Running twine for hops

This is my hops second year and im getting ready to run the twine again but i had problrms last year. Mainly I used stakes to hold the twine down and they got pulled up in a storm so I need a better way to hold them down. My vines run up about 7' and then about 8' over to my roof. I had a problem with the twine getting saggy so I was thinking of pullys but this would put even more stress on the stakes. Does anyone know of a permanent way to secure the twine or a type that wont sag after time?

I was trying to come up with a way to do this too...I'm going to plant my rhizomes near the house (south side) and run my twine up to eyehole screws attached to the underside of the soffit, about 17' up. My initial thought was to use something like this to anchor to the ground:



But I'm not sure that will hold 'em in a storm. Anyone tried this before with success?

I dug a hole 2 feet behind the hops and burried a cinder block. Then as the bines come up, I wrap them on the rope from the block to the top of the house.

A concern is that if the string/rope is not secure at the bottom, the stem will break when the line becomes loose.

I was thinking of using cinderblocks too but i would like to be able to tighten the string or get something that doesnt stretch.

I hadn't thought of a cinder block. I can see training the hops right through the hole in the block. Wrap the string around the hole and let the hops run straight up. Cut the blocks in half and one block will support two bines. Sold!

I'd recommend using an old cinder block that's been out in the weather a while. Brand new ones will leach fly ash into your soil and considerably increase the ph to be somewhat alkaline. Remember, your hops like it a little on the acidic side...

What you can do to is take a length of wire and bend it into a "W" shape, tying the twine to the middle of it. Bury the wire fully so when it is pulled on then the two arms get bent out to the side and anchor it better the more it's pulled on. Works great.

kc.rkitek said:

I was trying to come up with a way to do this too...I'm going to plant my rhizomes near the house (south side) and run my twine up to eyehole screws attached to the underside of the soffit, about 17' up. My initial thought was to use something like this to anchor to the ground:

But I'm not sure that will hold 'em in a storm. Anyone tried this before with success?

Click to expand...

How much do you think the hops weigh/get blown around this is designed to keep dogs tied in place and works great up to a 75lb wheimeraner tugging on it trying to kill the neighbors cat(oops to much info)

I erected a long pole made up of 3 bamboo stalks lashed together, with a ring strung up by a pulley. The twine is tied to this ring so I can lower it at the end of the season to harvest the whole vine. The bottom end of each twine is tied to a 2' bamboo stake, driven 1' into the ground behind the base of each plant. This is the first year I have tried this. The top of the pole is approximately 23' off the ground. The other pole in the foreground was from trying to grow tomatoes out of the bottoms of 5 gallon buckets last year.

A dog tie out will be more than enough!

Not sure what everyine has going on but this is my 4th hops season. I have never used anything other than very thin jute twine and 1/16 metal tent stakes and have never had a problem even 2 years ago when the whole town flooded my hops were rock of gebralter.

I get cheap chop sticks, and glue 2 together to make one stake.

Then, drill a hole in the end to run jute string through.

Push down until they won't go any more, then carefully hammer down to below ground level.

The ones that go down easy - just keep moving dirt and pounding till they won't any more.

So far, so good.