Hop trellis design

[heshtek]

I'm thinking about growing some hops this year and I've been looking at the different trellis designs people use.

Is there a reason that the trellis designs are always training the hop vines upwards?

I want to train the vines on a horizontal trellis that is closer to the ground so that i can pick them more easily but none of the trellis designs i've seen seem to do that.

 

[yum beer]

Hops prefer to grow up but I have a mate who grows his along his ringlock fence.

I have run my own along a cross line last season as i didn't get around to getting a good set up done.
Yes it can be done, needs a little more work to keep the vine running sideways but I am not sure how it will effect yield.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I trained some hops horizontaly...worked but they allways had vertical shoots coming off.

Do some V shaped trellis, then when it comes to harvest just drop the side down. Wont worry the plant as come harvest time they need cutting back to ground level anyway

 

[hoppy2B]

Hops will climb vertical strings unassisted, its what they do naturally. Its also a more efficient use of space to grow them vertically. Imagine a commercial hop yard if they tried to train them sideways.

If you want a good yield and easy growing, then train them vertically. If you just want to grow them for the effect of having them draped over a pergola or something, then I suggest there are better plants you could utilize. For ease of harvest, thin bamboo poles or something similar which can be lowered to the ground, are my preferred options.

 

[mr_wibble]

I'm going to do a triangular pyramid with 3 poles tied at the top, and 3 rhizomes on each bar.

Although they'll meet at the top, so maybe I'll have to do one variety per trellis.

 

[JAM]

Yeah one variety per trellis, I think you are supposed to give a little space between different types of hops..
I train my hops each year up a rope that is tied to my balcony, very simple and easy to harvest. But I guess it all depends how much space you have etc..I live in an apartment and still manage to grow hops
Gluck

 

[mr_wibble]

Finally found some time to get these built. One for Hallertau, one for Goldings.

The poles are 5m long, they're fricken huge standing up, didn't seem so long on the ground.




Edit: they're 5 paces long, about 5m.

 

[technobabble66]

Fwiw, I had my first year chinook grow vertically for about 1.5-2m then grow horizontally for 2-3m. Seemed to work perfectly, I just had to wind the growing tips back onto the strings once a week, as (as mentioned above) the new growth will reach upwards.
The bonus with this was that most of the flowers hang down a bit while the leaves sit up, so harvesting was easy for ~70% of the flowers on the horizontal sections.

 

[LiquidGold]

Finally found some time to get these built. One for Hallertau, one for Goldings.

The poles are 5m long, they're fricken huge standing up, didn't seem so long on the ground.

hop pyramid smaller.jpg


Edit: they're 5 paces long, about 5m.

Haha that is so similar to what I'm working on I flipped when I saw your pic.



I think mine are a bit longer so I tied them further down but am still considering cutting them shorter. They are massive! How many plants do you plan on planting for each one and are you also going to use twine/wire or just the poles?
I've got 2 Cascade and 3 Goldings still in pots from last year and although at first I had thought to make a tipi for each plant I realised since putting two up that one tipi would surely be enough for each variety.

 

[mr_wibble]

Haha that is so similar to what I'm working on I flipped when I saw your pic.

I hope that's Great Minds Thinking Alike, and not Fools Never Differing...

How many plants do you plan on planting for each one and are you also going to use twine/wire or just the poles?
I've got 2 Cascade and 3 Goldings still in pots from last year and although at first I had thought to make a tipi for each plant I realised since putting two up that one tipi would surely be enough for each variety.

When I put these up on Sunday, I thought they were simply too big. After all how am I going to harvest stuff that's roughly (5 * sin(60)) => 4.3 paces in the air.

But then I took the photos yesterday, and I thought to myself - nah it's OK.
So then this morning SWMBO comments on how huge they loomed when she was out feeding the cooks on dusk. Shit.

Anyway, at the moment there's no plan to cut them down. I'm going to plant one rizhome under the "angle" of each pole. None of the poles are attached to the ground at all, they're just sitting there. At the moment each pole is about 30kg (guess) so I don't expect it to blow over. Once it's covered in hops and catches the wind, maybe, but we're in a sheltered little nook in a valley, so I'm not concerned about it too much.

One thing is that there is a whole lot of space between each of the three poles. Maybe next year I'll make a 6-pole version, but they're very heavy to put up. Maybe I should cut the poles now for next year. At least then they'd be seasoned - there's still a bunch of saplings I'm letting grow out. Undecided at which point to harvest them.

cheers,
-kt


PS> what sort of bamboo is that?
I am on the lookout for some rizhomes of some "construction grade" clumping bamboo.

 

[Pogierob]

I would not add poles, add string or rope like a flag pole with eyelet hooks at the top and tied off at the bottom Come harvest time you can just lower the bines to the ground and harvest.
That way your structure doesn't have to be lowered or moved, rhyzomes can stay in the ground at the base for next year.

 

[mofox1]

Good idea, I'm thinking about stringing a line from the roof to the fence and running lines up to it from the ground.

Mick

 

[Wilkensone]

Good idea, I'm thinking about stringing a line from the roof to the fence and running lines up to it from the ground.

Mick

the brewing tv/chopnbrew had some good info about this stuff if you wanted to check it out. Can't post the links atm.


Wilkens

 

[heshtek]

Fwiw, I had my first year chinook grow vertically for about 1.5-2m then grow horizontally for 2-3m. Seemed to work perfectly, I just had to wind the growing tips back onto the strings once a week, as (as mentioned above) the new growth will reach upwards.
The bonus with this was that most of the flowers hang down a bit while the leaves sit up, so harvesting was easy for ~70% of the flowers on the horizontal sections.

Awesome that is pretty much exactly how I was planning to run mine.

 

[LiquidGold]

I hope that's Great Minds Thinking Alike, and not Fools Never Differing...


When I put these up on Sunday, I thought they were simply too big. After all how am I going to harvest stuff that's roughly (5 * sin(60)) => 4.3 paces in the air.

But then I took the photos yesterday, and I thought to myself - nah it's OK.
So then this morning SWMBO comments on how huge they loomed when she was out feeding the cooks on dusk. Shit.

Anyway, at the moment there's no plan to cut them down. I'm going to plant one rizhome under the "angle" of each pole. None of the poles are attached to the ground at all, they're just sitting there. At the moment each pole is about 30kg (guess) so I don't expect it to blow over. Once it's covered in hops and catches the wind, maybe, but we're in a sheltered little nook in a valley, so I'm not concerned about it too much.

One thing is that there is a whole lot of space between each of the three poles. Maybe next year I'll make a 6-pole version, but they're very heavy to put up. Maybe I should cut the poles now for next year. At least then they'd be seasoned - there's still a bunch of saplings I'm letting grow out. Undecided at which point to harvest them.

cheers,
-kt


PS> what sort of bamboo is that?
I am on the lookout for some rizhomes of some "construction grade" clumping bamboo.

No idea of a species or name but I know its definately a creeper type and not clumping. I cut down 20 poles from a big wall of the stuff and couldn't tell the difference and I have been invited to go get more whenever I want. Very weedy and hard to stop from overtaking the lawn. They are not as thick stemmed as the big clumping ones I've seen and they are pretty light so I plan on tying mine to star pickets or something so they don't blow over.

I have been wondering how the plants would behave when they all reach the intersection if they were to grow up the poles and whether they would eventually keep going up the poles past the intersection. The idea with leaving the branches up top were so the hops have a kind of labyrinth to wind around when they reach terminal height. I think some are around 7 metres to the tip though so might be way overkill.

I would not add poles, add string or rope like a flag pole with eyelet hooks at the top and tied off at the bottom Come harvest time you can just lower the bines to the ground and harvest.
That way your structure doesn't have to be lowered or moved, rhyzomes can stay in the ground at the base for next year.

I am considering doing something like this with mine if I can find a way to attach an eyelet to a thin bamboo pole and make it strong enough. I could essentially plant in the space between and out from the legs and string them up to the pole overhanging the centre from the opposite side (hope that makes sense).

Obviously I'm still undecided about the best way to plant and string up so maybe I should do a side by side with two tipis to work out which method works better for me.

On a side note, I've heard of curing or treating bamboo using heat (propane torch or fire) which could be a way to make it more weatherproof and not have to replace as often.

 

[mr_wibble]

On a side note, I've heard of curing or treating bamboo using heat (propane torch or fire) which could be a way to make it more weatherproof and not have to replace as often.

On an even sidier note (is that even a word? Is now.) ...
So, on an even sidier note, when we were kids we used to ride our bikes about 10km to hack down bamboo poles and drag them home. Luckily it was downhill on the return.

Then we'd cut them up into whole sections (one cut every two rungs), and burn them in the fire so they'd go bang.

God I miss fireworks. :huh:

 

[mofox1]

the brewing tv/chopnbrew had some good info about this stuff if you wanted to check it out. Can't post the links atm.

Great tip. Here is the link for those interested...

http://chopandbrew.com/2013/05/19/chop-brew-episode-06-growing-hops-at-home-part-1/

Mick

 

[Martrix]

here is my setup. Top of pole is 6mtr so some of the stringlines are 6m plus. Raise and lower like a flag pole. After 2 seasons with this setup, I'm not so sure max height is what you need. I reckon 4-5m is as high as you need to go. Its all the runners that come out of the main bine is where all the cones form. You want them to really bush/fatten up before January. I've worked out that these guys are voracious feeders. This coming season I am going to step up the fertilising regime a few gears. Natural as possible of course. 1kg of dry cascade is simply not enough! All of my flowers were at a minimum height of 4-5mtrs and above WTF!


Hops Tower design

Feb video of growth

 

[heshtek]

here is my setup. Top of pole is 6mtr so some of the stringlines are 6m plus. Raise and lower like a flag pole. After 2 seasons with this setup, I'm not so sure max height is what you need. I reckon 4-5m is as high as you need to go. Its all the runners that come out of the main bine is where all the cones form. You want them to really bush/fatten up before January. I've worked out that these guys are voracious feeders. This coming season I am going to step up the fertilising regime a few gears. Natural as possible of course. 1kg of dry cascade is simply not enough! All of my flowers were at a minimum height of 4-5mtrs and above WTF!


Hops Tower design

Feb video of growth

That sir is bloody impressive to say the least. Such a mighty mighty tower of hops.

 

[fattox]

For those interested, slightly off topic but I've been using worm farm runoff for my chillies to... painfully good results. Chocolate brain strains coming in well over the 1.5m mark (est)

Maybe an idea for amping up the fertilising? Some places will sell it by the litre