How loose is too loose.

[BadBeagleBrew]

Had a bit of a windy day today and noticed my hop strings (jute twine) really swaying a lot back and forth, when it gets wet they tighten up dramatically which makes me think maybe tightening them may not be a good idea. Just wondering how much play you guys have in the string your hops climb up. Cheers.

 

[day_trippr]

Interesting, my coir drops work exactly opposite: the wetter they are the longer. So when I set up the drops I have them pretty tight as they're bone dry from being indoors all winter.

I don't think modest swaying would pose much of a problem. Otoh, if there's enough movement that it's working on the stems at the crown that might be something to address...

Cheers!

 

[GVH_Dan]

It depends on the number of bines, trellis strength, etc.

If its 1 bine, you may get a little more wind damage to the cones. No big deal. They look a little brown. If the plant is damaged, there's a slight increase in risk of insect or disease.

Image though, a 50 foot long section of bines all swinging in unison. It develops a lot of inertial force, just like a kid on a swing set. Trust me, in a good storm it can build up enough force to bring an acre of hops to its proverbial knees.

 

[BadBeagleBrew]

So in other words hops create a large mass which will be moved by the wind regardless of string tension? I might tighten them up a bit, but I did decide to run 4 bines up each string, I have one string per plant, and I figured I would deal with a bit of a tangled mess in order to get a bit of a better root system developed. Those hops had one hell of a first winter.

 

[thaymond]

In my setup, I allowed for a little give in the lines. Last year they were very tight, and began snapping in early August. I used a cheap tomato jute line, which had a lot of trouble supporting my lines that was one ply. I have a 4 ply rope this year, which should fare much better. I've already noticed that the wiggle room is helpful to my bines during windstorms. It allows for more flex.

View attachment 1432519624607.jpg

That's how it's laid out though. Definitely not traditional by any means.

 

[BadBeagleBrew]

I'm also using the cheap juste twine, though I tied two sets per hops than twisted them together with the electric drill. I'll see if I can get a pic up to show how the wind may be of a concern with the length my lines are. Edit: So the pic worked this is from last year, where I had been tightening the lines up but found they were breaking frequently at the base near the end of the summer.

 

[Homercidal]

I had the same concerns. What I ended up doing is placing a cheap spring at the bottom of each line to take up the slack. As the twine expands due to moisture or simply stretching, the spring takes up the slack.

Bottom of the twine hooks on one end of the spring, the other end of the spring hooks into an eyelet screwed into the framing of my hops bed (A stake would probably work as well if you don't have a frame to screw into.

 

[BadBeagleBrew]

That is a kick ass idea Homer, I'll be doing that this week than. Thanks.