Hops Canopy?

[Doc_drive]

Hey everyone...

I'm thinking of using a few hops plants to create a "canopy"...

I have a western exposure huge window and I usually have a curtain in it because it gets so hot in the house that I'm slowly roasting to a medium well state...

In front of the window is about 10 feet of concrete driveway and then a good chunk of lawn. I thought I'd dig out a strip along the drive way, have hops growing up and then towards the house so when you come home you walk under a half-arch of hops plants...

How would one do this? A post at the far end down the driveway and then have a line strung between there and the house and then a few cross-lines to support the growing hops?

So many questions!

I've made a little graphic (sorry my kindergarten scribble)... The bold black lines over the drive way are supposed to be the lines I want my hops to grow along towards the house...

Cheers!

 

[Yooper]

Hey everyone...

I'm thinking of using a few hops plants to create a "canopy"...

I have a western exposure huge window and I usually have a curtain in it because it gets so hot in the house that I'm slowly roasting to a medium well state...

In front of the window is about 10 feet of concrete driveway and then a good chunk of lawn. I thought I'd dig out a strip along the drive way, have hops growing up and then towards the house so when you come home you walk under a half-arch of hops plants...

How would one do this? A post at the far end down the driveway and then have a line strung between there and the house and then a few cross-lines to support the growing hops?

So many questions!

I have an arbor sort of set up by my deck. The thing is, to get them to grown sideways instead of up requires some training. Not a lot, but I walk by and 'steer' them quite often to get them to do it. They want to go straight UP, and then they go up and sort of flop over since I don't have support going that direction. So then I train again. It only takes a couple of minutes, but you have to be able to reach them to do it! Unless you had some lattice or something that they would grab onto, I'm not sure they would go up and over.

Here's mine (from back in mid-June, it's a jungle now!) on the left side of the photo:

 

[WayFrae]

Hey everyone...

I'm thinking of using a few hops plants to create a "canopy"...

I have a western exposure huge window and I usually have a curtain in it because it gets so hot in the house that I'm slowly roasting to a medium well state...

In front of the window is about 10 feet of concrete driveway and then a good chunk of lawn. I thought I'd dig out a strip along the drive way, have hops growing up and then towards the house so when you come home you walk under a half-arch of hops plants...

How would one do this? A post at the far end down the driveway and then have a line strung between there and the house and then a few cross-lines to support the growing hops?

So many questions!

I've made a little graphic (sorry my kindergarten scribble)... The bold black lines over the drive way are supposed to be the lines I want my hops to grow along towards the house...

Cheers!

That should work. It would actually be pretty cool. Just be aware that the plants might not get as full as you want them to in their first year.

 

[Doc_drive]

Thanks guys! It's a bungalow, so there's no problem reaching the lines... My only problem is that I haven't found a solution that looks nice... I kind of shy away from a pole at the end, then have a steel cable strung to the house corner (along the drive way) and then from that cable down to the ground to the hops plants and over the drive way to the house... My worry is that that end-pole won't look good (and you know what that does to the SWMBO!)...

Yooper, your backyard is my dream!!

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Is it a 1 or 2 story? If you had them grow up 6 and then angle up to a 2nd story you'd be more likely to get them to follow the rope. I grow mine on chain link fence and they'll reach 18-24" above the top before their weight makes them droop.
As for the mechanics: yes, a post at the end, and a string to the garage. Then strings up from the plants, around the guide string, then up and over the window. Again, you'll have to make sure they train up the angles and not across the common guide line when they get there.
I would do a little research on the foliage habits of various varietals. My Hallertau and Mt Hood grow like bushes, lots of leaves (good for a curtain), while my Nugget and Zeus look pretty spindly with about 1/4 the foliage (but produce about 4x the harvest). You'll have to decide which is more important to you.

 

[Doc_drive]

Yeah, I'll have a row of Hallertau there... I use German noble hops exclusively (because I can - haha) and that's where I thought the Hallertau would grow. Tettnang will be somewhere else yet to be decided...

 

[johngaltsmotor]

So jazz up the end pole. You could put a flagpole there as the end pole. Or one of those garden shepherd hooks with the hangers that she can put decorative banners on for the various seasons. Tell her you just need a vertical pole and have her help decide what it should look like ;-)

 

[Doc_drive]

She keeps saying "I have to see, it might work"...

Sold! I'll take what I can get! Haha