"Hop Box" Size Advice

[BikeAndBrew]

I am getting ready to plant my first two hop plants within the next week or so. I ordered hop crowns from Great Lakes hops, and I'm hoping to have some success with them. I do already have a vegetable garden that produces well for me, so hopefully I can replicate that success with the hops!

I do not have room in my raised vegetable garden for the hop plants. So, I am being forced to either plant them somewhere in the yard in the ground, or in a container. My soil is very compact and full of clay, so I don't think planting them in the ground would work. So, I have decided to build "boxes" for each plant. I have two plants on the way.

I am planning on putting the plants next to a cedar pergola I have built so that they will have a sturdy structure to run on. I have plenty on cedar wood scraps laying around so I want to build what is essentially a raised planting box for each plant.

What size do you guys think the boxes should be? I want to be able to use these year after year, so I don't mind building them larger than they need to be right now in order to accommodate the plants when they get bigger. So, what do you guys think the dimensions should be (Length, Width, Height)?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[nagmay]

Unless you are going to want to move them around, I would encourage you to avoid a closed-bottom container. Once the plants get going, the clay should not be a problem. They will send out long taproots into the clay that will protect them during times of drought. You can mound up good soil, build a small raised bed, or even a container with an open bottom.

I have hops both in the ground and in a 100gal container. The container dries out really fast and the plant doesn't produce nearly as well.

Cheers.

 

[BikeAndBrew]

Thanks for the input! My plan was to build the boxes with an open bottom and fill them up with good potting soil. I figured the plants could put roots down in the clay soil once they got going, but the potting soil would give them a chance to get going.

Any thoughts as to the size of the box? Thanks again.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[nagmay]

I have 2 rows of 4 plants. Each row is a raised box 6" high, about 20' long, but only about 1.5' wide. This way, I can keep the separate crowns 4-5' apart.

These are on the north side of my garden beds, so they don't shade the veggies. The plants are mature and all do really, really well.

If I was creating an open box for in individual crowns 1.5 - 3' square would work really well.

 

[WayFrae]

I can't find it now, but I saw a youtube video of a guy that puts his in 3x3 foot raised beds that are about ten inches high or so. He buried them about 5 inches down to help keep the roots from spreading too far outwards. I just ordered some too and this is what I am planning to do with mine. SWMBO isn't too thrilled with the idea though haha.