Trellis Question

This year is my second tear with a hops garden.

Last season trellis system was a bust.

I used CPVC conduit piping but unfortunately it buckled in the sunlight.

One Centennial bine did reach the full 20' height.

Is regular PVC pipe more sturdy or is metal conduit a better option?

My guess is your trellis buckled under the weight of the bines and not the heat of the sun. My trellis has 3" PVC bases with extensions of 2 1/2" for 10' and then 1 1/2" for the next 8'. I had to re-balance and tie down additional stakes several times last year to keep them from bending too much or falling/breaking.

I would say a sturdy wooden structure may be even more reliable than metal conduit, unless you are using larger diameter pipe.

I just started building my first trellis this weekend. I'm going to be using metal conduit piping. For the base, I bought a 1" 10' piece and cut it in half. I then hammered the 5' piece into the ground, emptying out the dirt plugs as i went so it would be hollow inside.

Then I have two 1/2" diameter pipes, 10' each connected together that slide into the 1" base. They slide into the ground about 3 or 4'. I only did one of these this weekend just to see what happened and see how stable it was. The base was pretty sturdy, but the 20' pole was way more flemsy then I was expecting.

My plan is to have 2 of these long poles 20' apart, then connect them at the top with another 20' length of 1/2" pipe that will hold the hop plants. To control the flembsiness, think I should be okay just running 2 support lines from the tops of the poles going out at an angle away from the structure and held down with stakes. Hopefully, if I can balance all the wieght on the poles evenly, they'll remain straight.