[BrewArk]

Yes kids, here in California it has been dry.  It has also been warm enough to fool the plants.  Here's a picture of my Magnums that I discovered are starting to come up today:

[corkybstewart]

I actually checked my hops today to see if any have started coming up yet-so far nothing.  Yesterday our high was 36, today probably above 60 and there's been absolutely no precip in over a month.  I've started watering my crowns every week so hopefully when spring hits they'll be primed to take off.

[el_capitan]

That's a fat little sprout!  It warms my heart to think of those little buggers popping their heads up again this year.

Mine are still buried under 3 ft of snow.  I'm just hoping the ground loosens up early this year so I can get digging.  I doubled my trellis space last year after adding 3 new varieties.  Now I need to dig them all up and spread them out a bit.  I'm taking the opportunity to replant them in alphabetical order.  Call me OCD if you want 

It's going to be a bit of work to excavate 10 established hop crowns and get all the roots out, so I can be sure to eliminate any regrowth from the original plantings.  Should be a great warmup to the garden season though.  After sitting inside all winter, I'll be ready for some manual labor. 

[reverseapachemaster]

I peeked in on the hops a couple weeks ago to add some mulch. There weren't shoots coming out of the ground yet but after adding a few inches of mulch I'm not sure whether they have grown out of the soil or just getting ready. It's altered warm and cold every few days here. Today it's 30 but Sunday it was 70.

[Pinski]

I won't be surprised if they start early in Oregon this year too. We're 10" behind on rainfall for the water year and there's 20% of the normal snowpack in the mountains.  We drove over the Mt. Hood pass last weekend and had the windows open with t-shirts on. In mid-fricken January.  People in Bend are flippin' out. Polar what-tex? Not here.

[reverseapachemaster]

It's back to cold here so I'm glad the hops are still underground. At least we're getting a little rain with the cold.