Nitrogen Levels / Seaweed

[JimRausch]

So should I buy a thicker twine or rope?

I use 30 lb. fishing line. It's worked well for me for about 7 years now.

 

[Ruint]

You have been flirting with disaster Jim....lol...I use 85 pound coir. Have you ever noticed any cuts from the fishing line on some of the tender growth?

 

[CodeSection]

Last Saturday I ended up transplanting the plants into 15 gallon grow bags. Since it got really hot, I put the bags under a ramada for shade until my 40% shade screen is delivered.

The Amalia and Willamette are really growing and taking off. The Multihead is a little slower and the Willow Creek is struggling.

 

[CodeSection]

I use 30 lb. fishing line. It's worked well for me for about 7 years now.

I ended up buying 85 lb coir.

 

[TrickyDick]

Looking good! Let us know how those multihead hops taste in beer..

 

[CodeSection]

Looking good! Let us know how those multihead hops taste in beer..

I will....if they grow! It may be too damn hot here but hopefully the 40% shading will help with the current location on my property.

 

[CodeSection]

@Ruint, I hope to install the coir this weekend. I read on another thread where a HBT member posted three years ago that he was reusing his ~24' coir drops for the past six years. Is that possible? If it is, how are the bines separated from the coir?

If the coir can be reused and it is relatively easy to separate the bines from it, then that would change how I tied it off at the top or even lengthen it so I could lower it. I was under the impression the coir could really only be used for one season.....

 

[Ruint]

It is possible to use coir for several seasons. It is a precarious journey though. Take in environmental factors. Was it windy? Was it a wet year! Where on the strand is the weave/union? (I'll show pictures of this later, can't right now as my coir is 88 miles away from me currently!) If you can chop your bine down without cutting the coir, whether it is during or after harvest of the cones, you can separate the coir from the bines, with only a little difficulty. Not a super huge deal when you have a "few" plants. Much cheaper and easier on large scale operations to cut both at the same time and do the mechanical type of harvest where all of it (bine and coir) are brought through the machine which strips the cones from the growth and separates it. True coconut husk coir is biodegradable. This occurs with everything that is natural. Take as much chance as you are comfortable with this. It is not if it finally degrades to a level and breaks at a stress point.....It is when! Coir is relatively cheap, and is readily clung to by the bine. Stainless steel cable is not at the same price point, nor does the bine cling to it. Arguably, some will chime in that their hops climb up it. Yes, it will go up it, that is the hop's nature....to climb. Does it readily stay there? Given the right circumstances, it will slump down as it has no grip on what it is climbing. Can the wind unravel your trained bine? Yes, it can. Can a good rain storm? You betcha! If you don't have to contend with any of those conditions, then you have it made. Where I am geographically located, I am subject to all of that. I use 100% coconut husk coir, to give the plants the best possible chance for staying put, and me the best chance of not trying to retrain bines that have come undone. You can use a multitude of string, rope, chain, or wire. You can even use lengths of lumber, or poles, or sapling trees, to full grown trees to let the hops grow up. It then comes down to this....How easily can I harvest these beautiful cones? How am I going to maintain a clear growing area for next season? What is the price that I am willing to accept to pay, to give me the best chance of success, for the least amount of difficulty? These suggestions are based on my findings YMMV! LoL!!!

 

[CodeSection]

As always, I can count on you @Ruint to give a through explanation along with pointing out alternative choices as well as other issues I never considered (weather).

Thank you!

 

[Ruint]

LoL!!! If I can save anyone from some of the ass-aches I have encountered....I am all for it!!!!

 

[Ruint]

First picture is just to show how fantastically coarse coconut coir is, in case you have not seen it. Hop bines really grip this. In the second picture, you can see where the coir is tightly wound, and appears thinner (both towards the top and bottom of the picture) but then it gets a little thicker and looks looser (center of picture). This is where 2 strands were braided together (weave or union) in order to be able to get the overall length required.

 

[CodeSection]

First picture is just to show how fantastically coarse coconut coir is, in case you have not seen it. Hop bines really grip this. In the second picture, you can see where the coir is tightly wound, and appears thinner (both towards the top and bottom of the picture) but then it gets a little thicker and looks looser (center of picture). This is where 2 strands were braided together (weave or union) in order to be able to get the overall length required.

Ahhh, I would never have thought of that. I would have tied a knot. Or did that come from the manufacturer that way?

 

[Ruint]

It comes that way. Yes, lol, if I have to extend or repair, I tie knots too!

 

[CodeSection]

LOL!

 

[CodeSection]

Installed the coir on three of the four grow bags and trained the bines on them. All the hop plants are looking really good (Amalia, Willamette, Multihead and Willow Creek). Since the Willow Creek has slow growth as compared to the others, I will probably install its coir in a week or two.

I needed to use a heavy construction stake to help hold down the coir since the two stakes in each growth bag would not hold down the coir. The soil isn't compact enough and the spikes raise up.

From left to right: Amalia, Willamette and Multihead.

 

[AkTom]

I don’t currently have any hops... if I ever get moved and do get some, Jack’s All Purpose 20-20-20 is a great fertilizer. I used to work at a greenhouse and that was the only brand we used. They make various kinds. I use it for all my house plants and out doors plants if I’m not too lazy.

 

[CodeSection]

Temporarily installed the 40% shade cloth to see how it handles the wind we get. Once I determine how it handles the wind, I will install the plastic gromments and carabiners to the PVC above for a more permanent installation.

 

[CodeSection]

@Ruint, the last blood meal I gave the plants was three weeks ago come Wednesday. The plants seem to be doing really well with two of them about 10' or so in height and the other two about 5' or so in height.

So, do you give any other type of feeding after Summer solstice such as fish or seaweed extract? What about adding a inch or so layer of compost on top of the soil already in the grow bags?

 

[Ruint]

You can give them seaweed extract as it is low in nitrogen. I usually only feed the fish emulsion to them in the early growing stage, but as long as the nitrogen level is low, I don't think any bad side effects will occur. You can use bloom booster safely as well, although depending on what brand you go with, it could be expensive. I hear it works very well on it's cousin and for tomatoes!
I'll see about snapping a couple pics of my hops later today and posting them.

 

[Ruint]

There's the girls...older ones you can definitely tell, then there are some babies I acquired kinda late, but planted anyways. Three different varieties. The top line is 17 feet off the ground.1

 

[CodeSection]

Wow! Those mature ones look beautiful! I only wish someday mine will grow like that!

My plants look like your young hop plants only they are taller. So far mine have been holding up well to the extreme heat we have been getting. It may reach up to 112F by this weekend depending upon which weather forecast you listen to. That brings me to your PVC structure.

I really like the design. This morning I was thinking about next year and a trellis system that would be in another location. I was wondering with this extreme heat, if the PVC would hold up and not bend or warp due to the heat and weight of the plants. I was thinking I may need something stronger like steel or aluminum similar to what is used in the iBex growing system.

While you are in a cooler location, have you experienced any bending or warping of the PVC?

 

[Ruint]

The pvc is doing alright. Have not noticed any deformities from heat, only looks like it is bending due to wind, but that is only where I have it joined together by pinning it. I chose 3" for the weight bearing application, and 2" for the distance apart portion. It creaks a bit in the wind which freaks the wife completely out, when she is out near it. Keeps telling me it is gonna fall. I could make the noise go away if I glued everything, but that defeats it from being able to be dissambled. For the amount of plants it holds, I am seriously considering going with a uni-strut construction trellis project. Might be a tad bit pricey, but not $900 dollars pricey for a single strand to a single plant.

 

[CodeSection]

Thanks for the update. That may push me to design something stronger. I agree with you that $900 is pricey. When I shopped similar materials that are used in their system for a 30' length trelis, the cost was $400-$450.

I like your idea of using uni-strut materials....which would bring the cost down even further.