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gunnyg · 05-30-2009, 01:41 PM

From what I've seen, I'm sure hop bines will climb anything short of a sunbeam!

Grew two plants last year; added 5 more this year--all doing well.
I have four metal stakes spread out over about 35' -about 11' high with two strands of 16 gauge wire at the top.

I just used twisty ties--like those little green gizmachis that come on yer bread wrappers. Seems to be just the thing to give the bines a boost up to the horizontal wire. Cheap too--about 5$ for a spool of several hundred feet of the stuff. And the the bines climb it happily and quickly.
Simplicity Itself!

cuinrearview · 05-30-2009, 07:52 PM

Gotta see a pic to understand what you're talking about. I used a short piece of twine to tie up flailing bines this year.

gunnyg · 05-30-2009, 08:17 PM

Just a short response is all that is needed--most folks provide "twine" for their bines to climb, I used what is sometimes called "twisty ties," very thin plastic covered wires--that simple.

cuinrearview · 05-31-2009, 02:20 AM

OK, after reading it about twenty times I finally understand what you're talking about. Trust me, you'll want more than 11 ft. of vertical growth very, very soon. Hops don't do horizontal too well

BTW, Home Depot, Lowes, and all of the other box stores sell bulk natural fiber twine for about the same price as the bread wrapper ties. As a bonus it's bio-degradable and you can chop it up for your compost pile in the fall.

Yah, they'll climb anything. I've "one-upped" ya though because I'm using the steel guy-wires provided by the power company to support some of my plants. Don't understand what kind of "short" response you were looking for but I hope that I could help you out.

ChrisS68 · 05-31-2009, 10:22 PM

I've used twisty-ties to keep young bines on the strings when it's windy, but I dunno about using it as a replacement for twine. First question is, how much weight can they support? Also, twisty-ties don't deal with bending for very long. I would be worried that motion from wind, or whatever, could eventually cause the thin wire to fail. But if it's working for you, then by all means!