First small hop farm. Help Please. Questions

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steloco

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So basically my set up is going to be 100 plants.
I am going to be having four rows, each 70 feet long.
My 100 crowns are coming next friday from Great Lakes Hops and I am still in the process of getting everything ready. My trellis is about 18 feet tall and right now I am at the point where I am trying to decide what type of wire/cable/rope to use to string across the poles for each row. For this Im leaning towards stainless steel braided cable. But I am having a harder decision trying to decide on what to use for the hops plants to grow up on. I know most people use hemp but I was looking more towards standard types of ropes because its cheaper and I need 2,000 to 4,000 feet depending on if I do two ropes per plant or one. Each piece of rope will be going to metal wire above. Any input is needed, Im looking for as many tips as possible since I have never even grown a single hop plant in my life and am going big right away. Please feel free to through in what ever opinons you may have. THANKS!
 
steloco: my first piece of advice is spend an evening reading this forum. There's a lot of garbage but also a lot of good advice. You'll find a lot of your questions regarding growing hops and doing so commercially will be answered. You are in the size right between a really big home gardener and a really small commercial grower. So most of it will apply to you one way or another.

To answer the question you had, go with a natural twine. It has to be a fiber of some sort because hops are "bines" that grow up by using tine hooks to hold itself. If you used a metal wire as your drop line, they wouldn't be able to hold on and pull themselves up.

If you use natural, then you can cut the entire process down at harvest time and compost it all. If it is nylon or something else, you would either have to unravel it all or compost it and pick the synthetic twine out.
 
Do what Dan said, I'd grab some bailing twine from a farm store you'll be set. And for never growing before hold on and get ready to work your but off, but make sure it stays fun.
 
Thanks for the tips. So bailing twine it is. Im going to be posting pictures of progress and notes through my whole process. Thanks again!
 
Ordered Today:
500 feet of 1/4 stainless steel wire rope for my overhead wires.
50 U bolts clamps.
4 1/4 turn buckles.
100 feet of 3/8 stainless steel wire rope for braces for the outside poles.
50 3/8 U bolts clamps.
16 3/8 turn buckles.
16 anchors.
 
I recieved my 100 crowns yesterday.
We got 50 in the ground yesterday. I have 50 left.
Heres my question to you vets out here.
Last night I put the 50 still bagged crowns in my kegerator to because they had been in a box for 7 days.
I took them out this morning around 5 am so they were only in there for 6 hours.
My kegerator temp is usually around 35 to 45 degrees.
Some of the crowns that were in the kegerator have shoots and leaves.
Am i screwed? or should they be okay.? I plan on putting them in the ground today.
 
steloco said:
Even if it is a crown though correct?

I had questions about crowns so I asked Great Lakes hops. They said add some soil to the crown bag, make it moist, poke holes in bag and store them around 40 degrees. Also to check them every couple weeks to ensure they are moist and the tops are not growing, although growing white roots are ok.

If your tops are growing I'd probably get them in the ground, or at least a pot at warmer temps if ur unable to plant. I'm a noob myself but would make sense to me.
 
You really don't need stainless steel wire. Way too expensive.

What is the rating on the turn buckles you got? You can't use the aluminum type.

How are you putting in your anchors? Same for posts?

Where are you located?
 
Already bought the wire it was cheap only 100 for 500 feet. Southern cali. I rented an auger and made used concrete. Galvanized steel is what the turnbuckles are made from
 
So basically my set up is going to be 100 plants.
I am going to be having four rows, each 70 feet long.
My 100 crowns are coming next friday from Great Lakes Hops and I am still in the process of getting everything ready. My trellis is about 18 feet tall and right now I am at the point where I am trying to decide what type of wire/cable/rope to use to string across the poles for each row. For this Im leaning towards stainless steel braided cable. But I am having a harder decision trying to decide on what to use for the hops plants to grow up on. I know most people use hemp but I was looking more towards standard types of ropes because its cheaper and I need 2,000 to 4,000 feet depending on if I do two ropes per plant or one. Each piece of rope will be going to metal wire above. Any input is needed, Im looking for as many tips as possible since I have never even grown a single hop plant in my life and am going big right away. Please feel free to through in what ever opinons you may have. THANKS!


Good luck to you in this large endeavor. I have 47 plants and it is quite a lot of work. Sounds like you have a good plan going. I was only going to do a few plants but then it got out of control. Here are some pics of 20 cascade, 10 columbus, and 10 chinook. I potted up 10 centennial for this year.

What are you using for posts? I used 20' 4x4's sunk 3' into the soil so my top cable is 17'. Each post is 15' oc and each plant 3' apart. I had to keep it as least expensive as possible.

I used plastic coated 3/16 cable for the top wire and a 10 or 12" turnbuckle on one end to keep taught. I also used 14 ga. galv. wire for guy wires with a 6" turnbuckle for each. First I snug up the top wire with the turnbuckle, then I can really tighten it using the turnbuckles on the guy wires. It is very solid.
For vertical ropes, I used 1/4" sisal twine and can get two years out of it. An issue I had last year was once the plants put some weight on the verticals got slack in them as the top wire sagged a little. I would then retie the sisal at the top to take out the slack. It's a slight PIA but not a big deal.

Good luck with this and post pics of your progress.

hops 12.jpg

hops 12(2).jpg

hop rows 2.jpg

hop rows 8-7.jpg
 
Here is pic of our poles set up. We also used the trencher to trench each row where the plants would be going and mixed fresh soil in there. More pics to come!

IMG_20130404_185603_549.jpg
 
Here are some pics of my crowns that are in pots under a tarp for shade for a few weeks so i dont nuke them with sun.

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This is a picture of where my 100 crowns are for the next few weeks.

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@wolverine
Nice grow man everything looks really good. I hope my plants look that good.
@Waorgany
Thanks for the pdf. Lots of good info there!
 
Here's some more photos, from my cell phone. Farming is very hard work, and soon found that I was the only friend willing to help out, and get dirty. The plants are gonna be fighting Santa Ana winds, but we have high hopes for getting hops.

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Cool man! Sounds like you are doing the same thing I have been doing. Starting from never growing a hop to growing 100. Check my thread if you get a chance
 
@basementbrewbrad
Its definately a journey, as I am sure you have learned already that you run into problems and either have to work around them or sometimes even do things completley differently. It is definately a experince for me, I havent done a lot of this stuff before being 23 years old Im quickly learning as fast as I can. I work a full time job too so my only time to work is on weekends. So me, another friend that will probably be posting on here later and jperry have been working our butts off all weekend for the last 5 weeks. I like your setup man, it looks pretty gnarley. I will have many more pics to come. Some videos too, its pretty funny watching us get those 20 foot tall poles up with out any equipment but our bodies.
Thanks for the support!
 
http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/drip-irrigation/ez-flo-fertilizer-injection-for-drip-irrigation/main-line-fertilizer-injection-for-drip-irrigation/ezflo-ez005-fx

Going to be ordering one of these I think tommorow, unless anyone elses has a cheaper better solution. I like things being easy though and it doesnt get much easier then an inline injector.

Your getting that for nutrients? Easiest is sprinkling granuales on the ground and your hand costs a lot less than that thing.
 
http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/drip-irrigation/ez-flo-fertilizer-injection-for-drip-irrigation/main-line-fertilizer-injection-for-drip-irrigation/ezflo-ez005-fx

Going to be ordering one of these I think tommorow, unless anyone elses has a cheaper better solution. I like things being easy though and it doesnt get much easier then an inline injector.

Like Dan said, that is overkill. You only have 100 plants and you can hand spread fertilizer for free. If you really want to drip in the fertilizer just get water soluable fertilizer and add it to a 250 gallon tank that is inline with your drip irrigation. First year you won't need much anyways.
 
I totally agree, I have 200 plus and use a hand spreader, works great and takes 15 min! Also check out drip depot prices on drip parts. free shipping over 50.
 
Sounds good I will just use a hand spreader for now. Its definately cheaper. What type of nutrients do you guys use exactly?
Heres a update pic of one of the crowns.

IMG_20130422_185933_819.jpg
 
Yeah, get a soil test. I just sent mine in last week, only $10 dollars from Penn State.

Last year I was using a 20-20-20 in my drip line. This year, due to the excess use of chicken manure on the property, I will be hand spreading N and K but leaving the P out. This all depends on the soil test results as well.
 
Okay, I will take some soil samples to my local nursery tommorow or maybe for penn state for that price not bad at all. Thanks
 
I have not grown hops, but I believe that the soil should be the primary concern when growing any kind of plant.

I saw you ripping down the planting line, how deep does that go? It looked like the rest of the area might be pretty compacted from all the activity. Roots usually like loose airy soil in order to grow easily; you may want to think of rototilling the soil after you're done with construction. Even if you're supplying all the nutrient needs, if the roots aren't able to grow large enough due to tough soil, they won't be able to uptake all the fertilizer.

If you decide not to do the hand spreader, this is what I use for my fields:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/fimco-15-gallon-spot-sprayer?cm_vc=-10005

It's $100, but I take off the hand sprayer and hook it up to the irrigation line.
 
@bandt
That is a cheap alternative also for how many gallons it holds as well. How exactly did you hook it up to your drip line?
Would you mind taking a picture?
I have a cultivator that I plan on running through the whole area before I put the plants in the ground.
I have grape vines in the same area and they have been striving they went from nothing to bushy as hell in 30 days.
Thanks for the tips!
 
Sorry, I have no way of taking pics and it won't be set up until we transplant in a couple weeks. I just use normal plumbing PVC fittings.

In the beginning of your irrigation line, install a T-fitting with a screw cap on the "T" part. Install a complementary fitting onto the hose of the pump/tank. Unscrew the cap of the T and hook up the pump line and you're good to go. Anybody considering farming must already have a good sense of ingenuity so I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out :)
 
@bandt
Okay, thanks yeah ill figure it out.


Hey guys question regarding soil...
So far this is what I have done with the soil for where the plants are going to be going.
We trenched a line across each row where the plants will be going and filled that trench with good rich soil.
In my eyes with all the money and time I have put into this project since then doesn't seem to be quite enough.
I want these plants to strive. When we used an auger to dig the post holes, once we got deep the soil looked really good.
I have a small cultivator, that can be used to brake up the soil.
What I was thinking of doing was buying x amount of yards of top soil and mixing it with mushroom compost and mixing that with sand and then spreading that throughout the whole area. Should I just put it on top of the dirt that is here naturally or should I dig down and then put it in. Or should I just dig a big hole for each plant and fill each hole with the soil mix?
 
It mostly depends on whether you meant "strive" or "thrive". If "strive" then just sit back, you're all good man.

However, if you want them to thrive.. How compacted is the soil? Was it pretty difficult to dig into? If so then you should cultivate wherever you want the roots to grow. If you plant the hops in nice loose soil and then the roots hit a bunch of hard compacted soil, it's like running into a brick wall. I think the soil amendments should be worked into the soil, sitting on top won't help the roots at all. The amount of soil amendments really depends on what the soil is like at this point and how much you want to be fertilizing in the future.

I don't know your specific situation, but I believe in most cases sand is not imported as a soil amendment. If you have clay soils, the amount of sand needed to change the soil texture into a clay-loam or something like that is often prohibitive. But like I said, I don't know your situation, maybe you have access to a ton of sand and have a way to easily incorporate it? If you do have heavy clay soils with a lot of sodium, consider adding gypsum as well.

Again, I'm not a hops farmer, but these are general agricultural practices. I'm also unclear if you are doing this just as a hobby or for actual production.
 
Hell of a start from nothing. Your gonna have your hands full come harvest time lol. I started hops this year as well. But no where near the scale u have. I have only 7 plants. Look forward to the season and seeing how it goes. Cheers.
 
Soo its been a while, and Im sure you could guess why. We have been so busy trying to get all this stuff done so we can get these plants out of pots and into the ground that I haven't had much time to get on here to discuss it. So last time I was on here I was asking about soil etc.. I ended up getting a soil test done and it came out to be pretty good I guess so my local nursery made me 13 yards of amendment to add to my soil. As you can see from previous pictures are original plan for the plant trenches was to use a small conventional trencher which is probably only about 6 inches wide. We decided we weren't happy with that and wanted to bigger especially after putting our plants into pots, know I gotta fit that whole root ball under ground. So we rented an execavator and dug 4, 70 foot long trenches about 2 feet wide and 18 inches deep. It rained pretty good for a few days so the all the dirt got nice and soft. (this was all last weekend). Yesterday we finished up mixing our soil amendment with our current soil and filled our trenches. We had to rent a bobcat for the weekend to mix almost 30 yards of dirt which took fooooorever. We finished the job just before having to return the bobcat. We came up a little short, like I said we were able to fill the trenches but we wanted to have the rows humped for ease of trimming rhizomes in the future. So today I am bringing home 4 more yards of amendment to mix and make our humps. We also lined each trench with gopher wire before putting the soil in. It was 100 degrees yesterday so it was hard work but were getting closer and closer each weekend. This week we plan on getting all our humps done then this weekend our first goal is to get all our twine up (100 20ft lengths). And a brief update on the plants. (all cascades are up and strong, all horizon look small but very bushy and are starting to grow very fast, The centennial is starting to take off now, the shoots are pretty thick, and out of 25 zeus only 8 have came up and the rest have shown nothing. (But the ones that did come up just started to recently.

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Cool man, thanks for the update! Keep uploading pictures when you have the time, I'd love to see how this turns out for you. BTW, what're you planning to do with the harvest?
 

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