How High?

How high is your trellis?

EDIT: Better?

The first question is answered by the answer to the second question. They will basically keep going until they put energy into cone production. I've had cascade growing from ground level to a second story roof gutter, at least 21 feet. My second growing area uses pole and line trellis and those go to about 18' but the hops keep going and flop over about 3 feet.

second story roof gutter... Its just a string to it.

I'm just trying to decide how high I should let them grow. I don't have a trellis yet and this is my first year of growing hops. I have (2) Cascade, (2) Willamette and (2) Centennial. They are all growing pretty well already. I have them planted next to a 5'-0" tall fence and will mount some piping to the posts. I don't really want them to grow 20' high. I have no real way of harvesting them at that point. 15' I can do pretty easy.

The way I deal with harvesting is that the climbing strings attach to a horizontal rope that can be lowered. I've got a youtube thingy for that. I'm not saying it's the only way, but it's a nice way to have ground access anytime you want.

Paying out line is the way to go.

That way as long as you have at least 10 ft or so of height you can let the hops get as long as they want.

I refuse to have less than 20' of vertical growth or I won't plant. I agree that playing out line is good, but only for harvest if you want to re-use your rope. My family has recently moved and as much as I want to bring the plants here I won't unless my parents sell my former residence or I have a proper trellis in place. If that means I cut down mature plants in July then so be it. I'd rather make growing hops as relaxing as brewing and not a constant "what do I do now?" scenario. Call me stubborn. Call me a snob. There are lots of ways I've seen on THIS site to get creative and make hop growing as RDWHAHB as brewing. BTW......anyone in SW lower MI have a line on a couple power poles

I voted prematurely as my trellis is still in the works but when finished it will be 13ft with plenty of extra climbing line.

cheezydemon3 said:

Paying out line is the way to go.

Click to expand...

Please explain

I have bolts with a loop at the top of my lines.

Ropes are secured at the ground, loop through the bolt hole, and then back to the ground where I have line rolled around a stick or log.

As the bines near the top, I let out more line, letting them have more vertical line to grow up.

I thoroughly enjoy doing this and love looking at my beauties every day.

I had vines laying on the ground last year with no ill effects.

cheezydemon3 said:

I have bolts with a loop at the top of my lines.

Ropes are secured at the ground, loop through the bolt hole, and then back to the ground where I have line rolled around a stick or log.

As the bines near the top, I let out more line, letting them have more vertical line to grow up.

I thoroughly enjoy doing this and love looking at my beauties every day.

I had vines laying on the ground last year with no ill effects.

Click to expand...

Perfect! This is my plan as well so I'm glad it is going to work.
Would you able to post a few pic of your set up or email them to me.
This is my first year and curious as to how it is going to compare to others.

Thanks

For aesthetic reasons; I keep my trellis' under ten feet...

I had planned on using some 2" ABS or 3" ABS, but this wind that we've been having is making me think I should use something stronger. Thanks for all the help guys!

SAMPLER said:

Perfect! This is my plan as well so I'm glad it is going to work.
Would you able to post a few pic of your set up or email them to me.
This is my first year and curious as to how it is going to compare to others.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I'll see what I can do< I have a lot on my plate, but I will try!

My trellis is only 14' and it isn't enough. So I plan on trying the slacker approach this year.

This assumes it gets warm enough for some real growth. Not looking good.

14 feet. Perfect for me and my plants are happy.

1 at 17.5 ft, and one at 18.5 ft, and they still go over the top.

Yeah, my first year did not require paying out line.

My second year, the tops became a tangled mess that seemed susceptible to bugs.

Four at 22' and the hops reach for the sky at the end of the season, 14 at 10' with ropes I can let out as they hit the 10' mark. The 22' is the side/peak of my roof. The 10' is along the side of my backyard. I would go higher but I fear changing from the strange neighbor to the neighbor everyone hates. I think the tipping point on strange to hated neighbor is somewhere around 12' to 15'. Haven't cared to find out.