Any PVC trellis advice?

[Fid]

I'm growing hops for the first time and its time to get my trellis up. I rent my house and I've been given the greenlight to do basically whatever I want with the backyard so in theory I could put a wooden structure up but I don't want to take on the expense/extra work of building something super nice that I'm just going to leave behind when I move.

So, I'm looking towards PVC (or EMT) to build this thing. I was hoping some people who have built a PVC trellis could chime in with some things they've learned after building theirs. Things I'm interested in:
How deep to bury poles
Pole diameter
Any extra saupports needed for stability
Any other do's don'ts or general advice you might have

Cheers!

 

[rgauthier20420]

Well because it doesn't seem like they sell PVC or EMT is single pieces any larger than 10', we went with two 10' long 2.25" wide pieces of EMT pounded 2.5' in to the ground. They span 32' and are connected by a 1/8 stranded metal cable using turn buckles. We are planning on going up from an angle one side and down the other. This route was relatively cheap and is proving very sturdy.

Edit: Picture

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Well because it doesn't seem like they sell PVC or EMT is single pieces any larger than 10', we went with two 10' long 2.25" wide pieces of EMT pounded 2.5' in to the ground. They span 32' and are connected by a 1/8 stranded metal cable using turn buckles. We are planning on going up from an angle one side and down the other. This route was relatively cheap and is proving very sturdy.

That will work well, just one piece of advice from my learning curve years ago. At first we threw the twine over the cable and anchored it on both sides for the bines to grow up. Greatest idea ever!!! Not quite the weight of the bines and the friction of the wind on the bines cut all the twine when the had weight on them. Solution, just put a loop in one end of the twine throw it over the cable I use a carabineer to get it over the cable, remove the weight from the looped end and insert the non looped end into the loop and pull it so it is attached to the cable, no more friction! Kind of hard to put into words. Hope it helps. One more thing anchor the cable end into the ground outside of the poles for added support and also a ground for lightning. Yes I had mine hit twice. Hell of a noise but no damage to the plants. If it was not grounded probably fry some bines looking for ground.

 

[rgauthier20420]

That will work well, just one piece of advice from my learning curve years ago. At first we threw the twine over the cable and anchored it on both sides for the bines to grow up. Greatest idea ever!!! Not quite the weight of the bines and the friction of the wind on the bines cut all the twine when the had weight on them. Solution, just put a loop in one end of the twine throw it over the cable I use a carabineer to get it over the cable, remove the weight from the looped end and insert the non looped end into the loop and pull it so it is attached to the cable, no more friction! Kind of hard to put into words. Hope it helps. One more thing anchor the cable end into the ground outside of the poles for added support and also a ground for lightning. Yes I had mine hit twice. Hell of a noise but no damage to the plants. If it was not grounded probably fry some bines looking for ground.

Your right....very hard to put into words. I'm not sure I understood that

However, thanks for the advice. We will think of a solution to this now that you've said something. We do have supports that use a turn buckle also and are attached to the top of each post and anchored into the ground slanted away from the poles. It's providing a counter force to the poles stay as upright as possible.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Your right....very hard to put into words. I'm not sure I understood that

However, thanks for the advice. We will think of a solution to this now that you've said something. We do have supports that use a turn buckle also and are attached to the top of each post and anchored into the ground slanted away from the poles. It's providing a counter force to the poles stay as upright as possible.

basically MAKE AN EYE ON ONE END OF THE STRING, THROW IT OVER AND THEN CUT THE TWINE AND PUT IT THROUGH THE EYE AND TAKE UP SLACK ON THE TWINE LIKE A SLIP KNOT Hard to explain but really simple. I have my turnbuckles on the end of the trellis wire so I can pull put tension on the wire as they grow, and it also makes it easy to lower the wire for harvest. I have 4x4 for posts with eyes on top and they stay where I need them with no other support. PVC I don't know prob needs a guy wire. Hope it helped.

 

[cheezydemon3]

The KEY, is how tall or LONG the bines can get.

1 40 ft bine will produce 3X as much as 2 20 ft bines. It is crazy.

I would go tall and then sideways if you can.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Most of the cones for 3-4 foot above the ground from my experience. The tops are usually loaded.