Will This New "Tent" Trellis Design Work?

[HoBros]

Hello,

We recently moved to a new place with a few acres available to grow hops on. To start, we bought 4 varieties of Rhizomes, 100 total.
40 Sterling
40 Willamette
10 Galena
10 Cascade

We have been researching commercial trellis design for a while, and designed this one on our own. It looks like it would double the density for a normal row of hops - rather than one row of plants directly under the wire, it has two rows, 2 ft from center of the poles/main wire)



This shows one "section" of a row (not to scale). Each row would probably have 3-4 of these sections. We would add guy lines, etc, obviously.

I have seen designs with a "V" shape, and this is basically an inverted V. Are there problems with this design that I am not thinking about?

We hope to set the trellis sometime this week, and plant the rhizomes shortly thereafter.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Not new. Will work.

100's more on Google image search.

Only issue is with bringing the plants down for harvesting. Did not see where you have considered this.

 

[HoBros]

Thank you. Is there an issue with doing this commercially, or in rows that are 80-100ft in length?

For harvesting, we would probably just run a tractor with a loader on each side of the row, and use a long-handled sickle to cut the bines down.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Thank you. Is there an issue with doing this commercially, or in rows that are 80-100ft in length?

For harvesting, we would probably just run a tractor with a loader on each side of the row, and use a long-handled sickle to cut the bines down.

I can not help with commercial scale. I've only hobby grown. GVH_dan is the resident commercial hop grower, if I recall correctly.

 

[brian4508]

Will the hops grow? Yes.

Will the be easy to harvest? No, they will be a tangled mess at the top (which is where most of your mass will be and most of your hops)

With this tangled mess, it will not allow enough airflow = Better chance of mildew. Also, spraying for insects will be almost impossible

 

[GVH_Dan]

Two biggest issues that jump to mind:

1.) weight. Figure 30 lbs per plant with an inertial load much larger, though this design may not swing back and forth as much as most. Trust me, getting full grown plants off the ground after dozens of poles snapped in a giant windstorm sucks.

2.) harvest (as mentioned). Yeah, you could just run a sickle along but some of these will get up there and really wrap themselves around the top. Plus the two bines are going to tangle themselves together starting 3 to 5 feet below that top wire. So when you cut them down there may still be a fair amount of plant matter and cones left at the top. Additionally, you have to separate the two bines, at least if you are using a Wolf. You can't feed them both through at the same time. You also can't feed one and let the other drag through behind because the bine will be backwards and may gum up the machine.

By the way, how tall is this? I could probably do the math but my brain hurts today.

 

[HoBros]

Two biggest issues that jump to mind:

1.) weight. Figure 30 lbs per plant with an inertial load much larger, though this design may not swing back and forth as much as most. Trust me, getting full grown plants off the ground after dozens of poles snapped in a giant windstorm sucks.

2.) harvest (as mentioned). Yeah, you could just run a sickle along but some of these will get up there and really wrap themselves around the top. Plus the two bines are going to tangle themselves together starting 3 to 5 feet below that top wire. So when you cut them down there may still be a fair amount of plant matter and cones left at the top. Additionally, you have to separate the two bines, at least if you are using a Wolf. You can't feed them both through at the same time. You also can't feed one and let the other drag through behind because the bine will be backwards and may gum up the machine.

By the way, how tall is this? I could probably do the math but my brain hurts today.

Great points. Thank you! That explains why I haven't seen this setup commercially.

We plan to go with 13 Ft above ground (4 ft of each pole buried), since we live in the Dakotas (High Wind) and based on U of MN's research that a lower trellis height doesn't affect yield as much as initially thought.

So, probably best to stick with the 3.5ft (42") spacing between plants, grown vertically, directly under line, and move pole spacing out to 42 or 46 ft, then double the total # of rows?

Are there other ideas on increasing density per acre without the problem with tangling and mildew, etc?

 

[mthorn2]

Being able to mow between hills is a necessity. You wouldn't be able to access the weeds if buried under an umbrella of hops

 

[TeeJo]

There is a lot to be said for stealing the ideas that have been proven to work in the long term. More so, if you ever consider what a PITA that it will be to re-do the yard to solve any problems you may have created for yourself by trying to do it differently.

I am using ~15 foot poles, one per crown, for my hops right now. But I have only 8 crowns set up this way, with little or no odds of growing larger in this location.

Were I headed in a commercial direction, I would be looking to keep the individual bines as separated as I could so I could get them down individually and be able to feed them through a harvester with the least issues. You may not be considering a harvester yet, but my nickel says that you will be MOST pleased with yourself the day comes that you need to call someone to bring a portable rig in, and you are able to, without a bunch of extra misery of trying to sort out the nest of tangled tops.

Same goes for the density thing. There have been a few hundred years of experience in arriving at the densities suggested for commercial growing. I think doubling them up will get you misery and headaches. Maybe not in the first year or so, but when the plants get a solid start, and get really growing, they will make a choked mess that will make your life miserable and picking a pain, as well as making such problems as mildew, a threat.

In short, I am suggesting sticking to what has been proven to work well, and stick to, as much as possible, best practices.

It all goes out the window when you are growing a few plants for fun, but if you are investing a bunch of time and money, it does not pay to try to do things differently.

YMMV.

TeeJo

 

[HoBros]

Being able to mow between hills is a necessity. You wouldn't be able to access the weeds if buried under an umbrella of hops

Another great point. Any success with, or comments on, using weed barrier / tree fabric to keep weeds from growing in the row?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Another great point. Any success with, or comments on, using weed barrier / tree fabric to keep weeds from growing in the row?

I have read that it is common/practical to plant low growing nitrogen fixing companion plants, like clover, between plants in the rows.

Food for thought.