Adventures in hop growing

Hops cone

Being a homebrewer, I have a particular love for Humulus lupulus, the ‘brewers’ hop.Hops are the bittering agent in most beers and a preservative as well. The smell of a freshly picked Cascade hop that has been lightly crushed in one’s hand is devine.

A year or two after we moved into the house, I decided to give growing hops a try. The Fedco Tree catalog did, and still does, list Willamette and Cascade roots. So I ordered 3 Willamette roots. I started them in pots in the greenhouse and planted them on a trellis I built using the posts from a 10′ picket fence and rails from a standard split rail fence.
This worked okay to a certain extent but yields were never good. Maybe 4 or 5 ounces of dried hops a year. I also had issues with mildew as one side of the trellis was next to a big spruce tree which played havoc with the airflow. So, I always knew I was going to have to find a different system.

2 years ago, I stumbled upon some Cascade plants at the farmers market. Nice healthy tops on solid roots. I picked them up for cheap and grew them in large pots on the side of the barn. No real production that first season but some solid root growth. Now I really needed a new solution to the trellis issue.

Spring of ’08. Having recently joined the ranks of the un-employed I, and mutha, decided to take a long planned trip to see my sister and nephew in Portland, Oregon. Or, as we like to say, we got Oregonized. Having long enjoyed the fruits of the Willamette valley’s many vineyards, we took a Saturday afternoon ride down the valley.
Somewhere in the Silverton area, we came across a hops farm along the side of the road. Stopping to take pictures, I noted the method of trellising used. It was high poles with strong cable stretched between them. From these cables, jute line was dropped down to stakes in the ground. The hops bines are trained onto and then grow up these lines. I knew that I had to develop my own version of this method.

Hops bines in Silverton OR

Upon returning home, I soldiered on for one more season with my existing system and set myself to planning a major upgrade for 2009. We had finally cleared out the back yard and were contemplating future uses. Given its lack of shade and extremely good air circulation this seemed like the ideal space for the new trellis system.
I decided to design the system so it could be taken down and stored in the winter with little effort. The base of this system is the ground tube.

Ground tubes

This is a piece of 6″ schedule 40 PVC pipe sunk 2+ feet into the ground. This will allow for the posts to be put up and taken down at will. It also reduces the exposure to soil and moisture thus allowing for a longer span for the posts.
My first posts were 2 pieces of 4″ PVC pipe joined with a coupling & painted green. These were light weight, rot resistant and easy to put up and take down. I chose not to glue both sides of the coupling so as to allow me to break the posts down into 2 separate pieces and store easier. This decision would turn out to be a poor one. I capped the posts with PVC end caps through which I had inserted eye bolts.
For cross cabling, I choose to use vinyl coated 1/4 cable from my local hardware store. I had hoped using this cable would eliminate rust and allow it to last longer. This would prove to be another poor choice. The final piece of the system was the jute drop lines for the bines to climb. Notably missing from this first system are guy wires for the posts. Poor choice number 3.  Once the system was built. I moved the Willamette’s from the old bed and planted the Cascade.

Hops Yard Version 1.0

Hops Yard Version 1.0

The first season was pretty good yield wise. Cascades produced almost a half pound of finished hops as well as providing almost a whole pound of fresh for a Fresh Hop Ale. YUM! Willamette production was sparse but this was expected as they had just been moved.

Now for the issues :

• The lack of a solid connection between the upper and lower post section allowed for too much movement leaving the posts with an odd kink visible in the version 1.0 pics above.
• The material chosen for the cross cables was inadequate for the load. Sagging was almost immediate.
• The lack of guy wires allowed too much inward movement at the top of the posts. This contributed to more sag in the cross cables.
  As Maxwell  Smart would say, “Back to the old drawing board”

The first problem to be addressed was the post situation. On a visit to my in-laws, Arthur tells me he has some ‘old tent posts’ that I might be interested in. Was I ever. These are two piece wooden posts that bolt together to form a single 20′ unit. Capped on top with a metal cover with a 1/4″ spike protruding from the cap. There was a matched pair and a single larger post with no cap or spike. I was able to locate another piece of wooden post to use a temporary partner for the longer one.
Next came the lack of guy wires. Enter my brother the tree guy. Being the only guys in town with a tree spade, they have allot of guying technology available to them. He brings me a system called Duckbill Tree Guying.

Duckbill ground anchor

The Duckbill ground anchor seen at left is hammered a couple of feet into the ground. Then the cable attached is pulled upwards rotating the head to horizontal and locking it into the ground. The attached stainless steel lanyard is the only piece protruding from the ground. The guying system of stainless cables and turnbuckles attaches to this lanyard. This creates a clean looking system that can be easily set up and taken down.

Lanyard for guy wires

Now for the cross cables. Once again, my brother has the solution. The wire we used for the guys is rated at 300lbs per foot. More that twice the strength of my previous cable. Being stainless steel, rust would not be an issue either. With a turnbuckle at one end for tensioning, this problem has been overcome.

We set up the posts for the Cascade last weekend. There are a couple of modifications to be made to the remaining ‘oddball’ posts (reinforcing the tops and installing spikes) before they are set up. They should be complete and the posts installed in the next 2 weeks. Yesterday I set the drops for the Cascades.
Here are some fresh photos of the hops yard. Please stop back by for updates on the progress.

Hops Yard Version 2.0

The 'new' posts

Top of the post with guys and cross cable

A row of Cascades

A row of Willamette