2nd year hops show no signs of life.

[adamdillabo]

South east VA. 4 hops in 10 gallon grow bags. Not seeing any thing yet. When should I worry and do some digging?

 

[cswis86]

What variety? I'm in central MD and have a couple hops varieties (Columbus and Chinook) that I've only started noticing some shoots forming this week. It won't hurt if you want to brush some of the dirt off around the crown to check but I wouldn't worry until you get into mid April.

 

[Kaz15]

I live in Denver which is a similar latitude to you. I have a 5 year old Cascade plant that is already exploding out of the ground. I also have three other 2nd year plants, all different varieties, none of them have broken through the mulch yet. That said, today I gently pulled back the mulch on each of them to confirm they are indeed alive and well. All three have red and white bull shoots starting to grow up from the crown. As cswis86 said, I wouldn't worry until mid April.

I see you posted 2 weeks ago, so with any luck, you've already seen some shoots. Hops are amazing plants to watch grow. Best of luck!