Hop Growing

[lexuschris]

Whats the expected yield you think you will get?

From what I've read, 1st year will produce almost no cones (except the Cascades ..which might produce a few ounces). Year 1 is all about establishing the root system for the following years.

Year 2 should be pretty good. I have no idea, but a few sources indicated a pound or two per plant. Year 3 and beyond should be full yields. (I planted 1 good Centennial last April, and it yielded a few cones, but not enough for a harvest. This year, I hope it takes off well!)

Sounds like we need to take a road trip to Sedona in early August for a harvest.

Yeah, with 40 plants... some extra hands would be.. well.. handy.

Sedona in late summer is awesome ... incredible monsoon thunder, lighting, rain, then clear night skies after...
--LexusChris

[lexuschris]

The Sedona Ranch from a bluff at the edge of the property, looking down field. Hop field to be in upper left corner.


A line of 10 trellis poles, 4 plants per pole. We plant in 2 weeks... weeeeeee!!!!

A big experiment no doubt. The Centennial rhizome did grow fine last summer, so the hops should survive fine. We are putting in drip irrigation just to be sure.

I am planning on 3 poles Cascade, 2 poles Nugget, 3 poles Centennial & 2 poles Willemette.

BTW, the rhizomes I got this year (from 3 sources) were MUCH better than last year. Last year, they looked like pencil thin root sticks, with no buds. This year, I got some as thick as my thumb, and lots of fresh nubs coming out. Should be a good start! I'll be out there the 1st week of April to plant & fine-tune the trellis & watering schedules.
--LexusChris

[maltbarley]

That's awesome, Chris.

[BrewMasterBrad]

Sweet.

[oc eric]

That red rock is beautiful. The hop trellises are beautiful. Dang! Chris, this could be a postcard picture.

[backyard brewer]

How, that is just too dang cool!

[JonGoku]

So how do you harvest the lil guys up at the top? One long ass ladder? or do you tip the pole somehow?

That looks so awesome though.

[lexuschris]

So how do you harvest the lil guys up at the top? One long ass ladder? or do you tip the pole somehow?

The initial design has pullys at the top of each spar, and the support twine runs up to thru them, and back down to the ground again. Thus, you can lower the bine for harvesting. Additionally, these poles can be lifted out of their footings, and tilted down to the ground. Hopefully just for maintenance, etc.

Ideally, I want to have a little 2-foot wide 'T' section at the end of those, and hang 2 sets of lines for each plant. Allow 2 healthy bines to grow up slightly seperated. I suppose I can let them climb up the same twine..??

Dan, any thoughts about that?
--LexusChris

[brianc]

Sounds like a BrewCommune road trip / meeting in the making...

[BrewMasterBrad]

Sounds like a BrewCommune road trip / meeting in the making...

I second that motion. All those in favor of a late summer road trip to Sedona........................

[backyard brewer]

Chris,

A better option would be to make the entire spar assembly go up and down. Attach the spars to a pipe ring larger than the support pipe and have a single pulley that lifts the entire spar assembly. The reason is that as soon as the bines hit the top, and they will, they'll wrap around the spar and you won't be able to just lower them by lowering the twine. Second, if the twine falls off the pulley, you'll need to lower the whole thing anyway. If you have the same hop variety per pole, then there should be no issue with lowering the entire thing at once..

What are the spars and poles made of? What is the diameter of that pole? Looks like 1/4" angle iron.

Instead of a ring, you could also weld them offset, so there is an opening at the center that fits the pole. A few cheap fixed casters used as wheels for them to ride up and down would keep them from tearing the paint off the pole.

[lexuschris]

Chris,

A better option would be to make the entire spar assembly go up and down. Attach the spars to a pipe ring larger than the support pipe and have a single pulley that lifts the entire spar assembly. The reason is that as soon as the bines hit the top, and they will, they'll wrap around the spar and you won't be able to just lower them by lowering the twine. Second, if the twine falls off the pulley, you'll need to lower the whole thing anyway. If you have the same hop variety per pole, then there should be no issue with lowering the entire thing at once..

What are the spars and poles made of? What is the diameter of that pole? Looks like 1/4" angle iron.

Instead of a ring, you could also weld them offset, so there is an opening at the center that fits the pole. A few cheap fixed casters used as wheels for them to ride up and down would keep them from tearing the paint off the pole.

Excellent ideas! I'll take a closer look at them when I get out there in a week. I had provided plans & diagrams, but the poles did come out different than my original plans. The fabricator made a few adjustments while building....
--LexusChris

p.s. I'll see what I can do about a road-trip in August.