Stringing up hops

Well I had to set up the twine today for my cascade plants. They are getting so tall they were falling over. One was about two feet already.

Yelp they will grow fast. My tett is almost 7 feet tall

Bah. Not out of the ground yet here. Had a week of sub-30 temps at night. I keep watching though.

Hey Frazier, I'm also in IL. My hops are under mulch right now and sprouting, but just barely. Guess I'm saying someone in the same climate region is in the same boat. Sigh. 2 Feet! I've got a half inch if I'm lucky.

Most of mine have broken ground, but not much else will happen until mid-May. Had three heavy frosts this week.

Retrofit said:

Hey Frazier, I'm also in IL. My hops are under mulch right now and sprouting, but just barely. Guess I'm saying someone in the same climate region is in the same boat. Sigh. 2 Feet! I've got a half inch if I'm lucky.

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My original post was 3/28 think. It's 4/2, still in IL and my Cascade has jumped from an inch to 12" in 5 days! My Mt. Hood is about 12" No sign of my Sterling, my Chinook is maybe 6". What a difference some heat regular watering makes!

What kind of string do you use? How 'heavy duty' does it have to be?

I'll have to look to know for sure, but I buy sisal twine at Home Depot. It's a 50' run. I haven't had an issue with breaking. I'll buy some more and report back.

I just use the garden twine they have, about a thick as normal string, not rope like. Worked well for me last year.

I still got some from when I ordered my hops. Not sure if it will be enough or not. I'll be checking out the local garden shop in about 2 weeks when they get big enough to worry about.

Retrofit said:

I'll have to look to know for sure, but I buy sisal twine at Home Depot. It's a 50' run. I haven't had an issue with breaking. I'll buy some more and report back.

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I have used the Sisal and it works well for at least 1 year. I used it on my first years and then when I ordered some jumbos (freshops) to replace some failed rhizomes in year 2 I went ahead and grabbed some coir rope. I may go back to Sisal after this season as I predict this will be the last season the coir holds up.