Support for Bines

I'll be growing 1 rhizome per half whiskey barrel, and I've bought metal tomato support structures that are about 50 inches tall. It's a circle cone shape, getting wider at the top, that has 4 metal spokes to put in the ground.

I'm wondering should I stick these spokes right in the soil in the whiskey barrels, or will they get too entagled with the roots? Should I just use twine, or should I put the metal spokes in the ground soil outside the barrel?

only 50" tall?

It won't get tangled with roots, but that's not nearly tall enough, even for first year.

Well what I plan to do is use twine to either tie to a tree or put the whiskey barrels far apart and use twine to tie the supports together, and have the bines crawl sideways along them. Is this an ok idea, or should I make sure they're growing vertically?

Not trying to be an ass but, i think you need to read more about what you are getting yourself into.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Not trying to be an ass but, i think you need to read more about what you are getting yourself into.

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I wish someone had told me that 3 years ago, LOL!

Randar said:

I wish someone had told me that 3 years ago, LOL!

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Same here brother. And I was much, much more prepared.

haha no offense taken. Well, I've listened to your advice, and found a place that's between two trees, about 30 or 40 feet long. I can use the metal 5 foot romato structure things to train the bines originally, and then when they start growing tall I'll string a twine high up between the two trees, and let them grow up on that.

I used those tomato cages this year to mark the area where the Rhizomes are so nobody would mess with them. Kind of ignored them and all of a sudden my bines were wrapped around the cages so they are staying. I ran some metal posts next to the cages and some strong nylon fishing line to the eaves of my house. So they have a 25 foot run potential this year. Last year my first year hops, one of them made the 25 foot mark.

Advantage to the cage is, really nothing that I can think of.


Can't believe I am attempting to help a "bosox". Go Yanks!

As an addition, I just ordered a few rhizomes, golding and glacier, to start things off with this year, and am hoping to get some cascade, centennial and chinook next year.

My yard is already fenced in, and is not something I want to have hops vines growing on, across, or through. I've been trying to find some information on what I could do as far as a trellis of some sort, but have decided I would like to keep it simple. My original thought was basically two 16' 4x4 cedar poles, stuck into the ground about 3-4', with one post running along the top, connecting to each. I'd then hang twine/rope down from this horizontal pole for the vines to climb. I figured I could experiment with this the first year or so, and modify as needed. Anyone have any additional tips, or info that might be useful?

Thanks!

Well, the plan is have them get trained up around those tomato posts, and then I can string a twine as high as I want across two trees 40 feet apart, then tie twines vertically connected to the horizontal twine and the tomatoe cages.

And samc, what's a yankee fan doing in Orgegon? :cross:

Here is a very scientific, to scale, complicated, in color drawing of what I plan my hops to grow like.

http://i41.tinypic.com/r2n4wj.jpg

From what i understand, hops can get a bit heavy especially when covered with rain or dew. Are you tightening the rope with a come-along or by any means? I recently bought some coir rope and i'm giving my first go at hops growing and i'm about to build a trellis/fence combo (i'm actually trying to finalize the details if anyone wants to give me input please do. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/any-experienced-trellis-fence-builders-174890/ )

What kind of rope are you using?

and very nice drawing by the way.

I use 1/4" thick 50' long sisal rope. I think at Home Depot it runs $7. I cut it in half and have a 25' run from my the bines to grow on. I believe 1/4" sisal can hold up to 50 lbs and I've never had an issue. Hope that helps.

shlegminitism said:

From what i understand, hops can get a bit heavy especially when covered with rain or dew. Are you tightening the rope with a come-along or by any means? I recently bought some coir rope and i'm giving my first go at hops growing and i'm about to build a trellis/fence combo (i'm actually trying to finalize the details if anyone wants to give me input please do. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/any-experienced-trellis-fence-builders-174890/ )

What kind of rope are you using?

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Like someone in this thread mentioned, there's a special kind of twine for this specific reason that is more durable then normal rope. I'm not exactly sure how I'll be tightening the rope around the two trees, I'll have to ask the people at the store when that time comes. I do have an old dog leash line running across two seperate trees that have these loop things in them to hold it in place, so I may just cut those down and use those.

Coir ( a coconut husk derived product) is often used and is a industry standard. Can be expensive and difficult to find except from specialty shops. I tried it last year and found it to be no more effective or re-usable than basic 3/8" sisal rope. But much more expensive.

bosox said:

Well, the plan is have them get trained up around those tomato posts, and then I can string a twine as high as I want across two trees 40 feet apart, then tie twines vertically connected to the horizontal twine and the tomatoe cages.

And samc, what's a yankee fan doing in Orgegon? :cross:

Here is a very scientific, to scale, complicated, in color drawing of what I plan my hops to grow like.

http://i41.tinypic.com/r2n4wj.jpg

Click to expand...

On my trellis, I attached S hooks via cable clamps to the top wire. I tie my drop lines to stainless stell rings (found in hardware at Lowes/HD) and then use a pole to raise and lower plants via the rings.

the pole is a simple chain link fence top rail (10 footer I think) with a carriegae bolt double nutted (each side of the post) to act as a hook for the rings.

This allows me to lower the plants for harvest rather than climb a ladder.

I built a small raised with landscaping blocks. I put a tomato cage on top of that. The bines grow up the cage and from there I have six lines(10-20' long each) strung up to my six foot tall privacy fence. Seems to working fine now, but I'll see what happens at the end of the season. It may not be ideal, but it is the best spot I have in the yard. It pretty much gets sun all day, and the city will not let me build any structures taller than that along my property line.