Hop Trellis Designs

[theredone]

ok so i know its not time to plant yet but i want to start getting the ball rolling on my design for a trellis. im living in a rental at the moment that backs onto a church(my landlords) so id rather keep things a little lower to the ground. ive searched high and low on the net and this forum for horrizontal designs but have not come up with anything as yet.

so ive done a couple of quick paint designs to see what you guys think

and i cant work out how to get the pictures to show in the thread so ive had to do attatchments sorry

option A: would have a plant running up from either end then zigg zagging up and down to the middle. im guessing this would keep the plants closer to vertical than horrizontal in theory anyways.
View attachment option_A.bmp

option B: would have 2 plants runing up from opposing corners then zig zag back and forth horizontally till the middle
View attachment option_B.bmp

both i think would look a little better (to the untrained eye, and catholic priests ) but id probly prefer to go with option B as it would give me a little bit of a shaded area to put some chairs under and drink some beer. but if option A would be far far better i would stick with that

thoughts?

cheers guys

oh.... and does anyone know where to get centenial or galexy rhizomes from? cant find any

 

[barls]

ive got version a

 

[theredone]

ive got version a

it works ok running up or down so long as its close to verticle? would 4 mtrs long be enough for 2 different types of hops so long as i start one from each end
dont spose you have a photo so i can make sure im doing it right?

thanks mate

 

[barls]

i use 6m for 4 plants.
heres some pics from when it was 3.

 

[theredone]

not sure thats what im planning on

do your bines turn and grow back down once they hit the top?

 

[barls]

normally i tip them promoting laterals which is where the hops form

 

[Bizier]

I suggest A, but bringing your rhizomes closer together and fanning the trellis strings out from your planting point. After a while, you will get wandering shoots coming up a distance away from your planting spot, but the vast majority will start from there and continue to come from there. Basically the more shoots you can assign to strings, the happier and bigger your hop plants will grow.

 

[Gulf]

Firstly, you'll have a hard time getting the bines to grow down the wires in "option A", unless you want to be out twice a day training them. What other people are doing with a configuration like that is running multiple bines (only) up the strings.

Second, you really want to consider the sun, and the orientation of your trellis. Assuming you're here in Oz and the southern hemisphere you ideally want your "wall" to be facing south (or maybe slightly southwest). Otherwise, if you have trees around etc watch your yard and see how the sun travels. Remember though that now (in Autumn/Winter) the sun will be rising/setting differently to when your plants will be growing in summer (that is, at the moment the sun will be setting further to the south than it will in summer).

I had good success this year with a sort of hybrid of your two designs. I've drawn a pic for you to illustrate:

So basically, have the two plants spaced maybe a good 6-8m apart. Have two sets of horizontal wires, the front one (northern most) a little lower than the back one. Grow about five bines up to each wire, run them along, and across to the other wire as you see fit. This way you'll get a kind of wedge prism shape that you should be able to keep low, but still catch plenty of sunlight.

Hope that makes sense. The important part is you get them to catch as much of the day's sun as possible.

 

[Wolfy]

I really liked the setup they had at Red Hill Brewery for growing their hops.
Poles at either end and wire guides between them (like picture A), however they attached hay-bale-string to the top wire and the hop bine provided the bottom anchor and then grew up the string, cut the string at harvest time.

 

[Mitternacht Brauer]

Hey Wolfy

The reason they cut them down for harvest is because they get everyone to come on the same day.

I prefer to take only the cones when they are ready. This way I usually get a few pickings before the plant starts to die back.

Just my thoughts.

M B

 

[MarkBastard]

Option A won't really work. Hops like to grow straight up, it's hard enough getting them to grow vertically at times.

If you can't go up higher than 2m I'd just go up 2m and then make them grow horizontally from there. I'd have both bines in similar locations and growing in the same direction. Maybe even grow them up 1.5m and then have a slow gradient up to the other end which is at 2m so they're at least growing slightly up hill.

 

[Wolfy]

The reason they cut them down for harvest is because they get everyone to come on the same day.

I prefer to take only the cones when they are ready. This way I usually get a few pickings before the plant starts to die back.

Just my thoughts.

Valid points, however since mine grew 3-stories-high this year, I'd rather have the option to take them down to harvest than try to use a ladder or similar, they can always be tied back up again with a string/loop or pulley type system.

 

[Guihop]

Sorry asking this here but I should train the vines clockwise or counterclockwise ?
I read somewhere but I cant found it again...

 

[drsmurto]

Sorry asking this here but I should train the vines clockwise or counterclockwise ?
I read somewhere but I cant found it again...

They train themselves :icon_cheers: