You should have plenty of rhizomes(horizontal shoots with buds) to trim off the crown for further propagating. Keep them separated by variety, it can be tricky distinguishing certain varieties of hops once planted. I will be trimming rhizomes around my hop crowns next spring to control the spreading of hops. I will be planting some of these rhizomes in other areas and try a large container or 2. 20 to 30 rhizomes – YOU ARE AMBITIOUS! You do know that will be a boatload of hops in a year or 2? You must have the room for them.

I will keep my eye open for Kent Golding / East Kent Golding rhizomes next spring and forward you any supplier info I come across. Probably not til early spring when suppliers advertise what they will be carrying. I have not looked into rhizomes from Europe yet, there may be restrictions importing to your local. I will let you know if/when I come across any info.

I dug up the rhizomes as my curiousity was too strong, and I’m glad I did. The crowns really exploded over the past year. That explains the minimal growth up top this past year. So rather than leave them in the ground (because I plan to relocate the hops, I’ve moved them into large containers, by variety and they are in my root cellar now. Do you think this is a good idea? and if so, should I be providing any water/nutrients through the winter, or should I basically let them dry out in the soil and become dormant? The cellar should not drop below 6 or 7 degrees.

I will be preparing the areas where next year’s crop will go shortly, before the ground freezes and will get them in the ground as soon as the ground can be worked.

The last dichotomy is do I divide the rhizomes to get some more plants? or do I leave them whole so I great super growth from a fewer plants? I plan to ramp up the numbers again and intend to order another 20 to 30 rhizomes, but will likely limit to fewer varieties.

Finally, my favourite variety is East Kent Golding. Have you ever seen the true English variety rhizome available anywhere online? Thanks for all the great info this past year…
cheers
Jay

I would snip the bines to ground level. You can do it now or anytime before the first snow (I believe once the bines are dead is best, but anytime will work). I would not use plastic. Just mulch over the hop crowns (4 or more inches) with grass clippings and/or leaves to insulate the ground. You can also use hay or straw.

The breakdown of the mulch you use will help nourish the soil. Hops are very hardy but I believe our 30 below zero winter days could kill an unprotected hop root stock. Wild hops survive but no sense taking chances with different varieties of hops that we plant.

Once the snow melts and extreme cold temps pass, rake the mulch off to let the hop sprouts through. When you have the number of bines trained that you want (usually 1 to 3 per rope), cut the rest to the ground then mulch over the ground to help retain moisture. One school of thought is to cut the first bines for a stronger comeback. Myself, I will only do that if a freeze takes them out or damages the hop sprouts or bines.

Someone snipped your bine? Those bastards. Should be a capital offense, ok, well maybe a good caning. Glad it was at harvest time and you didn’t lose the bine’s hop yield. Can’t wait to see how next year goes!

Your Warrior review had my mouth watering. Sounds pretty tasty for us IPA / hoppy beer / hoppy ale guys.
Town Hall’s hop series, the Warrior Strong