2010 Hops Gardens

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sethful

sethful

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I hadn't seen the new thread come up yet... so I thought I'd make one.

Here is my trellis from last year... Cascade on the left side, Chinook on the right. The middle was taken up by flowers that my wife put in. This year, SWMBO wants her own flower box on the east side of the garage, so that means I get to claim the middle trellis as well -- needless to say I already pre-ordered my Willamette rhisomes. :ban:

I'll show you mine if you show me yours... wait. that's just not right.



IMG_2203.JPG
 
Might want to consider running a drop line from that eave down to the crown for more height and an easier way to take the plant down come late fall.

Tieing a hop to that trellis is gonna suck almost as bad as trying to pull the plant material out of those perforations.

No pictures of mine anymore. Maybe later this growing season. 13 plants. Lot of work.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
Might want to consider running a drop line from that eave down to the crown for more height and an easier way to take the plant down come late fall.
Click to expand...

I agree. I did this last year for my first-year-rhizomes and it worked out brilliantly. I've expanded to three mounds, but you get the idea. If you use an eye-bolt at the top, thread the twine up, thru, and tie off back at the bottom with a LOT of slack, you can keep letting out slack as the bines grow. Coil them up off the ground and you effectively get 15-20 feet out of a 12ft roof. At first i originally had a stationary clip at the top to the eye-bolts, but after a couple weeks the bines quickly grew past the top, so threading the twine thru and back down gave me a lot more length (that's what she said).

Trellis.jpg
 
cactusgarrett said:
I agree. I did this last year for my first-year-rhizomes and it worked out brilliantly. I've expanded to three mounds, but you get the idea. If you use an eye-bolt at the top, thread the twine up, thru, and tie off back at the bottom with a LOT of slack, you can keep letting out slack as the bines grow. Coil them up off the ground and you effectively get 15-20 feet out of a 12ft roof. At first i originally had a stationary clip at the top to the eye-bolts, but after a couple weeks the bines quickly grew past the top, so threading the twine thru and back down gave me a lot more length (that's what she said).

Trellis.jpg
Click to expand...

That's the same thing I did. Only I grow mine in half barrels.
 
you'll be fine...granted it's not ideal but I've seen hops growing on fences that produce a huge number of cones.
 
JonW said:
So, if the only place I have to grow them is against a 6 foot fence, is that not going to work? Do I need something higher?
Click to expand...

No. They will still grow and flourish. Just takes more manual effort to train them in spring and more effort to remove the mangled mess once they go dormant.
 
To protect against late frost.

To allow stronger deeper shoots to emerge.

It's common practice but not absolutely necessary.
 
cactusgarrett said:
More of a common practice for consistently warmer climates, though, right? I don't know if i'd consider doing that in WI...
Click to expand...

I would say they don't really need to start growing until around June depending on location anyways, so you might as well have them as strong as can be. Don't worry, they can go 18 ft in a month :)
 
hey sethful
im in the springfield area. how did your hops do last year? im about to get a trellis put up and get a garden going.
 
My Cascade finally emerged from the mulch, so that's four of the nine. Fine crop of a really weird fungus down there under the hay.
 
I am just letting my hops grow as they want to. I don't think that they even stopped growing over the winter. When I uncovered them in early part of this month I discovered that there were vines 3 to 4 inches long under the mond of leaves. I covered them up with chicken manuer and now most of my plants are two feet tall, one plant is almost 5 feet tall.
 
sedona_hop_field.jpg


Getting ready to plant 40+ rhizomes in Sedona, AZ. Using a pole design, like that featured in BYO magazine last year.

I planted a Centennial last year, and it survived the heat of summer just fine. For the new plantings (2 weeks form now), have 12 Cascade, 12 Centennial, 8 Nugget & 8 Willamette rhizomes.

And I have little clue what I am doing .. he he he... a big experiment... :)
--LexusChris
 
that is a big experiment! ^^^ Looks great. What kind of irrigation to you have? They will be extremely thirsty in August...
 
HoppyDaze said:
that is a big experiment! ^^^ Looks great. What kind of irrigation to you have? They will be extremely thirsty in August...
Click to expand...

Going to put drip irrigation on them. During the dry season, that is definitely more water efficient too!

Sedona gets monsoon rains in late August, so I am hoping to get to harvest before they kick in. I may actually end up with 'too much water' in August... :)
--lexuschris
 
26975_378871113279_174238068279_3553353_5037176_n.jpg


26975_378871108279_174238068279_3553352_5232958_n.jpg



Just got my babies planted, drip irrigation in the works, still have to throw the strings over the top-wire.

50 each of Cascade, centennial, nugget, and willamette.

Now the waiting game begins.
 
Here's one of my cascades plants, pic taken yesterday...

69c9a49f.jpg
 
So do any of you have neighbor issues? I've got twine running from the ground to the peak of my roof-roughly 20 odd feet. 2/3's of my neighbors love my free beer and don't care if I've got hops growing all over my house. 1/3 wish the association would write a rule that says hops are unslightly. My trellis design always need to involve "what will the neighbors think". Just wondering if any of you have that issue.
 
Mine are on a 200 acre farm, so, no. I do get curious passer-by's stopping on the road and asking me what Im growing.
 
brewingkitty said:
Lexus: how much sun/heat does that region of AZ provide? and i'm assuming there is ZERO shade during the day?
Click to expand...

We are at 4300 ft. elevation, so the heat is not as harsh as down in South Arizona. Late-summer will hit low 90's. No shade where I'm planting them. Wanted them to get full sunlight. :)

I put a single Centennial plant in the same spot last season, and it did quite well. I tried to pick varieties which were not known for cool/wet climates. I also favored those that mature mid-season, so I have a chance of harvest them at the same time of the month...
--lexuschris

p.s. Orangevango, nice hop yard! 200 plants, wow! Can't wait to see what that looks like mid summer!
 
Chris -- that is one helluva project!! G'luck with it. are you planning on selling them or just wanting to grow them for personal use and to kill some time? :)



Rick -- are you using plastic trash cans over the winter or is that your hops' permanent home?
 
I had a great first year Cascade plant that a friend gave, so I decided to get a few more plants this year including a Sterling, Nugget and Centennial. A few years ago my boat sold, but I forgot to give the guy the 20+ ft outriggers so they laid along my fence for a few years. I got the idea to use them as hops poles. I'll post pictures when I get them set up, but think it will work well. At harvest or for inspection or high wind conditions, I'll be able to drop the main line near the ground like a flag on a flag pole.
 
sethful said:
Rick -- are you using plastic trash cans over the winter or is that your hops' permanent home?
Click to expand...

I'm growing them in containers. Those are 18 gallon Rubbermaid type storage bins in which I've drilled a bunch of 1/2" holes for drainage.

Worked great last year.
 
Retrofit said:
So do any of you have neighbor issues?
Click to expand...

My bored old lady neighbor called the village on mine. When I told the inspectors (a couple of 50 year old guys) that they were hops, the one guy says "he grows his own hops... he makes his own beer... it must be awesome!"

However, they still had to get utilities and planning commission to approve. It was all fine int he end but it was a non-trivial amount of tax dollars spent because my neighbor is a *****.
 
Randar said:
My bored old lady neighbor called the village on mine. When I told the inspectors (a couple of 50 year old guys) that they were hops, the one guy says "he grows his own hops... he makes his own beer... it must be awesome!"

However, they still had to get utilities and planning commission to approve. It was all fine int he end but it was a non-trivial amount of tax dollars spent because my neighbor is a *****.
Click to expand...

No beer for that neighbor
 
Randar said:
However, they still had to get utilities and planning commission to approve. It was all fine int he end but it was a non-trivial amount of tax dollars spent because my neighbor is a *****.
Click to expand...

This makes no sense. since when do the Utility and Planning commissions have any say as to what you can plant on private property so long as it's not a controlled or quarantined plant.

Or did you build a trellis in an easement and they argued if it could be considered a Living fence?
 
Great thread! You all are making me glad I have rhizomes on the way. This will be my first year growing hops, so wish me luck at 8000 feet elevation. Any ideas, other than guns and bear traps, to keep deer away? I have oodles of dear that love to claim my property as theirs daily.

This year I am growing Cascade, Centennial, Willamette and Tomahawk hops. I will be putting them in 10 gallon pots, but I am unsure about what I want to do as far as a trellace system...everyone's systems look pretty cool and I can see the pros to each of them.
 
sethful said:
Chris -- that is one helluva project!! G'luck with it. are you planning on selling them or just wanting to grow them for personal use and to kill some time? :)
Click to expand...

Originally, just wanted some for my own brewing. But this project could generate a few pounds of hops. Will start offering them out to my homebrew club... then see what happens from there. :)

--LexusChris
 
Oh boy! all 13 plants have broken ground. A few of the older crowns (4 year) have put out hundreds of shoots already 6 Inches long.

I so plan to do some steamed hop shoots this year. Almost time for harvest too. Another week maybe.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
Or did you build a trellis in an easement and they argued if it could be considered a Living fence?
Click to expand...

There was some question about the boundaries of the easement and the height of the trellis (it's along a fence line with a public sidewalk on the opposite side of the fence) being a safety or other hazard.

Luckily it didn't get to the point of hearings and whatnot, more of just code, safety, and easement verification and such.
 
Randar said:
There was some question about the boundaries of the easement and the height of the trellis (it's along a fence line with a public sidewalk on the opposite side of the fence) being a safety or other hazard.

Luckily it didn't get to the point of hearings and whatnot, more of just code, safety, and easement verification and such.
Click to expand...

Ahhh. Gotcha. I work in a permits department and made sure my trellis was acceptable before I broke ground. My neighbor can ***** all he wants caus ethere is no restrictions on garden structures in OKC and no permit required. Plus, I have taken great efforts to ensure my plants don;t invade his property.
 

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