My Hop Garden

[Dougan]

I've broke ground on my hop garden, and it seems to be going really well, so I figured I'd make a thread about it with pictures for you all.

I am going to be planting four varieties (Saaz, Tettnanger, Willamette, and Centennial). I decided to go with a range of difficult and easy growers. I was able to cut some huge rhizomes from my dad's centennials, and ordered Saaz, Tett, and Willamette online.

You can see what my trellis system will look like here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/my-trellis-plan-316997/. Only difference is 10' 4x4's instead of 8' so I can get another 2 feet vertical.

The spot I am putting the garden is on the south end of my house, which unfortunately is where the previous owners left all of their crap when they moved out. Another storyline in this thread will be the reduction of junk in the area as this project progresses. This area was overgrown with two foot tall grass and some small maple trees that must have grown naturally. Anyway, I am making it only 2 feet wide by 18 feet long, and adding a mound to assist in drainage.

Here is a picture after I put in the garden frame and tilled up the soil by hand.

Here is a picture taken after I put in the 4x4's for the two trellises. I figure there's no rush to finish the top part of the trellis at this point. I have added the mound on the left half.

Here's a picture of the two rhizomes I cut from my dad's hops. Lot more where those came from.

I put these rhizomes in the ground right away, instead of dealing with packaging them and fridging them and stuff. I added cypress mulch over the mound, because I figure this could dry out really quickly in the sun with it sticking out of the ground like this. It's hard to tell from the picture, but I put about an inch and a half on the south slope of the mound, figuring that's where the sun hits. The top and north slope only have enough to coat the surface, no more. I ran out of dirt, which is why the mound stops at the 4x4. Have to pick some more up tomorrow.

More to come as it progresses...

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Awesome! I can't wait to see the progress.


Now, when you mean "a lot more where those came from" is that a hint that you're selling them or trading them for homebrew?

 

[Rbeckett]

Looks really well engineered and thought out. Might be a tad short though. Most hops according to the research I have done like somewhere around 14-16 feet. SOme varieties will climb even more, so a minimum of 12 feet is still asking for a cluster fugggle at the top of the trellis. If your OK with mixed hops then mores the better. Thanks for the great pics.
Bob

 

[tchuklobrau]

Looks really well engineered and thought out. Might be a tad short though. Most hops according to the research I have done like somewhere around 14-16 feet. SOme varieties will climb even more, so a minimum of 12 feet is still asking for a cluster fugggle at the top of the trellis. If your OK with mixed hops then mores the better. Thanks for the great pics.
Bob

+1 I dont think I have ever had a centennial that did not break 16' on its 1st year. Looks great though. Hope you are having fun with it, lol it is supposed to be fun after all.

 

[Dougan]

Now, when you mean "a lot more where those came from" is that a hint that you're selling them or trading them for homebrew?

I think they are all spoken for this year. My dad has some friends he said were interested in growing them. But in future years, I intend to distribute them-- why let them go to waste?

Looks really well engineered and thought out. Might be a tad short though. Most hops according to the research I have done like somewhere around 14-16 feet. SOme varieties will climb even more, so a minimum of 12 feet is still asking for a cluster fugggle at the top of the trellis. If your OK with mixed hops then mores the better. Thanks for the great pics.
Bob

The 10' 4x4 and the 10' 2x4 with 3 feet of anchor and 2 feet of overlap will get me up to 15 feet. I figure this is worth a try. I can always raise the second half after the second year if they end up getting overgrown. i could get that top part as high as I wanted if I doubled up on 2x4's, but I'm going to try keeping it simple for now, and see how that goes.

 

[tchuklobrau]

Lol I love stories like this. It is a story of how beer improved your yard.

 

[Dougan]

Put the Saaz and Tettnanger in the ground today. Just need the willamettes to arrive and we'll be good.

What the garden looks like now (Saaz, Tettnang, Empty, Centennial):

Shoot from the centennial. I planted the rhizome yesterday so this was poking out, but it seems like it grew about an inch overnight so we do have growth.

 

[Rbeckett]

Looks good on the new growth. Some are even rumored to grow 6 inches in a day. If you could sit still lon enough you could see that move. I think adding the 2X4's will do great things for your yeild. First year plants arent real strong producers, but second and beyond are supposed to come up like gang buster and get even taller. One of the guys I machine with had 34 footers last year. All the way to the top of his 2 story house. I asked if he harvested from the second floor windows. Keep the pics coming. I also posted my test and design proof in the phots section. Take a quick look when you get time. It's 1/3 scale to prove it will work.'
Bob

 

[Dougan]

The shoot for the monster centennial is up an inch and another shoot popped out of the ground. You've all seen enough happy pictures of hops sprouting, so I'll save your bandwidth. Other rhizomes aren't showing anything but I'm not expecting anything for at least a week. Except for maybe that other centennial.

Started working on the upper parts of the trellis today.

I used a galvanized T-bracket for the top part. I'd never used something like this before, but I'm glad I did, because it's very sturdy. I don't think I will need any braces for the top part. I used 1 5/8" stainless deck nails which have a weird head so I couldn't sink them as far as I'd like, but they still worked enough to hold it on tight. On the top of the trellis I screwed in two stainless hex lag screws and on the other side of the T I attached a much wimpier zinc T-bracket I found in my basement. Should be a good experiment for how long zinc, stainless, and galvanized components last in the elements.

I staggered the positioning of the hooks on the top.I plan on threading the lines down the 2x4 and anchoring somewhere around where the 2x4 meets the 4x4 so when it comes time to drop the bines I don't need to do it from two stories up.

I did both of them like this. The second one (probably Saaz & Tettnang) has a side where the wood was pretty splintered up, so that probably will get replaced at the end of the year. Hopefully it lasts through this season at least.

The T-part of the trellis is surprisingly solid with just the brackets. It's clear to me that the weak link here is the 10 foot 2x4. I'm sure it won't be straight by the end of the season. Ideas off the cuff are bolting another 2x4 to it for support, or strapping pipe/conduit for support. Not necessary to worry about now, though. I'm sure it will support first-year hops this year.

More to come when I get these mounted to the fenceposts. Might not be for a few days.

 

[Dougan]

I now have 3 shoots coming from that monster centennial rhizome. I've decided I'm not going to put up the other half of the trellis until I start seeing shoots from some of the other plants so it might be a bit before more pictures get put up. I overwatered the crap out of them today like an idiot, so now I get to deal with being nervous.

 

[Dougan]

Both centennials have popped up, as well as one saaz and one tettnanger shoot, both of which popped up today.

I also got my jumbo willamette rhizomes in the mail today. They had some mold on them but I think they'll still be just fine. These are about a half of an inch thick:

I put up one of the trellises today. I measured the top bolt hole and then drilled a hole near the top of the fence post. I bolted it on:

I then rotated the top part of the trellis up and tied a rope around the bottom part. I used a level to make sure it was perfectly vertical. I think drilled a hole through both the 2x4 and 4x4. I then lowered it.

I used Sisal rope for this. I should have bought hop twine when I ordered my rhizomes-- I believe it's cheaper. Anyway, I took a 100 foot roll and cut it into 4 equal lengths (25 feet). I then staked all 4 down and then ran them through the eyes at the top of the trellis. I then routed each rope to its own eye on the side of the 2x4x10', near the top. Then I brought the remainder of the rope down the back side of the trellis and tied it off near the connection of the post and the 2x4x10'. This design will allow me to untie this connection and drop the vines when it comes time to harvest.

The trellis is sturdier than I expected, but isn't perfectly rigid. I think it will work out well, though. If I were to do this again, I'd get a 12' fencepost instead of a 10' one and bury it 2 feet deeper. The current ones are sturdy enough but this would still help out a lot. Also, on the topic of the garden itself, I probably could have waited until it got a bit warmer out before I added mulch. I don't think there's a whole lot of concern about my garden baking when the temps are still maxing out at 50 or so most days.