Unlimited height for hops but yet under 6'?

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Mrmojo

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Ok I'm trying to beat the system. I'm thinking of building a trellis with poles about 6' apart and 8' tall. I will have eye bolts spaced X amount of feet up the poles. I will plant the Hop at the base of one side. I will tie the twine to the bottom eye bolt and string it to the top of the same pole and temporarily attach it there. I will allow the plant to grow six feet plus.

I will then move the top of the twine to the bottom of the other pole along with the attached plant. I will then loop the twine to the top of the second pole. I will then allow the plant to grow 6' tall and repeat the process moving it back to the first pole.

Any thoughts? Problems? :tank:

Also does anyone in central FL have any rhizomes they would care to share? I'm in Tampa but I get around to Orlando etc.:tank::tank::tank:

Thanks!
 
I get what you are putting down, and I like the idea. As a limited room grower still trying to figure out my trellis setup I see where you are going and would like to hear an answer as well.
 
Well you're definitely going to have to take pictures of at least the first few back-and-forths.

The drama will be whether the bine keeps the lead tip moving along, or suddenly decides to sprout side shoots and pretty much abandons the leader. Either way, should be an interesting science project :D

Cheers!
 
I just doubled my area last week! Yeah for growing hops!

ForumRunner_20130321_203546.jpg
 
I have done something similar for the last 2 years on my balcony: I had only 7ft of vertical and would let them grow up to the upstairs balcony and then let out more line and form a coil that i would hang over my railing. They grew at least 30ft and did really well.

Here are a few of the problems I had
- It requires a lot of micromanaging the bines. Hops grow very very fast and I was out there every day untangling and letting out more line. Its doable first year but second year they will grow way too fast.
- The bines dont grow at the same rate making it impossible to do this successfully if there is more than 1 bine per line.

I'm going into year 3 now and I don't think it will be possible. I haven't come up with a plan yet but I was thinking of just letting them run wild and see what happens ...as in let them grow up 8ft and then go nuts.
 
KISS...Keep It Simple, Stupid.

There are several drawbacks to your plan, some of which gbx pointed out.

1. You can only do a single variety because they will all be mixed together.
2. When you cross it over, If the bine is on the ground it may start to root. In that case, that "vertical growth" doesn't count.
3. The bines aren't stupid. They know how high they have grown even though you are kind of tricked them. They won't produce as well as if they had grown up 12 feet all at once.
4. You will use a lot more fertilizer to get 18, 24, 30....feet of bine to get the same production as something that is 8 to 10 feet.
5. You will have a snarled mess on your hand. Good luck at harvest.

I like your thinking, though. Here's what I would do.

Leave your poles as is. Start as you said and let them grow up the 8'. When they hit the top, pull the twine across to the other pole, but run it through an eyelet at the 4' level and let it grow up another 4 feet to the top. If you really want, at that point untie it from the top and stretch it across to the top of the original trellis. Then you have 14 feet or so of twine and a fair amount of vertical growth. By year three you are still going to have a massive mess but that would be a good thing, right?

Good luck and please post pictures of whatever you do. That's the best part of this forum.
 
GVH_Dan said:
KISS...Keep It Simple, Stupid.

There are several drawbacks to your plan, some of which gbx pointed out.

1. You can only do a single variety because they will all be mixed together.
2. When you cross it over, If the bine is on the ground it may start to root. In that case, that "vertical growth" doesn't count.
3. The bines aren't stupid. They know how high they have grown even though you are kind of tricked them. They won't produce as well as if they had grown up 12 feet all at once.
4. You will use a lot more fertilizer to get 18, 24, 30....feet of bine to get the same production as something that is 8 to 10 feet.
5. You will have a snarled mess on your hand. Good luck at harvest.

I like your thinking, though. Here's what I would do.

Leave your poles as is. Start as you said and let them grow up the 8'. When they hit the top, pull the twine across to the other pole, but run it through an eyelet at the 4' level and let it grow up another 4 feet to the top. If you really want, at that point untie it from the top and stretch it across to the top of the original trellis. Then you have 14 feet or so of twine and a fair amount of vertical growth. By year three you are still going to have a massive mess but that would be a good thing, right?

Good luck and please post pictures of whatever you do. That's the best part of this forum.
Click to expand...

Yes! I had every problem listed here except number 2 as they didn't touch the ground. And yes they are scary smart...way smarter and faster than you think possible for a plant. Any part of the bine that wasn't going vertical would put out side shoots that would reach for the sky - especially the down portion in the coiled up bines I hung over the railing.

I originally started with 5 varieties but second year I cut it back to only willamette and cascade. In the picture, the left pillar is willamette, the right is cascade and the middle and entire top is "old school westcoast blend". It sounds like it would be a decent blend but isn't good because the 2 varieties don't ripen at the same time. I've moved and have more space but, if I was still there I would have ditched the cascade (as in guerilla planted it in the ditch across from my place) and just gone with the willamette (it seemed to do better). And it was easier for me to get rid of plants because they were in containers, not the ground.

hop_pillars.jpg
 

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