weather.  I used Miracle Grow potting mix and buried the rhizomes about 2" below the surface vertically with the buds pointing up.  The hops have since emerged from the soil and are about 12-16" long now.  I am planning to transplant them outside very soon.

Has anyone here had any luck growing their hops in pots? I haven’t settled on (read: convinced my wife) a final location for my hops, so I planted my rhizomes in pots for now with the intent of trialing them in a couple of different spots for the first season or two.