Well I am going to start hop plants this year, and I am kind of having a hard time on the proper growth of them. I know they need a wire/trellace system to grow on but I am confused how many bines I should let each plant grow etc.
Also I live in New Mexico where it gets very hot and dry in the summer, so I want to grow some close to my house utilizing my portal beams etc.
I also live on the edge of a cattle ranch that has the old style wood posts and barbed wire, there is about 10' between each post and the posts are about 5-6' high. There are 4 wires on the fence that are 6-12" apart. I thought this might be a perfect setup for some plants. Only problem is they get full sun all day and are about 50-75' from my house. If I were to use the fence it would obviously require a lot of soil conditioning etc, no problem I have a few yards of 2 year old horse crap sitting out here and a few bags of bone/blood meal etc, and an unlimited supply of mulch.
My main concerns are:
1. Rabbits, will they nibble on my hop plants?
2. Water, I can water them daily but in the dead of summer sometimes plants look pretty sad by the time you can get to watering them.
I guess If I watered in the morning and had a good layer of mulch on them they would be ok.
3. Would cattle find my hop leaves appetizing? I would hate to wake up and see a herd munching my plants.
I have about 50 of these posts on my property, well they are the ranchers posts but I don't think he would care if I had hops growing on them, especially if I shoved a few brews his way.
Also I live in New Mexico where it gets very hot and dry in the summer, so I want to grow some close to my house utilizing my portal beams etc.
I also live on the edge of a cattle ranch that has the old style wood posts and barbed wire, there is about 10' between each post and the posts are about 5-6' high. There are 4 wires on the fence that are 6-12" apart. I thought this might be a perfect setup for some plants. Only problem is they get full sun all day and are about 50-75' from my house. If I were to use the fence it would obviously require a lot of soil conditioning etc, no problem I have a few yards of 2 year old horse crap sitting out here and a few bags of bone/blood meal etc, and an unlimited supply of mulch.
My main concerns are:
1. Rabbits, will they nibble on my hop plants?
2. Water, I can water them daily but in the dead of summer sometimes plants look pretty sad by the time you can get to watering them.
I guess If I watered in the morning and had a good layer of mulch on them they would be ok.
3. Would cattle find my hop leaves appetizing? I would hate to wake up and see a herd munching my plants.
I have about 50 of these posts on my property, well they are the ranchers posts but I don't think he would care if I had hops growing on them, especially if I shoved a few brews his way.