Hop Pole Question

Hey Guys,

I'm growing my second year of hops and was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for a hop pole improvement. My hops are currently planted in my garden and I need to put up two poles asap. Last year I used two 12 feet poles that had wire connecting them (about 10 feet apart). Then I ran twine to my plants to create a Teepee like structure . They had about 15 feet to grow up. They were a pain to train and I want to do something new this year. I was thinking about using two of these poles (http://www.lowes.com/pd_110521-215-...rentURL=?Ns=p_product_avg_rating|1&facetInfo=) and creating something like I've seen Edwort use (3 plants running vertically to a pole). I don't really want to buy flagpoles (way too expensive) but these are just right. Any idea on if they will hold up? If so, how deep should I sink them ? I put my poles last year into a larger ID piping and hammered that into the ground. It was surprisingly stable.

I would try them. all the weight is vertically. Get lightning there? I was hit twice in the last few years but my top wire is on rebar pounded into the ground. I wouls sleve them into the ground around 3 ft into maybe pvc? Make it easy to remove if needed. Good luck.

Holy crap... lightening? I didn't even think of that. Is that normal? By sleeve, do you mean just have the pvc in the ground and put the poles into it? Or do you mean cover the entire pole?

I use one of these. It works great is easy to take down and is lite.

That looks awesome! I'll have to get one. It looks like it extends in pieces and I'll be able to get it into my car. Otherwise I was going to have to get my father-in-law to bring his truck over. Hopefully it doesn't get hit by lightening!

msu09 said:

That looks awesome! I'll have to get one. It looks like it extends in pieces and I'll be able to get it into my car. Otherwise I was going to have to get my father-in-law to bring his truck over. Hopefully it doesn't get hit by lightening!

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The Harbor Freight pole retracts and comes in a box about five feet long, so it should fit in your car. I ordered two of them for a trellis and they appear very sturdy and should work well.

PVC in the ground, I did it with my flagpole and works great when the rope breaks. Lightning is not typical, My field is a stand alone and looks like a WWII radio df finder. Not much else in the area to hit. Surprisingly last year it got hit in Aug and did not damage the bines. I will not go near it in a storm!

Another idea would be to find someone that might have had one of those old analog T.V. antennas. I used my dads he had left laying around. The poles telescope, are sturdy and free is my favorite price.

I used two 10' lengths of rigid conduit (3/4") and connected them to make a 20' pole. Then drove a larger diameter pipe that I had into the ground about 30 inches as a sleeve. Put one of these at each end of a 20' bed with galvanized cable connecting the two. The cable is attached to an eye bolt at the top of each pole. There are metal rings attached every three feet on the top wire with twine drops (I can lower each twine drop individually or lower the entire top cable). Hopefully lightning will not be a problem, but if so I hope that the pole will conduct the electricity into the ground without the need for additional lighting/grounding rods. We get some high winds so once the hops are up, it will be a test of how strong the poles actually are.

Good point in the wind, I did not think about it on mine and my rows go n to s and the wind usually comes out of the west. Sometimes it looks like a sail near the end of the season, Lots of undo stress on the trellis, kind of surprised that I did not snap a pole yet.

I have my trellis oriented E - W as most of the winds come out of the west but we get the occasional blast from any direction so I'll just have to see. I have some protection from the east and north, but south and west are wide open...probably the worst for wind but my set up did not allow for a different location.

All six of my rhizomes are sending shoots above the ground. A couple have multiple shoots. I think that the ground should warm quickly now so hopefully I'll be training bines in the next couple of weeks.

I wanted to post an update on my setup. I went with the Harbor Freight flagpoles. I purchased two of them and created a Teepee. I put four plants to one pole and three to the other. Thanks for the help!

I do have a question about my hops though. Has anyone seen the disease/pest that I am attaching? There are little white spots on all 7 of my plants and they do not look like water spots. I think that it may be the start of powdery mildew.

Thanks!

Looks cool man! I'm considering using the Conduit from lowes so I can have something cheap and easy to move out! I have one that is ready to start being trained and then 3 others that are starting to pop. I planted another 8-10 last week so not much movement on them yet... Good luck!