$900 for a hop trellis + 6 plants?

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madscientist451

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I came across an ad for the IBEX "hops growing system" while I was on the AHA website.
They made a slick video with a crew of hipsters that look they are enjoying life now that they have homegrown hops.
But $900 for one 30 foot row?
Their idea is interesting and If I ever have the time, I might adapt their ideas, but make something similar out of wood.

https://ibexgrows.com/product/ibex-hops-growing-system-30/
 
Geez! I bought 2 pieces of 10 ft chain link fence rails (the kind that slip together), a line post eye for the top of pole (with a loop to run the rope through), 3 feet of PVC tube (augered out ground hole and pounded tube into ground, then put rails into PVC) and a dog spiral stake for anchoring the rope. Including the rope, I doubt I spent more than $60 dollars. That's for one plant. Buying a another set of everything, I could probably duplicate the IBEX setup! Plus, mine is easy to take down and store for the winter...
 
I planted mine on the south side of my house, got out the ladder, put a lag-screw hook in about 20' up on the house and ran an old piece of rope down to the ground. I did a similar thing with a junky "weed tree" out in the yard, except I cut almost all the side branches off and used the tree as a trellis. The weed tree didn't mind a bit, the very top of it is growing fine. I was going to cut it down, but now I'll just leave it there. Both projects were pretty cheap because I already had the materials used in my large inventory of "stuff".
Update, if you sign up for their email list you save 10%, so that gets the cost down to about $800.
 
They've been around for the last 30 years, but just starting to use a similar trellis for brambles commercially. They're expensive to setup, but are supposed to save on the harvest labor. Also, called swing-arm trellis, shift trellis, rotating cross-arm trellis.

A local small hopyard nearby has their top cable attached to trailer winch. They drop the cable down to tie twine and for harvest. Would be a lot cheaper than their system.
 
I bought 2 pieces of 10 ft chain link fence rails (the kind that slip together), a line post eye for the top of pole (with a loop to run the rope through), 3 feet of PVC tube (augered out ground hole and pounded tube into ground, then put rails into PVC

Picture? I'm looking to set up a trellis this spring
 
The system really is legit. Its overpriced but good technology. I recommend building a similar setup with 4 6x6's and four 1/2 inch metal plates. You can drill holes in the plates and in the wood and make a similar rotating system. The benefit of the Ibex is that they send you all of the required tools, the geotek, regionally specific rhizomes, yada yada. It really isnt a terrible deal for the quality you get, and any build that is 30 feet tall is daunting for most
 
It isn't 30 feet tall, it is a single cable trellis with 2 ends, that is 30 feet long. I don't think it will be super tall, because how much of the bottom leg is actually buried???.... something has to give it some kind of stability.
 
I do like the design though...I would worry about the weight however, not only if you make it out of 6 x 6 wood which would really make it heavier, but those plants get pretty heavy by themselves also. I guess that would also depend on how many bines you let climb (maybe 4 with a single vertical as opposed to a "V" trellis design where you'd have 3 bines) and how long of a run you do, and combination to the spacing of the plants..... things to consider.....
 
They've been around for the last 30 years, but just starting to use a similar trellis for brambles commercially. They're expensive to setup, but are supposed to save on the harvest labor. Also, called swing-arm trellis, shift trellis, rotating cross-arm trellis.

A local small hopyard nearby has their top cable attached to trailer winch. They drop the cable down to tie twine and for harvest. Would be a lot cheaper than their system.

I just use extra paracord and wind it around my guy-line post. For harvesting I just unwind and let it down.
 
I built the one at my residence out of 3" pvc. Looks like a huge H that is connected by a length of 2" to another huge 3 " H. I anchor it down by the center beam on the H. I have eye lag bolts drilled thru for my trellis top line, and I use a V design. Top trellis lines are anchored to uprights via boat landing cleats, so I can raise and lower the line for ease of raising after attaching coir, and then lowering for harvest.


Sorry for how this first appeared....used my phone to post it, and apparently it auto corrected a boat load of the words! I had a hard time understanding what I was saying!!! LoL!!
 
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I built mine out of a bunch of pressure treated 2x6, a couple hinges, galvanized joint hangars and a handful of eye hooks.
it's an A-frame style, I have 5 plants on there, and I spent less than $50 on it.
Not saying that having everything designed and mostly built, plus rhizomes sourced for you isn't worth a premium, but that much of one?
 
You are definitely paying for the convenience of getting 2-3 year old plants and everything in a box necessary to put together what looks like a nice trellis system.
 
I have not put mine back up since disassembling from last year. If I get cooperating weather, and some free time, I'll see if I can throw it together and snap a few for ya. I don't think I have any in my saved pics.


Re-read my trellis description...maybe it will make a little more sense. Auto correct had my words pretty jumbled...
 
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I came across an ad for the IBEX "hops growing system" while I was on the AHA website....Their idea is interesting and If I ever have the time, I might adapt their ideas, but make something similar out of wood.

The system really is legit.....The benefit of the Ibex is that they send you all of the required tools, the geotek, regionally specific rhizomes, yada yada. It really isnt a terrible deal for the quality you get, and any build that is 30 feet tall is daunting for most

You are definitely paying for the convenience of getting 2-3 year old plants and everything in a box necessary to put together what looks like a nice trellis system.

Well, I did some research and it appears building a similar trellis using similar materials will cost roughly $450-$475 retail. I would imagine wood might be a little cheaper up front, but probably would not weather as well as aluminum. PVC may be cheaper up front as well. But here is AZ, the UV light would soon bake it and make it brittle.
 
@Brettomomyces, @Ruint, and @jrgtr42, could you provide pictures of your setup so I could get an idea of possibly building one myself?

12376294_994048302490_7606232788545324746_n.jpg


This was from the original build a few years ago before anything was setup. I used two 4' metal fence posts at each end of the line at a slight outward angle to act as guy lines, don't think they are installed yet in this pic. Basically two 16' wooden posts made by securing 8' posts together and then cemented into the ground. It's held up for about 4 years now.

68817869_10100504592699400_1863459530889756672_o.jpg
 
12376294_994048302490_7606232788545324746_n.jpg


This was from the original build a few years ago before anything was setup. I used two 4' metal fence posts at each end of the line at a slight outward angle to act as guy lines, don't think they are installed yet in this pic. Basically two 16' wooden posts made by securing 8' posts together and then cemented into the ground. It's held up for about 4 years now.

68817869_10100504592699400_1863459530889756672_o.jpg

Thanks for taking the time to post your pictures! I see you have a dog. Did your dog ever ingest any hops?

My home is in a desert area where we have a herd of 22 javelina that have eaten most vegetation around our house they can get to. They roam our property nearly everyday. Then there are the rattlesnakes and pack rats to contend with. So, I was planning on growing the hop plants inside our secured/protected backyard where they would be protected from the javelina and pack rats. I was making plans where to transplant the plants I ordered when I found one article after another that warned how toxic hops were to dogs. Here is such an article https://beerandbrewing.com/ask-the-experts-are-hops-harmful-to-dogs/. I have four dogs.

What has been your experience? Do you have any suggestions? I guess I could fence off the area with hardware cloth wire, but that wouldn't necessarily keep the hops from blowing off by 35-60 mph winds that sometimes we get with monsoons.
 
fwiw, my last black lab (Opie, now a ghost) never showed any interest in my hops. Literally zero.

Having masticated a healthy pinch of hops once myself (nearly 50 years ago at the Coors brewery in Golden, tragic story) I can't imagine a dog would chew on hops for more than long enough to realize there is no up side.

The problem comes when the hops are combined with stuff a dog would go nutso over. Ie, do not dump kettle hops where dogs can get to them as they're laced with sweet wort that will attract doggies and may keep them interested long enough to be a problem...

Cheers!
 
Very true, as to what day_trippr is saying. I live in the U.S. North East. I helped build a 2 acre hop field, where there are dogs that sometimes frequent the field, be it domestic or wild, and none have showed any interest in ingesting green hops from the bine. After being soaked in sweet wort though, that might be a different deal. As far as grazers are concerned, not sure on javelina. Northern white tail deer, rabbits, and woodchucks do not bother them either, but will eat the ever living shiite out of you garden vegetables. Do like day_trippr did (like myself...lol) and you will quickly surmise why most animals stay clear!!!
 
@day_trippr and @Ruint, good info about mixing spent hops with spent grain. In the past I have been putting both in my enclosed compost bin. I never thought of the attraction the grain, if not fully composted, could have. This reminds me that I probably need another compost bin.....
 
Geez! I bought 2 pieces of 10 ft chain link fence rails (the kind that slip together), a line post eye for the top of pole (with a loop to run the rope through), 3 feet of PVC tube (augered out ground hole and pounded tube into ground, then put rails into PVC) and a dog spiral stake for anchoring the rope. Including the rope, I doubt I spent more than $60 dollars. That's for one plant. Buying a another set of everything, I could probably duplicate the IBEX setup! Plus, mine is easy to take down and store for the winter...

With the exception of ancient galvanized pipe in place of PVC I did the exact same thing last yr.
This yr I plan to add pulleys because the aircraft cable started to bind up on the eye-hooks due to the sheer weight of 4 hop plants full of hops.
 
Here is what my trellis looks like when taken down. I used pins to keep it together instead of glue, cuz I wanted to be able to take it down, or move it. There's a picture of the eyebolt used for ease of dropping the stainless cable that I have for my top line, when I am tieing the coir to it, or harvesting.
IMG_20200309_171918.jpeg
IMG_20200309_171936.jpeg
IMG_20200309_171952.jpeg
 
Here is what my trellis looks like when taken down. I used pins to keep it together instead of glue, cuz I wanted to be able to take it down, or move it. There's a picture of the eyebolt used for ease of dropping the stainless cable that I have for my top line, when I am tieing the coir to it, or harvesting.View attachment 670239View attachment 670240View attachment 670241

Thanks for the pictures Ruint! What size is the PVC? 3"? Are you inserting the bottom ends into sleeves you have in the ground?
 
The main uprights ( H pattern ) are 3". You can see 2" pipe buried in between some of the 3's that I use for connecting the H's for stability. It'll make a lot more sense once I get pictures of it together. It might be a bit obtrusive, but it works. I don't have any sleeves in the ground. Last year I just used the widest pieces of pallet wood cut to size to fit under the "foot" portion of the legs, to prevent them from sinking into the ground. I used augering stakes with rope for securing the whole structure in place.
 
The main uprights ( H pattern ) are 3". You can see 2" pipe buried in between some of the 3's that I use for connecting the H's for stability. It'll make a lot more sense once I get pictures of it together. It might be a bit obtrusive, but it works. I don't have any sleeves in the ground. Last year I just used the widest pieces of pallet wood cut to size to fit under the "foot" portion of the legs, to prevent them from sinking into the ground. I used augering stakes with rope for securing the whole structure in place.

Thanks for the explanation!
 
Long time coming, but finally got around to put this beast up. I still need to tie my coir and hold down ropes to the anchors yet.
 

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Long time coming, but finally got around to put this beast up. I still need to tie my coir and hold down ropes to the anchors yet.

Very nice! I now can see what you were referring to. My visualization on what you were describing wasn't anyway near that involved 🧐
 
I added the bottom section to gain an additional 4 feet at top line. It is now a little over 17 feet. I also put the cross member in at the bottom to add more stability. It was too unruly otherwise, and literally kicked my behind!
 
Lol. I see the coir hanging on the long lateral wire. What is the purpose of the white rope hanging from the top PVC ends?

EDIT: are those white rope lines used to help anchor the whole system down?
 
Exactly! Those ropes act to keep the feet from being able to lift or shift when the wind wants to blow a little hard. They are also used to keep the structure at a better 90 degree angle. If there wasn't anything keeping tension on the ends, the structure relaxes and will lean on or at the long axis.
 
Ahh, got it! This gives me ideas for next year IF my plants survive the desert heat this summer.
 
my hops exploded upward over the weekend with a full days sun.
so i need to get moving.
Last yr I had one thick rope for each plant hanging off aircraft cable strung through eye hooks at the top.
I have 4 plants in two raised beds separated by my deck stairs.
They were overly crowded being on one rope.
this yr. i'm going to drop 3 lines for each plant to allow them to spread out a little so I can have an easier time of hitting them with the soap spray for aphids and hose to knock aphids off.

also, the eye hooks made things difficult when I wanted to lower the plants and then raise them due to the weight of the hops.
so this yr I have pulleys to put at the top.
 
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