Hop Trellis - Need some ideas

[mthibodeau]

I need some ideas for building a trellis in my yard, up the side of my house wont work with my place. Anybody have some pictures they could share or anybody in Sackville/Beaver Bank want to show off their setup?

[mumblecrunch]

I need some ideas for building a trellis in my yard, up the side of my house wont work with my place. Anybody have some pictures they could share or anybody in Sackville/Beaver Bank want to show off their setup?

I started to put this together last weekend. Not sure it's a permanent solution but it will do for a summer I think.

Note #1: yes I have two varieties (Mt Hood and Magnum) planted way too close together. Hoping to rectify that in fall after harvest.

Note #2: the green wire trellises are there purely because I had to do something a couple weeks ago and hadn't developed the rest of the plan yet. I'm kinda stuck with them now for the rest of the year.



That's an 8' 4x4 post stuck into a plastic bucket sitting on gravel and sunk about 20" deep and filled with cement. I used the fence post cement that you don't have to mix to save myself some trouble. I would like to have sunk it another 8-10 inches but the terrain wasn't cooperating. It might frost heave, but it might not being so close to the foundation. Terrible old 2x4 used for a crosspiece and an eyebolt to tie off the twine.



I will be sinking another bucket between the two planters in the foreground (cascade in one, centennial in the other, both planted this year) and doing the same thing. I'm then planning to run some wire between the two and letting the hops crawl across (although getting them to follow a horizontal path is apparently a pain).

I have no idea what I'm doing but it'll be fun seeing how it works out.

[jmacdonald]

I came across some really neat boxes that you can build that will maximizes the space. It was a 4x2 box with string that ran diagonal and crisscross. A quick search I was unable to find it, but will look a bit harder later when I have time.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

I'm hoping to build one in the next few days, I'd like to have it 15-20 ft tall if possible, we'll see. Will be supporting probably 6 varieties all planted as close as Aaron's

[jmacdonald]

Looked again but cant find the boxes, they were pretty slick though.

However currently my setup is only bamboo poles that run from the ground to my eaves trough and are twist tied in place. I drilled the bottom so I can fit two together, bottom one inside the top. Once the hops get high enough I train them on some twine across my deck to provide some shade. It was cheap and easy to setup. The longest bine is already taller than me.

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[mthibodeau]

I think my trellis may end up being some wire run between two trees in my backyard. The good thing about that is its a 25 foot gap, and if I plant off to the side I can do two rows and run ropes from each up to the wire. My question now is how many to plant?

Once established (I know the first few years dont give a big harvest) how much would you tyipcally get? If it helps my trellis will only be 10 or 12 feet tall. I just dont want to plant too little or way too much of a single variety.

[jmacdonald]

I dug up a single bine from a wild hop plant that I found. It now comes up in multiple places as it creates a huge root system from what I read. It is even popping up 2-3 feet on the lawn from where I planted, this is only its third year. Last year I managed to get 7 or 8 ounces vac packed.

One thing to watch out for are the pests. My first year it was the Comma butterfly laying eggs. Second year I got that under control by keeping diligent squishing the eggs. It was then I noticed there were ants on the hops, I thought this was a good thing. Sadly they were farming the aphids that I did not know I had, and during drying...boy did I have aphids! They wont get me this year though, I am ready for them!

[jeffsmith]

I think my trellis may end up being some wire run between two trees in my backyard. The good thing about that is its a 25 foot gap, and if I plant off to the side I can do two rows and run ropes from each up to the wire. My question now is how many to plant?

Once established (I know the first few years dont give a big harvest) how much would you tyipcally get? If it helps my trellis will only be 10 or 12 feet tall. I just dont want to plant too little or way too much of a single variety.

One thing to note is that when the hop vines get to the top of your trellis, and it rains, they're going to hold a lot of water. So be sure to account for that added weight. My first couple of years of growing, I had a similar type of trellis collapse due to weight.

My 4 or 5 year old plants yield close to 1lb. dry of hops now. Of course that varies depending on the growing season, etc. And as Jeff mentioned above, they're really aggressive plants. I dig mine up every spring and cut back the root system to keep them manageable. The plus side of that is that once you have mature plants, you'll likely end up with some rhizomes that you can plant or share.

[mthibodeau]

One thing to note is that when the hop vines get to the top of your trellis, and it rains, they're going to hold a lot of water. So be sure to account for that added weight. My first couple of years of growing, I had a similar type of trellis collapse due to weight.

My 4 or 5 year old plants yield close to 1lb. dry of hops now. Of course that varies depending on the growing season, etc. And as Jeff mentioned above, they're really aggressive plants. I dig mine up every spring and cut back the root system to keep them manageable. The plus side of that is that once you have mature plants, you'll likely end up with some rhizomes that you can plant or share.

Jeff thanks for the info, knowing that an established plant will give a pound or more means i think im going to scale back to start with, do maybe 2 plants, now i just need to decide single variety or multiple.

I'm not worried about my eventual 25 foot setup collapsing, they are well rooted older trees, and for the main support cable I plan to use 1/4" aircraft cable and steel shackles. If it breaks that stuff im in serious trouble

[jeffsmith]

Jeff thanks for the info, knowing that an established plant will give a pound or more means i think im going to scale back to start with, do maybe 2 plants, now i just need to decide single variety or multiple.

6 plants is definitely pushing my limits. Harvest time ends up being nearly two weeks of a couple of hours a night picking cones (due to different maturity times, etc.). A bit of a PITA.

[mthibodeau]

Anybody interested in some 2 year old cascade plants? They are 12.50 a plant, and if I buy 4 I can get them delivered to the city, however I think 2 or maybe 3 will be my limit for this year, so if anybody wants a plant or two Ill go ahead and get them ordered. On a side note this guy has a lot of potted 2 year old plants, and if you buy 10 or more the price goes to $10 a plant. So if you want a lot message me and ill pass along his details.

[mthibodeau]

Planning now to build a 4' x 10' raised bed out of 4x4 with a 16' tall 4x4 on each end so they can get some height. Any recommendations on a system to get the bines down at the end of the year? Simpliest thing I can think of is eye bolt at the top of each pole, and run a strong rope between the two and then down to the bottom where I can tie it off, then at the end of the season untie (or more likely cut) the rope and drop all the bines to the ground.

Id like something a little more sophisticated than that and was thinking of something along the lines air 1/4" aircrast cable with pulleys at the top, but the issue there becomes securing the cable at the bottom and releasing at the end of the year. If I use a turnbuckle which will definitly let me tighten the cable, then that wouldnt fit through the pulley, also there will be so much weight on it at the end of the year that loosening the turnbuckle will be fine, but opening the shackle to let it go will be kind of hard. Any thoughts or go with the rope and cut it when im done?

[jeffsmith]

I'd go with the rope. I just use yellow nylon rope now. It's cheap and the hops climb it really well.

[mthibodeau]

Figured I'd post some pics of the build, I'll probably even tally up the costs at some point, but I'm in no rush as I know I blew through my estimates ever time I reinforced it

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You can't see it but I have 6inch spikes holding each new row to the one below it, the corner bracing helps some but I didn't trust it fully so spiked it too.

There is currently a 4th row on it and it's half full of soil and peat moss, and mid week it will have more soil and compost, and on each end a 4x4x16 to string my line across so they can grow tall. Oh and most importantly hops!

[storm beers]

I found spacing my plants at least a foot and a half apart and cutting them back hard early in the spring once they crowned helped keep the downy mildew down. I used cheapo nylon rope like Jeff mentioned strung over aircraft cable so that two rows could climb up the same rope, like an inverted v. This won't help your dilemma of how to lower your bines at harvest, but it might save you some space and material cost if you're going the cable route.
Nice beds btw! You could get a quick round of radishes or spinach in there before the hops take over!

[mthibodeau]

I plan to run rope between the two uprights through eye bolts and secure it at the base, so I can cut it and let it drop.

No need for radishes in here, not pictured is the 4x4 raised bed for veggies

[mthibodeau]

So I'll hopefully be installing the uprights on Wednesday, instead of guy wires front and back there will be a solid center beam.

While it's on the ground I want to get as much prep done as possible so my qualifications now for you guys is how many lines per plant for the vines to climb? And how far do you space them up top?

I have just over 10 feet of space for 3 plants

[jeffsmith]

That should be more than enough space. I run a single line per plant, but you could easily run two.

[mthibodeau]

Quick update, got the uprights on

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Just need to plant the hops, and finish running the lines for the vines to climb, should be finished tomorrow, more pics to come

[jeffsmith]

Lookin' good!

[mthibodeau]

Finally finished. I have two transplant plants and one rhizome planted. Furthest away is a nugget, middle is cascade, and closest is a centennial rhizome, that hopefully will sprout soon

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[jacinthebox]

Looks great...im going to string my plant up this weekend. ..my ghetto set up only go to a nearby tree