Steel gas pipe as "pole" for hops?

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brewguyver

brewguyver

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The last two years I've run my plants up 8' and then diagonally towards the house. They really don't grow as I'd like. I'm in the city, so NFW i'm getting a 20' wood poles to my house, let alone into the back yard. I was thinking about doing the steel 10' gas pipe sections from Home Depot instead. My plan is to cut one in half and make an h shape with it (see bad ascii art below) so i can cement the pole in 1 places, using the threaded fittings to screw it all together. I'd then link two 10' sections in and run it vertical. I'm leaning towards the thicker 2" pipe since it's significantly more "diesel."

Each pole will probably cost me about $100-$120 plus cement.

Thoughts?

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How about a flag pole with an eye hook at the top, then run twine to the ground and back a bunch of times. Use some tent hooks in the ground to tie the twine to.
 
Brewguyver: Metal poles get too hot in the sun and can kill or repel your plants. Try using your pole as a support for twine, rope, or anything else. The commercial hop growers just cut the twine loose at harvest time and let the plant drop to the ground for easy picking.
 
I have some of the 2" electrical conduit holding up a wind generator in the field. Good stuff strong, light, cheap. I have also seen schedule 40 pvc used starting with a 4" bottom to a 2" top pole.
 
Gas pipe is some heavy and expensive stuff! I also dont think you could thread together the middle section of the H due to the way the threading works...

Electrial conduit or flagpoles ftw....any free bamboo growing nearby?
 
Electrical conduit is cheap and the chain link fence top bar is a good idea too.

You could check any of the multitude of scrap yards for suitable metal.
 
You are doing it like a teepee style for limited space I am assuming? If so you can just cement the bottom of the pole in the ground about 2' or so. You probably will not have to use any sort of guy wire since the bines are super strong once they grab the growing string. You can get fabric holdowns ( Big u shaped wire) to use for the string at first before the bines grab them
 
brewguyver said:
The last two years I've run my plants up 8' and then diagonally towards the house. They really don't grow as I'd like. I'm in the city, so NFW i'm getting a 20' wood poles to my house, let alone into the back yard. I was thinking about doing the steel 10' gas pipe sections from Home Depot instead. My plan is to cut one in half and make an h shape with it (see bad ascii art below) so i can cement the pole in 1 places, using the threaded fittings to screw it all together. I'd then link two 10' sections in and run it vertical. I'm leaning towards the thicker 2" pipe since it's significantly more "diesel."

Each pole will probably cost me about $100-$120 plus cement.

Thoughts?

| ^ up 20'
|---|
| |
Click to expand...

You mean like this? That's 4' 1.5" 8 gage steel square tube. Rented a post hole digger and sunk it about 30" into an 8" concrete foundation. Then I got 24' 1.25" steel tube that goes into the foundation sleeve. I drilled and bolted eye bolts to the top of the poles, and run clothes line up and across the poles. Coir rope runs down from the stringer. The result is a 21' trellis That can be taken down at the end of the season.

Total cost was about $300. It's great for an inner city back yard like mine.

IMG_20140504_184038.jpg


IMG_20140504_184052.jpg


IMG_20140504_184110.jpg


IMG_20140510_151410.jpg
 
There are lots of awesome suggestions in these replies!

I probably should have specified I'm doing the "hop farm" style (e.g. putting up pole and running the line horizontally 30' to the house) rather than the maypole style. Right now I have 8' poles i made by doubling up two furring strips, attaching eye hooks at the top, and then running lines from the eye hooks to a clothes line at the top of my retaining wall. It doesn't look anywhere near as good as autonomist3k (a thing of beauty), but it worked for last year (and only cost $6).

I'll see if i have a better picture - this one should give you a bit of an idea.

10527447_547163902062008_130277582303980261_n.jpg


I think the conduit would be great - any trick to keeping the pieces together? The stuff i saw at Home Despot was slip fit.
 
Weezy said:
Electrical conduit is cheap and the chain link fence top bar is a good idea too.

You could check any of the multitude of scrap yards for suitable metal.
Click to expand...

So continuing on the electrical conduit idea - is this the conduit ya'll are thinking of?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Allied-T...RV-_-rv_gm_pip_rr-_-100155479-_-100400411-_-N

It looks like that isn't set up with slip joints, but there are couplers for < $2 each. The first one linked seems deeper, but the second seems like it's reinforced. Both are about the same price. Thoughts?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Raco-EMT...2028-3/203671483?N=5yc1vZbohkZ1z115oiZ1z117vg

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Halex-2-...-12220/100155479?N=5yc1vZbohkZ1z115oiZ1z117vg
 
I was thinking the plastic conduit. I think others were as well since it has slip joints and slip joints were mentioned. I'll have to let Halifax tell you what diameter to choose. I haven't grown hops yet so I don't have a feel for how stiff this needs to be to support the plant.

I'd be worried about that metal coupling buckling with the poles upright. Are you wanting to go higher? Can you consider putting these in cement filled buckets rather than permanently cemented in the ground? I think I'm confused as to what you're trying to achieve.

Cripes...I hate looking at pictures of backyard hop farms. It makes me want to plant some.

I might be able to scare up some time and tools if you want some help.
 
Weezy said:
I was thinking the plastic conduit. I think others were as well since it has slip joints and slip joints were mentioned. I'll have to let Halifax tell you what diameter to choose. I haven't grown hops yet so I don't have a feel for how stiff this needs to be to support the plant.

I'd be worried about that metal coupling buckling with the poles upright. Are you wanting to go higher? Can you consider putting these in cement filled buckets rather than permanently cemented in the ground? I think I'm confused as to what you're trying to achieve.

Cripes...I hate looking at pictures of backyard hop farms. It makes me want to plant some.

I might be able to scare up some time and tools if you want some help.
Click to expand...

These pictures should help it make more sense.

Here's a picture of my current setup that I'm replacing. The problem with this setup is that the hops don't get high enough - they don't grow too well once they have to go horizontal.
1001020_10100217939978379_113009498_n.jpg



Here's a picture of the clean yard without anything, so you can see from a spacial perspective. What I want to do is put in two ~ 25' poles at the bottom corners of the fence (far back of the property), and run 50' of horizontal line back to the house from each pole. That will give me about 20-25' of line above each plant. I want to run 1-2 coir strings up from where the plants are to the main line. Think what autonomist3k posted but taller and with only 1 pole on each side instead of a bunch. The wind is fairly high since i'm on the inside of the southside slopes, and I'd imagine the hop vines will act as nice big sails.

I plan on putting a pully on each pole so i can raise and lower the line for easier access.
555822_10100154188591669_119721095_n.jpg
 
The10mmKid said:
Which direction are we viewing guyver?
Click to expand...

he's looking straight out the back of the house. the fence line is the property line.


so, the lines go from the poles and string to the house at up hill end? pulleys at house while the string is fixed it the pole?
 
I was thinking pully on pole (flag pole truck) and rope attached to house, but same idea.

I did some digging (searched around for DIY flagpole) and it looks like doitbest hardware carries the uncut 21' lengths of Sched 40 galvanized 2" pipe. Paul lumber carries them - just not sure of the delivery charge. That would solve my coupler issue. I also read people don't recommend black pipe for flagpoles - they bend too easy.

I thought about taking it easy and doing it next year (SWMBO gets annoyed by my projects), but apparently my current rig is "an eyesore" and she'd prefer I do this. Go figure.
 
When I lived in a city, I planted hops in the space between the sidewalk and curb and let them grow up telephone poles.
 
brewguyver said:
I was thinking pully on pole (flag pole truck) and rope attached to house, but same idea.

I did some digging (searched around for DIY flagpole) and it looks like doitbest hardware carries the uncut 21' lengths of Sched 40 galvanized 2" pipe. Paul lumber carries them - just not sure of the delivery charge. That would solve my coupler issue. I also read people don't recommend black pipe for flagpoles - they bend too easy.

I thought about taking it easy and doing it next year (SWMBO gets annoyed by my projects), but apparently my current rig is "an eyesore" and she'd prefer I do this. Go figure.
Click to expand...

That was my exact thought process before I settled on square steel tubing sleeved into concrete foundations. Flagpoles are expensive.
 
Steel fence parts have some advantages, for sure. But there's a guy advertising on Craigs list locally that sells 22ft larch poles for $35. Why not go with the real thing at that price? Assuming you live near a resource. I was surprised at the cost - I'm going to buy a set.
 
Wow this has been going on a while. Here it is a few weather balloons filled wit helium, they will grow longer every second! LOL
 
Brewguyver,
You come up with a plan yet?
Well, this is what I did:
hop-trellis-65499.html

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/hop-trellis-65499.html
.
I cemented in 1 1/2 conduit below the grass level and inserted 1 1/4 uprights that can be removed for the winter months.
Some SS cable and a couple of turnbuckles keeps it real stable. I had tied on some guy ropes to stake out but have never needed them. Actually, I have more hops climbing them now...
 

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