[mainebrewer]

My daughter recently purchased a house that had what I believe were Cascade hops growing in a five gallon bucket.
Her house is located in Eastern Maine and we have some pretty cold weather here in the winter.
What is the best way to store them (the rhizomes) over the winter?

[dmtaylor]

Best way honestly is to take them out of the bucket and put them one inch underground.  Hops can handle hard freezes, they've been doing it for thousands of years.  They'll probably be just fine in the bucket, but to plant them in the earth with a little blanket of a few fall leaves, and then later, a foot of snow or whatever falls naturally, will keep them perfectly safe and happy over the winter.

[b-hoppy]

Best way honestly is to take them out of the bucket and put them one inch underground. ...

Exactly!  Although, a few years ago I'd seen this question asked and decided to see for myself.  I planted 3 or 4 5 gal buckets with rhizomes in the spring and left them out over the following winter, no additional protection/mulch, just sitting out in the open.  That winter gave us a few spells where it went down to about 0F for about a week and they came back fine once the weather broke. 

You may get a little more brutal weather so if you don't have the opportunity to stick them in the ground you may want to try to protect them with some sort of mulch or move the bucket near the house to break the wind.  You may have to cut some roots as I've had them grow some serious ones through the  bottom of the bucket into the ground as that's where they'd like to be.  Either way, you'll  be fine.  Hoppy Trails~

[mainebrewer]

Thanks, I've learned that these hops were outside in the five gallon bucket for a couple of winters before she bought the house.
I guess, if they survived two years, they'll be fine if I just put the bucket in an unheated shed until Spring.

[Squidlik]

Old thread, but I used to store my potted hops in my basement bulkhead with no light all winter. The hops would come up as spindly albino shoots. Now I keep them in my unheated garage by the window. They are coming up strong & hardy now!