I have been growing cascade hops for the last three years or so. Last year I used a relatively short garden trellis which quickly became overgrown and a little too bushy. I’ve seen commercial video footage of long long wires used to grow their hops. What are other backyard garden types doing to deal with this issue. I though about doing an up and over and down type trellis, but I would imagine the hops with want to just grow upward. Suggestions?..
I use a couple of treated landscape poles that I have extended to 17’ by scarphing an 8’ and 10’ pole together. I put a 6" piece of dowel through the top to hold twine for the hops to grow up.
Also know several people who use 4x4 timbers with a hinge at the bottom to allow access to the top for harvesting.
I’ve got mine rigged so mine lines go up from where the plants are to a cross wire and then back down to the ground several feet away from the plant with extra line coiled up at a second anchor point. As a bine gets close to reaching the top cross wire, I pay out more line and lower the plant side. The plant just keeps going up. When I want to harvest, I pay out more line to lower the plant to where I can pick it on the ground. I scored some very tall fiberglass flag poles so I’ve got my cross wire at 15-20 feet up. Works well.
Chinaski, how did you secure the pole(s) in then ground?. Cement? do you have a picture of this setup?..What type of string/wire do you use? I like the idea of just lowering the string as it grows up. does the bine pile up on the ground much? Thanks…
I put two concrete footings into the ground but used metal stove pipe to create space inside the footings so I can pull the pole up if I need to. These fiberglass poles are really really light- less than 35 lbs but 25 feet long. I bought some wire from a rigging supply and nylon cord from another vendor. I’d have to search around to find the details- which I can do & attempt to post a photo when I have time.
I’m on the lookout for flag poles now…thanks for the information it helped!
Here is what I do. I have twine running to carabeaners attached to eye hooks at the top trellis. I can easily unhook them and lay them down for harvesting
I got one of those screw in the ground dog leash anchors. Tie 1/8" poly rope to it and run each rope up to my eaves - works great. I run 6 ropes. Creates a pleasant fan shape - keep eyelets spaced evenly apart up at the top for symmetry. At harvest, I just put up the ladder, untie, drop, get a chair, and pick. They could stand to go higher still, but they’ve got no place else to go and bush out up top instead - not an unpleasing effect.
This is my first try at growing hops. I just bought a 16’ pt 4x4 and dug it in about 3 feet or so. I attached a couple 2x4’s at the top and attached eye screws on each end of the 2x4’s. I also used the screw in dog leash thingies. I used paracord for the bines to climb. Seems to be working fine. Next season I’ll try to get longer 4x4’s. The bines are near the top of my 13’ high 4x4 already. Had a land tortoise chew through 2 bines so I placed cement blocks around the base to keep it away.
Here’s a pic
I used 16-foot 4x4 pressure-treated poles, cemented in the ground… http://www.howbrewbeer.com/hops-growing … -part1.htm
Haven’t tried growing hops, but some of the photos shown with the beautiful wood look like they would cost a bunch.
Two ideas that might cost less than the wood.
T-shaped clothes line poles set some distance in concrete, and let the vines run on a wire or clothesline rope in between. Or even one pole with a wire or rope anchored to a large tree at enough distance that the plant could be in full sun.
Old “A frame” swing sets no longer in use for the kiddos.
I’m growing mine on a teepee - 9 hops around the perimeter and one at the base. I have a 24’ pole sitting on a rock and the guywires (to screw-in anchors) are the trellis wires. It keeps the varieties separate at the bottom, but they get a bit mixed at the top and it is a bit of a problem to harvest.
[attachment=0]20140720-hops-teepee.jpg[/attachment]
But you can see them from space!!!
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.35434,- ... !1e3?hl=en