Trellis Designs?

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Boerderij_Kabouter

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Hello all you experienced hop growers out there! I am going to be planting ~10 vines this year and would like to know/see what kind of trellis systems you are using. Right now I am planning to train the vines on a traditional tent like trellis (don;t know what the design is called)

Pictures of your vines and setups would be great!

Thanks
 
Great idea on to add this section!

My neighbor owns a fencing business. He said I could have any of the used stuff he has taken down. I am thinking about using a rather tall section of standard chain link fence. Maybe ten ft tall x ten ft wide. Any thoughts on this? I was thinking, use 1 section for each variety of hop, maybe 2-3 rhizomes per section? BTW, I am located in NW PA, between Pittsburgh and Erie.
 
I plan to use regular chain link this year. I plan to train bines horizontally about 1 foot off of the ground and then cut off the growing tip. This should encourage lots of "branches" to then grow upwards from the main stalk.

Yes I am a self proclaimed genius.;)
 
Here's my trellis. The grey pipe is schedule 80 PVC pipe - it's extra thick-walled. I bought some fence posts which I had hoped would fit perfectly inside the pipe. Not quite - I had to use an angle grinder to grind down some of the nubs so the pvc would fit over it. Once ground down, enough the posts were pounded into the ground. The trellis is in two sections. The bottom portion (includes the white cross braces is permanent. The top part can be lifted up out of the lower white tees and lowered to facilitate harvest. All assembled it is about 14 ft tall. For this year I think I might add some extensions at the top that stick out to the side about 2 ft and tie the strings to that rather than the cross pieces like they are currently. This will give me a little extra height, improve air circulation and help to prevent the bines from twisting into one another at the top/

hoptrellis.jpg
 
Pretty damn cool. It looks OK too.

I wonder if a nice painted wooden version of that would fly with SWMBO.(she who MIGHT be obeyed lol)
 
HA Ha Ha Ha!!!
:off:


You know, I have been on this forum for some time now, and I FINALLY got what SWMBO means!

Thanks, Cheezy!

'Course in my unmarried case, it DOES mean "Might Be Obeyed"....
 
No pics yet. In the process of building.

I am doing a somewhat traditional commercial style trellis. (3) 4x4x16 foot posts spread 25 feet on center and set 3 foot into the ground in concrete. Using stainless arcraft cable as the main line and a heavy sisal (that endures our climate through the season) for the uprights. The bottom clips are of 3/8" x 2 foot rebar.

I have read that anything lower than 10 foot "can" cause "dwarving" of the plants and reduced yields.

My yard consists of 12 varieties on 4 foot centers across 50 foot of raised planting bed.

Mature bines at peak of season and in full production "can" wiegh up to 100 pounds each so, I am not taking any chances.

Before this I had strung lines from the ground to my eaves. After all had dies back in the fall, and while I was cleaning up the yard I found that several of the lines had strateched and were ready to snap or had already frayed to near failure.

SWMBO isn't too thrilled about the design but I'll be damned if I am going to continue to pay these prices for something I can grow myself. Plus, I have made room for her too.
 
My original plan was to paint the trellis green. My wife was a bit concerned about how it would look. Once we got it up she decided that it didn't look to bad the way it was. I still may paint it green one of these days..............

Prior to building this I kept thinking of how I could devise a system with ropes and pulleys so I could lower the top frame. I finally gave up on that and went with a semi-fixed design.
 
I'm gonna use my regualr 4' chain link, and trellis horizontally. I'm intrigued by cutting them off at 1' and letting them branch. sounds like a plan.

:mug:
 
A lot of folks want to use their chain link fences. While this method works it will reduce yields as previously stated but also make for difficult harvest. If you are in a hot area of the country think about spending a few hours in the blazing sun pulling cones through a metal fence. Best to go w/ sisal twine up high.
I'm thinking about using some old trees but this does not come w/out problems. Wind can cause damage to vines if tied to trees. Charlie
 
I believe that the only reason commercial growers grow on vertical poles is to get the most from multiple rows.

If you aren't going to have rows, there isn't the need. You aren't shadowing on the plants in the next row if there isn't a next row.

I am willing to take bets. I bet the chain link will be much more labor intensive, but will yield similar results.
 
Yeah....but I am not growing hops professionally and neither is anyone else here.

The "pros" also brew in 5000 gallon vats. Does that mean I need to buy one?
 
No you don't need to buy tall vertical trellis systems. But..... everything I read in my research pointed that you need to allow the vine to grow to a respectable length. It is also optimal to have good airflow which become more difficult with a low lying plant. Also, to improve yield it sounds like you only want the 3-4 most vigorous shoots to continue growing past the spring. A bushy vine, though it has more green growth, will produce less cones.

Someone with more experience please chime in. Or someone who has a link to some other sites with info, I know I have read them.

In addition, it does sound like making your harvest easier is worth everybody's time. I believe this process is rather long and the picking day requires a large amount of homebrew to get through.:mug:
 
Boerderij Kabouter said:
No you don't need to buy tall vertical trellis systems. But..... everything I read in my research pointed that you need to allow the vine to grow to a respectable length. It is also optimal to have good airflow which become more difficult with a low lying plant. Also, to improve yield it sounds like you only want the 3-4 most vigorous shoots to continue growing past the spring. A bushy vine, though it has more green growth, will produce less cones.

Someone with more experience please chime in. Or someone who has a link to some other sites with info, I know I have read them.

In addition, it does sound like making your harvest easier is worth everybody's time. I believe this process is rather long and the picking day requires a large amount of homebrew to get through.:mug:

I have read numerous places that if the plant is not allowed to grow vertically a minimum of 10 feet it can/will cause some varieties to dwarf and reduce yields.

But, I have also talked to several home growers who use the lateral system, have mature plants, and have not seen any reduction in their annual yields.

However, as I see it, the "Pros" do it the way they do it for a reason and it is mostly to benifit yields. I mean really, do you think a commercial establishment would really invest the meterails and equipment needed to grow a 30 foot tall plant if all it really needed is 6 feet to achieve the same yields?
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
I have read numerous places that if the plant is not allowed to grow vertically a minimum of 10 feet it can/will cause some varieties to dwarf and reduce yields.

But, I have also talked to several home growers who use the lateral system, have mature plants, and have not seen any reduction in their annual yields.

However, as I see it, the "Pros" do it the way they do it for a reason and it is mostly to benifit yields. I mean really, do you think a commercial establishment would really invest the meterails and equipment needed to grow a 30 foot tall plant if all it really needed is 6 feet to achieve the same yields?

It is the best way because they are trying to get the most from an acre. The poles barely shade each other because they are tall and thin.
As a homegrower with 5 plants, I don't care if my neighbor's grass is slightly shaded by my wall of hops.

I am not saying I know anything, I am just saying that I am willing to bet my harvest on it.

Plus I have no option. I was lucky to get the OK to grow on the fence.;)
 
cheezydemon said:
It is the best way because they are trying to get the most from an acre. The poles barely shade each other because they are tall and thin.
As a homegrower with 5 plants, I don't care if my neighbor's grass is slightly shaded by my wall of hops.

I am not saying I know anything, I am just saying that I am willing to bet my harvest on it.

Plus I have no option. I was lucky to get the OK to grow on the fence.;)

Mostly though it is to prevent Hops diseases, the first five feet of the bine(the part closest to the ground) is pruned to the main vine. This is done to stop common hops fungi from infecting fields whole sale. I guess that the Fungi doesn't grow up any further or my other guess is that it has to do with irrigation. The water doesn't sit on the leafs. That said though would, in effect, kill yield, so CD your still right.
 
I grow my hops along a privacy fence. It helps add some color to the backyard.

Nugget_Hops.JPG


Here are my 2nd year Nugget hops. I just train them around a sisal twine rope, every few days. It gets right around 20' long, then stops growing, lengthwise. It just fills out from there. I have to keep pruning the extra leaves and shoots, so I can maximize the cone production.
 
I've seen pictures of people growing them up a bit, then across on a string or whatever. Very similar to the above picture, but with many plants. They become like a trellis when you have many. It was a very old picture, so I can only speculate on how well this idea works compared to the way it's usually done today.

I'm thinking about growing some this year. I have an unused electrical pole that I am thinking I coudl use to support several strings going up. Problem might be there was a pine tree right there many years ago, and the soil might not be right for hops. Might need to transplant some soil to get good growth.
 
Is that some sweetcorn there along that fence line, as well?

I want this winter to end already...
 
These are about 14 feet tall with 8 foot 2x4s across the top. I loop the ropes over the ends, so at harvest time I can lower the bines without cutting them. Then I harvest the flowers and let the bines lie until they die. This puts more energy back into the roots for the next year. I expect to see some growth in another two weeks. People around Portland are seeing shoots already, but it's a bit colder in the coastal hills.

Spent the morning cultivating in the gerbilizer and replacing one of the yarns. Still need to move the Sunbeam to a shady spot.

img_0762.jpg
 
^^^Did you just stake the base of the vertical supports in? Doesn't seem like you'd need much but the reason I ask is that I've got two children and I know that one of them is going to want to do nothing but try and climb up my set up :)

EDIT: I'd like to avoid having to do something more drastic than stakes/shims but I'm not sure how much the support will need to stand up to in terms of abuse, wind, dogs, etc.
 
How exactly are you guys getting them to grow along the fence? Plant them close and expect them to grow up and over or do you put a streamer along?

(Sorry to sound so retarded.. haha)
 
That's not a bad question. Hops will climb. To grow them horizontally, you have to keep re-training them.
 
MriswitH said:
How exactly are you guys getting them to grow along the fence? Plant them close and expect them to grow up and over or do you put a streamer along?

(Sorry to sound so retarded.. haha)

Hops twine so they like to climb up wire or string. The vines pictured earlier were trained horizontally along some twine.

GT
 
Thanks guys! :D

I am planning on buying some rhizomes to plant this year and the thought of erecting a pole in the middle of my lot in a sub-division could bear ill thoughts from neighbors whereas fencing would work great. (Our whole lot if fenced in)
 
Here is what I have been toying around with. The plan is to allow the top of the trellis to move up and down to help with harvesting. I am not so sure if I really want to do that though. I may modify the design to resembe a tori gate with out the traveling top.

I am not sure if one rizome should grow up two line or one rizome per line.

Some sketchups

trellisB.png


trellisA.png


Comments?
 
That is an awesome design! So, you would allow the top crossbars to slide down the support beams? That is pretty ingeneous. I suppose you could just put some holes in the supports and push some bolts in to hold it up, then remove the bolts at harvest.

Having never grown hops before, I was not sure you would have enough root space growing in containers...do you?

Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks. Yeah I was thinking a pulley system to raise and lower the top and use a bolt to keep the top up there.

The beds are 2x2x1.5' and I am going to dig them down another foot. My soil is a bit hard so I was planning on double digging it. I am not sure if they are big enough, especially if I need to put two plants in each one. Hopefully some one will chime in.
 
Here is the trellis that I've convinced my wife will look nice.

trellis-full;init:.jpg


She wasn't up for the height so I'll get them up to about 10 feet and then have them grow horizontally.
 
david_42 said:
These are about 14 feet tall with 8 foot 2x4s across the top. I loop the ropes over the ends, so at harvest time I can lower the bines without cutting them. Then I harvest the flowers and let the bines lie until they die. This puts more energy back into the roots for the next year. I expect to see some growth in another two weeks. People around Portland are seeing shoots already, but it's a bit colder in the coastal hills.

Spent the morning cultivating in the gerbilizer and replacing one of the yarns. Still need to move the Sunbeam to a shady spot.

img_0762.jpg

I like this design. I've convinced my wife to let to me build it as a better alternative to growing the bines up the trees. Now all I need to do is choose which varieties to grow.
 
Mine is simple and Cheap

2 -Tomato cages
3 - Electric Fence Posts - 5 or 6' (Like small stop sign posts)
1 - 10' section of 3/4" conduit
3 - Conduit clamps.
1 - Roll of Jute Twin
2 or 3 - Large bags of bark mulch

Plant the rhisomes, put cages on the mounds, stake in three posts. Attach two clamps to the center post and one on the end of the conduit. Run jute twine through the center clamp ~ 30'. Mount conduit- on center post and hoist the post. Tie off the end of the jute twine to the side posts. Then tie three strings from each cage to the jute twin over the cage. Cover with bark mulch. Water, feed and water ....


Very Simple!! - :fro:

Nugget & Cascades at June 6th 2007

3761-HopsJuly72007002.jpg
 
Virtuous said:
Thanks. Yeah I was thinking a pulley system to raise and lower the top and use a bolt to keep the top up there.

The beds are 2x2x1.5' and I am going to dig them down another foot. My soil is a bit hard so I was planning on double digging it. I am not sure if they are big enough, especially if I need to put two plants in each one. Hopefully some one will chime in.

I'd say 2x2' is fine. With that V-shaped line you can train 2 bines up each string or 4 bines per plant per box. Should be plenty. I basically do the same thing with great results.
 
I think I'm going to build a 4x2 planter near the back of my garage. I'll plant 6 rhizomes in the planter 2' apart in a half circle pattern. I'll hang the hop-string from a central point about 20' up the back wall by screwing a big eye-bolt into the garage. This is the west side of my house, but it gets about the most sun of any point I could realistically put a garden. I can also run the hop-string down to an anchor below the eye-bolt like a drawstring for blinds or curtains. This will leave me a little bit of extra garden to plant some chilis or herbs or whatever. I'm thinking I could plant some green onions around the outside. That usually kept my dogs out of the garden when I was growing up. I assume it will work with my current dog.


hopsTrellis.png
 
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