I am running 330 cheater pots.. there about .67 gallons... i get 270 ish pots per yard of my potting soil blend i came up with..
Rudds... Check out the UVM Plant & Soils site. The past two years they have hosted a Hops Conference in early March. They started a hopyard and have had some very good speakers the last two years. I'm ramping up do do something similar for next spring (in negotiations with a landowner now) in Central Mass. Also, check out Four Star Farms in Northfield, MA. Gene has an established yard and is rumored to be expanding quite rapidly. Look forward to following you and maybe sharing some advice.
hey right on . bud... ill have to check that out.. yes i will be expanding very fast as well.. I have extensive training in propagation techniques ( plus i have been to horticulture college) and thru doing a few trials test first, i will be able to clone these plants in the 1000's.. i will be in the coming week setting up a 20 by 10 greenhouse for new propagation's...
Where i'm at..were in a Hops race...and i plan on being at the top of it... i want to be the largest farm in the state in 3 to 4 years time. I have the land (150 acres), resources ( multiple seed investors interested with a bussiness plan being drafted and Time ( moved back home from the city life and now living the real life
I'd do something like this:
The poles are 15 ft spaced and 30 ft high. I think I'd go 10 ft spacing though.
30 feet dam thats high.. most i have herd were 20 feet high setups... that must be crzy to work on them.... Im shooting for 18 feet high from the ground.. but if the poles are a little shorter ill go for 16 feet ..Im cutting my own poles from my land. i have 45 acres in woods... ( thats for next week!)
I was out in Portland, Oregon in april for my first business trip at a pretty good side hop farm.. ( 250 acres) and they run 14 foot aisles from pole to pole on the newer style hop yards...and they even have some yards that are 7 by 7 grids..now those are tight! ill be shooting for the 12 foot range but may bump it back to 14.
As i will have a 4 to 5 foot rototilled/amended bed in the middle where the hops are going to grow.( going to take a back blade and mound up about a foot or soo on both sides of the bed to make a larger 2 to 3 foot wide long hill....so ill be going 2 to 2.5 on either side of the row. that eats up the 14 foot row spacing fast....
Plus in that picture theirs two ways to tie the vines up.. either strait up like a grape vine or tee pee as in the pic... the tee pee way is way cooler and you get ++ s for style points ..however its a pain in the ass to work under and it doesn't seem too efficient.
Good luck with the yard. Just a few hints from someone who has been living the "dream" for several years now:
- Make sure you leave at least 6 feet between varieties. They will hit the top wire and travel. Once they get mixed together, you have no idea which variety is which. We have been sent samples to our lab to test that were clearly mixed up. Varieties that have an alpha range from 4 to 6 coming in at over 11%. No way.
- Get the earth amended and the trellis/irrigation in before you drop those plants in the ground. Otherwise I guarantee that no matter how careful you are, plants will get squished, dug up, and your map of where plants are will get messed up.
- Decide now how you are going to pick, dry, process, package and sell your product. You don't want to be in the situation of having spent all day picking and then trying to decide how to dry them.
- If you are bring in varieties from oversees, make sure you have all the USDA permits in place. They don't take kindly to illegal imports of plant material
hey dan, thanks for the heads up... 6 foot for sure in the spacing of the vines... and i will have the beds tilled and looking pretty before the plants are in the ground.....How do amend your fields? ( however the 5th generation hop farmer out west..said that there's a lot of people ( and him some times) that dont even put the trellis up the first year and just let the vines grow on the ground all over...some farmers put up a 4 foot stake in the ground to give somthing the plants can grow on some don't... ) ... then year 2 they will put the trellis up.. i may be trying this later on the year when i get my first batch of clones.. going to be using the 1 gallon pots again then when there larger ill be dropping them in the rows and not worrying about them till next year.
this first year wont be too much of a harvest so ill be hand picking or sending up some of the vines to the wolf harvester.... I have free access to large grain/ silage trucks from our neighbor across the street who He leases out 100 acres from us for his1400 head dairy farm. soo that will not be a problem moving bines..also we have a chevy 2 ton dually dump truck that we could us as well.
and as bringing hops from other countries.,didn't think of that... I think i may just try and play dumb the first few times... im sure i can sneak a bundle or 20 or more without getting couch..if i do.. o well..there not illegal so i don't have too much to worries about.. i would love to talk about your hopyards further.... can u PM me your email addy? thanks
steve