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**maztec** · 07-09-2010, 03:27 AM

Great! Thanks for the tips folks!

**dstar26t** · 07-09-2010, 12:09 PM

I grew mine to 18ft this year (last year only 10ft) and only have cones forming on the top 9 ft. Seems kind of pointless to grow them so tall if the bottoms don't produce side chutes?

**homebeerbrewer** · 07-09-2010, 12:50 PM

I have a 15 foot trellis, and mine are all bunched at the top. I've been told that hops can grow to 30 feet easily, so taller is better. I've been thinking of building an extension for my trellis, but I'm not sure how I'll do it. I've also decided to restring my trellis to keep the side shoots from reaching out to grab the plant next to it. I have 4 varieties (had 5, but one didn't survive the winter), and they're too close together, so harvesting time will be a little difficult. But, the way I strung my trellis makes it easy to lower the plants. I used eye bolts, fed the twine through them with one end tied at ground level, and the other tied to the posts. When I harvest, I tie a string to the end on the post and lower the plants down. I use nylon string, and when the plants are down, I'll tie off the nylon where the twine was and use that to pull the twine in place the next year.

Please note, this is my second year for my hops, so I'm still learning how they behave, how my trellis should be strung, and how and when to harvest. Last year, I got less than a pound of hops total from all five plants. This year, I have quite a bit, but I won't know how much until they are harvested and dried. It'll definitely be much more than last year though.

**maztec** · 07-09-2010, 06:13 PM

Good ideas there HomeBeerBrewer.

I only have three plants, but they are going insane. Their arms are at least four feet long. The arms started spreading out from the top, but are extending toward the bottom now. The bottoms are bushier than the top, but it looks like it has the start for where cones will come on at all different heights. We'll see what I actually get in the end.

I think I need to train it across so I don't start losing arms.

Scooby_Brew · 07-09-2010, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by friday

Build a addition.

Let's not get silly here. Of course you don't need to build a whole addition to the house. All you need to do is just to build one wall of the second floor, so the hops have something to clime on.

**maztec** · 07-09-2010, 09:34 PM

My house is already taller ... by a fair amount, but getting up to that point would be a disaster.

However, the idea of putting in eye hooks and giving the plants a nylon rope to climb up is a good idea. Maybe I'll do that next year and get rid of the pigeons at the same time.

**homebeerbrewer** · 07-10-2010, 02:08 AM

I use the nylon "strings" to pull the Jute twine in the spring. I use the Jute twine for the hops to climb, and then at harvest time, or when the plants go dormant, I'll cut the plants, tie nylon strings to the twine, and lower the plants and twine, replacing the twine with nylon for the winter. The twine is biodegradable, so I just dump the hop plants and twine in the compost bin.

I wouldn't use the nylon for the hops to climb, because then I'll need to throw the plant and string in the trash. Unless I wanted to spend the time unraveling the string from the plants - which I'd rather not do.