Need a few trellis ideas.

Hey guys,

I'm getting ready to pre-order more rhizomes, to add on to the collection of hops I have growing already. I can't remember exactly what I have growing now, but I have the list somewhere. I know I lost a few due to excessive water (lots of clay soil here that retains water).

Anyway, I've rambled enough. I have a 5 acre field in front of my place, that has perfect access to sunlight (all day long), and I'd like to get some more hops started up there. I'm getting ready to prepare the land for growing (clearing weeds, laying down plastic to clear everything out, getting the new trellises (?) started, etc.

I'm thinking about starting 25-30 new rhizomes this season, and I need ideas for trellis designs. My previous design consisted of 4 posts, with tightened wire running across the top with twine running down to the ground so the vines could grow up the twine.

I need ideas. I'm thinking of possibly putting posts into the ground spaced apart, and placing screws on the top of each post (360 degrees), and secure twine around the base so the hops can grow up vines 360 degrees. I know this description isn't very clear, but I hope you guys can understand what I'm talking about. I need to buy some special soil because of the high clay content in the soil here.

What do ya guys think? I'm open to any/all ideas. I'm just trying to make an efficient growing area for this season and future seasons.

BlackForestBrewery said:

I need ideas. I'm thinking of possibly putting posts into the ground spaced apart, and placing screws on the top of each post (360 degrees), and secure twine around the base so the hops can grow up vines 360 degrees. I know this description isn't very clear, but I hope you guys can understand what I'm talking about. I need to buy some special soil because of the high clay content in the soil here.

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After searching around, I found a picture of what I was thinking about doing. This was posted up here by Boerderij_Kabouter. I'm not sure if the image belongs to him, but I'd like to mention that this imagine is NOT mine.

Still no feedback? I'll still begin ordering the hops and preparing the field for plantation this spring. I'd like to hear some feedback guys!

search is your friend. Tons of threads on exactly this topic already exist for ideas for your project.

Randar said:

search is your friend. Tons of threads on exactly this topic already exist for ideas for your project.

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Sorry man. I figured asking would still help produce some results since the search function is not always extremely reliable. I'm sure it gets annoying seeing the same topics appearing all the time, but I'm not exactly technologically gifted.

I guess its back to searching.

I don't have any pictures but I grow mine horizontally across my deck. I have this somewhat fear of ladders and I have a neighbor who might think that they are 'something special' so growing them up isn't really that great for me. I know that alot of people on here grow theirs on 10+ foot tall rectangular trellis' that have strings going from the ground to the top. (I just realized that what's you do to so nevermind)

I do like the gazibo (can't remember the real name) style you have up there. I thought of doing the same thing or something similar, who knows I might yet. Sitting under your own hops with a cold one on a hot day, sounds pretty good to me! Let me see if I can find the 2009 hop garden thread and I'll post it for you.

Edit:
Here you go. Hope this helps!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/2009-hop-garden-picture-thread-109536/

My suggestion is, if you are doing 25-30 rhizomes you should really look into what the industry uses for agricultural production. There is a reason they are all similar....and with 5 acres in front of you, you could easily work with that. At least to me, it sounds like you are thinking of starting to produce for commercial sales.....

For a few hop plants and personal use, a single pole with multiple droppers (can't think of the technical term) works well. But for that many plants, you are going to need a good solid structure to support them all. and give them all equal access to the sun.

I was thinking something similar to what Jaybird has set up. Here is his gallery of photos

Here's what I did, but I only have 5 rhizomes going:


I do LOVE Boerderij_Kabouter's idea and was going to try to replicate it last year. I ended up going simpler, though.

one of the problems with a tee-pee design like you're considering is that you end up with a tangled mess at the top which makes it more difficult to harvest - especially if you're running different varieties up the same pole.

This is the Maypole design I am using.



It will accomodate 24 plants. OD is 15' x 27' The base pole there is a 4x6 concreted in to 3'. Ill bolt another pole to it for height. All strings run from that central pole. I have landscaping cloth and a drip system that will go in once I have transplanted to these new beds. When your ready to harvest you simply unbolt the main pole from the base pole and enjoy. Its also much cheaper that using a cabled system.

erickrocks how did you secure the twine in the ground?? I really would like to replicate your design beside my house, do you have have some other info? Like spacing between rhizomes maybe material used?

SmokeShank said:

erickrocks how did you secure the twine in the ground?? I really would like to replicate your design beside my house, do you have have some other info? Like spacing between rhizomes maybe material used?

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I'm away for the weekend, but I can give you as much info as I remember now. PM me next week sometime and I'll trudge through the 3 ft of snow in my back yard and take some more pics for you.

I used clothesline and metal stakes in the ground to hold it. I think I spaced the rhizomes out about 6'. I tied the clothesline to conduit at the top so I could simply lower the conduit when I want to harvest. The 4x4's are 16 footers buried 3' deep. I think the whole thing is about 36' across. I'm planning on adding a chinook rhizome to the end this year.

Found some pics of my friend and me putting the trellis together a couple years ago.

Erikrocks is good.

After growing for 4 years, I do not see how the industry standard poles standing alone could possible be the best, but hundreds of years must have distilled the process pretty well.

Hops will produce a good, strong bine in 6 directions if you let it. I had a bine reach 40 ft on a rhizome that had 5 other bines almost as long.

The problem is bugs and disease if it gets crowded.

Also, growing 30, some growth will be sacrificed for convenience,ie: being able to walk or get a tractor between poles.

You may not need that since you aren't producing on all 5 acres.

I am thinking of running some clothesline up diagonally to attaching to a nearby tree. I would like to do three tiers of chothesline/hops vine per tree. Has anyone ever tried this? My concern is that the vines will start to choke the tree when it reaches the end of the clothesline. I’ve never grown hops before so excuse me if this is a farfetched thought.

I tried to do a drawing in onenote and copy it here but was unable to do so, sorry. I hope my description was good enough.