Building a trellis out of a bat house

[InityBrew]

Name says it all.

I have a 14' bat house in the sunniest section of my yard and was thinking about getting a ladder and turning it into a trellis. I would run some line and plant the hops about 4 ft from the pole each side.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I figure that I would go with a teepee type of design.

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Homercidal]

I don't see how it wouldn't work, unless the hops grew up and covered the opening at the bottom. Actually, I think it's a brilliant idea. Bat and hops both love lots of sunshine.

 

[InityBrew]

I am traveling now and will put up a picture when I get home this afternoon.

 

[Caboose]

Sounds great to me, and both are things I would like to have in my yard. I've been looking at putting up a bat house for a year or two, and I would love to have hops growing.

 

[WayFrae]

What are the benefits of having a bat house? I hate bats. I had one fly/get blown into my face on a particularly windy night. It was a horrible experience.

 

[thaymond]

This is what I imagined.

http://youtu.be/HV5N7ygkIwE

A bat house will keep your nighttime hops munchers at bay. As well as take care of mosquitoes and other pesky pests.

 

[ChefRex]

What are the benefits of having a bat house? I hate bats. I had one fly/get blown into my face on a particularly windy night. It was a horrible experience.

Bats eat bugs, lots of them!

The only issue I can see in if you plant several types they will merge at the top and you won't be able to tell what's what.

 

[beernbourbon]

What are the benefits of having a bat house? I hate bats. I had one fly/get blown into my face on a particularly windy night. It was a horrible experience.

We live in an urban area, and I have no clue where they roost, but we typically have 2 or 3 flying around every evening in the summer. I think your unfortunate incident was simply that..... you had a tasty bug flying around you, and the bat wanted it, you just happened to have your face in his way of dinner.

quoted from Mother Earth News:
Many bats, and almost all in the United States, thrive on an insect diet. A single bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquito-sized insects every hour, and each bat usually eats 6,000 to 8,000 insects each night. Their appetite for mosquitoes certainly makes a backyard more comfortable. Bats are opportunistic, and their lack of discretion benefits everyone. Some of their favorite prey include crop-destroying moths, cucumber beetles, flies and gnats. Natural insect control is their specialty.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/control-insects-bat-habitat.aspx#ixzz32IR1CO5k

 

[WayFrae]

This is what I imagined.

http://youtu.be/HV5N7ygkIwE

A bat house will keep your nighttime hops munchers at bay. As well as take care of mosquitoes and other pesky pests.

That is about what it felt like. It was probably just as scary to the bat. It hit my face and fluttered around, it was warm and furry, I was freaking out and it felt like the wind was pinning the bat to my face. It was a super windy night at Lake Powell, and it happened just as a gust of wind came up. The funny thing is my dad was also terrified of bats because he had a similar experience except he went to get in his sleeping bag one night at a bat had decided to hang out in it while not in use.

Anyways, that is my bat experience. Sorry to hijack the thread.

 

[DarkCoder]

What about the guano that will fall on your hops if you put your hops under the bat's house ?!?

 

[InityBrew]

What about the guano that will fall on your hops if you put your hops under the bat's house ?!?

Thought about that.. I was going to transfer my hops 4 ft from the center so that this wouldn't be an issue... Hopefully.

 

[DarkCoder]

Thought about that.. I was going to transfer my hops 4 ft from the center so that this wouldn't be an issue... Hopefully.

If you build a teepee design, sooner or later, your hops will be within the "bombing zone".

 

[InityBrew]

Nutrients / fertilizer? I am still unsure of what I will do. I'll take a pic tomorrow of the bat house if I get home before it is dark.

 

[tdbc2011]

My hops grow towards a bird house.

 

[Homercidal]

While caving in Southern Indian we had to crawl on our hands and knees through a small tunnel with about a foot of water. It was just tall and wide enough for a grown person to crawl (somewhat) comfortably. My friend yelled out that a bat flew in his face, which seemed funny and surprising at the same time. I told him next time don't duck, because the bats have radar and are excellent flyers. He probably caused it by trying to get out of the way. (BTW bats were heading out for the night at this time and there was a LOT of them flyign through that tunnel.)

A few minutes later A bat was headed right for me, and I didn't duck. He flew right in my face, fluttered for a second and took off. I let out a "Son of a *****!". I heard a laugh and a "what's the matter?" from my friend. Oh nothing...

I was laughing.

We took a break and bit further down the cave where it bended sharply to the right. At that point it opened up into a fair-sized chamber with some dry(ish) spot to sit and take the video camera out of the pelican case. Got some great video of the bats flying through. They'd sometimes swirl around the chamber. They squeaked a lot. Personally, I thought it was great.

 

[PapaO]

Reading this http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/manures/bat-guano-fertilizer.htm it looks like a win-win.

 

[shelly_belly]

I sure would like to see a picture of your bat-house.

 

[InityBrew]

It's not to spectacular, just tall enough to grow my hops up.. I'll take a pic tomorrow If the weather is better. We has some golf ball sizes hail on my commute home today. Crazy

 

[InityBrew]

Here it is. I was thinking get some bamboo and making a trellis around it using the wood from the bat house as the center. I would have to parallel pieces and then one horizontal piece right before the house.

 

[thaymond]

Just don't let the bats poop on your hops come August and September. Guano cascade ipa sounds gross.

 

[InityBrew]

Just don't let the bats poop on your hops come August and September. Guano cascade ipa sounds gross.

Brown ipa perhaps?

 

[thaymond]

Bat house brown

 

[MathiasMicrobrew]

While caving in Southern Indian we had to crawl on our hands and knees through a small tunnel with about a foot of water. It was just tall and wide enough for a grown person to crawl (somewhat) comfortably. My friend yelled out that a bat flew in his face, which seemed funny and surprising at the same time. I told him next time don't duck, because the bats have radar and are excellent flyers. He probably caused it by trying to get out of the way. (BTW bats were heading out for the night at this time and there was a LOT of them flyign through that tunnel.)

A few minutes later A bat was headed right for me, and I didn't duck. He flew right in my face, fluttered for a second and took off. I let out a "Son of a *****!". I heard a laugh and a "what's the matter?" from my friend. Oh nothing...

I was laughing.

We took a break and bit further down the cave where it bended sharply to the right. At that point it opened up into a fair-sized chamber with some dry(ish) spot to sit and take the video camera out of the pelican case. Got some great video of the bats flying through. They'd sometimes swirl around the chamber. They squeaked a lot. Personally, I thought it was great.

What part of Southern Indiana were you caving? I live in Southern Indiana and know of a couple caves in the area.

 

[Homercidal]

What part of Southern Indiana were you caving? I live in Southern Indiana and know of a couple caves in the area.

This one was Queen Blair, I believe it was near(ish) to Bloomington. I haven't been there in a long time. Used to be a caving shop nearby. There is a cave nearby that is readily accessible to high school kids with spray paint, but I can't remember the name.

Queen Blair was "technically" off limits, as it sat on some forestry or mineral company's property. I heard they had bulldozed the entrance so that people would stop trespassing and they would not be liable for injury or death. Not sure if they were thinking about the bats when they did that. Most places will put up a bat friendly gate to keep people out and allow the bats to fly in and out.

 

[MathiasMicrobrew]

Im not familiar with that one. I dont blame them for keeping ppl out but I hope they put up the bat friendly gates.

Im more familiar with Morengo Cave, Blue Springs Caverns and Mammoth Cave. They are more for tours but we have done some caving in Blue Springs which was more private lol

 

[Homercidal]

My friends hit up Mammoth on their way down to Florida and had so much fun caving there that they cut their trip short to do more caving on the way home. They were intrigued by the "wild cave" tour at mammoth. We set a vacation to go down to Marengo Cave and do the guided wild cave trip. It was a blast, but it was still guided.

We then set up trips for caves around the Bloomington area and eventually hit caves in West Virginia and Kentucky, joined the NSS, and the Michigan Karst Conservancy. I am not active in caving these days. Too far to drive and too much gas money. My most fun was working cave surveys of uncharted caves and the one time we partied with the NSS in The Great Saltpeter Cave at the convention in 2001. The had a band set up in the cave on a natural stage. The sound wasn't bad if you walked around until you found the sweet spot. It is a dry county, but...

 

[shelly_belly]

Hey that's pretty cool. Thanks for posting the pic.

 

[mccoconnor]

We have a bat house and everything underneath it in a 4 ft circle is dead from the droppings. I wouldn't do it. Anyone know the health risks of bat guano?


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[InityBrew]

On a related note... This guy some how made it in last night.

My cat was playing with him.