Any experienced trellis/fence builders?

I recently purchased some hops rhizomes and i am starting them off in pots. We have a raised bed that we use for vegetables in our back yard and the area gets good light. I'm about to put a fence around it with a perimeter close to 100 feet, 23 by 25. That will leave about 5 feet from the edge of the north side of the raised bed to fence. I didn't want to take away any potential sun from the southern sky from my vegetables, which is why i figured to the north side of the raised bed would be a good place for them when i bury them in the ground.
and now for the questions:
I was thinking a total of 12 4x4x10 posts buried 3 feet deep and concreted in for the fence posts, with 4 corner posts and one center post between at each midpoint. Would it be better to have 4 posts on each 25' side including the corners, or is one at the 12.5' sufficient with the corners?

Also, when i begin focusing on the trellis, i am not sure if it would be better to 2 or 3 4x4x16's buried 4' and concreted (enough to have 5 rhizomes growing with 5' of space between, with rope at the tops and support staked out on the far side of each end post), or to use some other method that relies on the actual fence itself for added support. Any advice on any of the above will be appreciated.

minutes away from cooling tonight's batch of brew. We'll just call it a german ale. Smells mighty fine!
Thanks!
Chris

I've only built one fence so take this for what it's worth.

I've got a section of my fence that's ten feet long and the 2x4's sag a little bit. If it were me I'd either add another post or use 2x6's for the rails.

shlegminitism said:

I was thinking a total of 12 4x4x10 posts buried 3 feet deep and concreted in for the fence posts, with 4 corner posts and one center post between at each midpoint. Would it be better to have 4 posts on each 25' side including the corners, or is one at the 12.5' sufficient with the corners? Also, when i begin focusing on the trellis, i am not sure if it would be better to 2 or 3 4x4x16's buried 4'.

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I have built many of fence so take it for what it is worth. Here is what I would do. I would go with a 12' galvinized post set 4' in concrete. This is a much stronger base for your fence and it doesn't rot. It is a bit expencive so on the cheaper side I would go with 4x4x12 pressure treated redwood post set 4' in concrete. Also, the 4 posts on each 25' side should be more than enough as long as you run your posts 6'1/4" on center. You should go with a taller fence if you are using it as the hight for your hops to grow on. In that case the 16' post set 4' in concrete will give you a good 12 feet for growth. Again, that is what I would do. Food luck and happy planting.

Thank you both for your comments. Here in GA, redwood is a little harder to come by, but pine is everywhere. Pine is more desirable than the galvanized metal simply because it looks better to me. I'm thinking some treated pine buried 4 feet and sitting on top of a few inches of gravel to help with drainage, and then concreted in should be good enough for support. I think i will go with the 4x4x16's on the north side of to make the trellises, and just use 4x4x10 or 12's based on whats available and burry about 3' deep on the other sides. With concrete, it seems like that should be good enough for such a small fence.

As far as the trellis goes, would a better method be to just have some holes drilled through the tops of the 4x4x16's to put a pole through to connect to ropes to train the hops to grow up? I'm have some pretty large bamboo pieces that i might could slide through the holes and tie the coir rope too. Any thoughts?