First Year Hops

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
S

skepace

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
312
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver
So I decides to start growing hops. Well I went a little overboard on how many plants I got.

Since I don't know which ones will take and which ones will die, I got a lot. Plus they were buy 4 for the price of one at my LHBS! Has anyone ever used a tomato trellis to train them?

A

image-1485934336.jpg
 
You might get away with that for the first year, but you need some serious height for them best served with a long length of string such as twine.
 
I don't know how tall the tomato trellis is but seems like most people are going with something 12-18' above grade for their structure.

I'm in same boat you are. First year plants and not sure what to do for the structure. I'm looking at using some 10' conduit (2 pieces) then stringing the wire between them and then dropping the twine down to the plant.
 
For the first year your biggest issue is the root growth. They won't grow much vertically until they develop roots, but they'll easily spread within a few years to popping up all over. My 3rd year are now about 4' in each direction from the initial rhizome planting.
A tomato cage would work, if you're just looking to prove them out this year and then transplant the healthiest in the fall to a dedicated garden space. For anything after 1st year that tomato cage will be outgrown within about 2 weeks.
 
skepace said:
What about growing them like grapes at about 5' high and then go across?
Click to expand...

You can, but this is not how they naturally grow so you will constantly have to train them and force them to go laterally which becomes a daily chore.
 
I have my first year Willamette growing about 1ft from the base of my clothes line and I plan on horizontally growing across the 20ft chords :)
 
MathiasMicrobrew said:
I have my first year Willamette growing about 1ft from the base of my clothes line and I plan on horizontally growing across the 20ft chords :)
Click to expand...

That sounds like a good idea.
 
I think i'm going with some 10' conduit for the first year.... just so the wife isn't surprised with 20' of poles in our yard!!!
 
sok454 said:
I think i'm going with some 10' conduit for the first year.... just so the wife isn't surprised with 20' of poles in our yard!!!
Click to expand...

My wife already said if she sees 20' poles or lines attached the house she is going to use weed killer on the hops. :(
 
I think somewhere on this forum there is a guy growing them on a chain link fence. I've seen other photos of them angling to a shed roof. Tall is ideal, other stuff works. I plan to keep mine to about 8'.
 
Well, I might not be the guy you are referring to, but I grow mine on a fence. Each plant (or region since they've spread) has a bamboo pole to train them straight up and then over to the fence. This way I can trim off the lower leaves to allow weeding and pruning excessive new shoots.
They've already hit the top of the 6ft fence and when 2 or 3 bines wind around each other they can support themselves in free air for about another 3ft.
They might not produce as good as a single tall growth, but it's free and (almost) zero chance of falling over.
 
johngaltsmotor said:
Well, I might not be the guy you are referring to, but I grow mine on a fence. Each plant (or region since they've spread) has a bamboo pole to train them straight up and then over to the fence. This way I can trim off the lower leaves to allow weeding and pruning excessive new shoots.
They've already hit the top of the 6ft fence and when 2 or 3 bines wind around each other they can support themselves in free air for about another 3ft.
They might not produce as good as a single tall growth, but it's free and (almost) zero chance of falling over.
Click to expand...

Do you by chance have a picture?

Not all of my rhizomes are sprouting. How long cannot take before I know some may have died?
 
I can snap a couple of pictures this weekend. I took some with my phone a few weeks back when they first sprouted but they weren't that great.
 
johngaltsmotor said:
I can snap a couple of pictures this weekend. I took some with my phone a few weeks back when they first sprouted but they weren't that great.
Click to expand...

Thsnks
 
I believe you put ur finger in the little hole and.. lol I believe most, if not all, rhizomes that ppl sell are female. The seeds can either be male or female.
 
MathiasMicrobrew said:
I believe you put ur finger in the little hole and.. lol I believe most, if not all, rhizomes that ppl sell are female. The seeds can either be male or female.
Click to expand...

Nice.

Just wondering.
 
Figured I would show you my first year hops, picture is over a week old though. Chinook, Cascade, Sterling L to R. Also I would like it if people could critique my trellis... This took me like an hour to put together.

IMG_20130602_091153_316.jpg
 
That's pretty good for an hours worth of work. It looks like u have a horizontal system? That's how I have mine growing, but I'm using my clothes line lol from what I hear, you will have to keep training the bines because they naturally grow up and not horizontal.

Also, the root system will eventually get crowded and outgrow ur pots after a few years. I didn't know if you plan on transfering them into the ground after some time.
 

Similar threads

Steveruch
Michigan Hop Alliance
Replies
12
Views
1K
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
iandanielursino
Sanity check on pole based hop yard design with boxes
Replies
31
Views
1K
Dland
Dland
Steveruch
Bad hops
Replies
6
Views
528
DBhomebrew
DBhomebrew
D
Birch sap hop water
Replies
0
Views
152
divrack
D
Ki-ri-n
What's the deal with UK malt?
Replies
4
Views
284
Steveruch
Steveruch
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top