I've never had a problem with keeping my hops outside in their pots over winter. Been doing it for 5 years and it does get below zero for stretches here in St. Louis. Just leave them outside they will be fine.
I grow Columbus and find them to be my favorite. They are much more resiny than Cascade and Centennial so don't worry about that. If they are papery sounding and have that pungent smell I say pickem!
If those are lower leaves and the plant is throwing burrs this is normal. If there are no burrs yet then just give the plant a little bit of fertilizer.
I use Fish Emulsion 5-1-1 and then switch to an organic granular called Flower Power at 3-6-4 I believe it is. I am in Sunset Hills. Growing Nugget, Centennial, Columbus, and Neo1.
I am in St. Louis myself in the S. County area. I can tell you that this year our spring was colder than normal so growth has been stunted a bit. We are about 2 weeks behind normal growing conditions. Every year is different. I just applied some fish fertilizer today to help with nitrogen as...
Leave your bines attached and no need to fertilize since they will not use it anyway. Just keep them watered till the leaves die off. When all is brown cut at ground level and wait till spring. First year plants are treated differently than others. Second year you can just harvest and cut at...
Try Nugget or Neomexicana 1. I grow those two along with Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus. Nugget is doing well in its second year and Neo 1 is doing great in its 1st year. I don't dare try anything that cannot handle the hot weather. The three C's are all doing great in their second year...
Good luck on that one. Only difference I can tell is that Cascade is usually a better producer with bigger cones than Centennial. You cannot really tell the difference in the two visually. Centennial is nicknamed a "super cascade". So they are similar. Just use them together in a brew and...