Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

Bev,

I've grown hops for a number of years.  You get a harvest of hops no matte 
how you grow them, it's just a matter of quantity.  For years they grew on 
the 
4' fence posts along the pasture and however many branches they could manage 
to 
send up and twine around the post, you'd get that many hops.  

Wires don't work well, the heat seems to damage the vines.

The way I've gotten the most hops is to put a 3' stake right beside the vine. 
 Then about a foot or so away on either side I dig a 30" hole with the post 
hole diggers and put in a 5" or 6" pole  about 12' long (9 1/2 feet or so out 
of the ground).  Then choose two stongest vines on each side and start them 
up 
the poles.  Prune off the rest.

There seems to be no other way to harvest the ripe hops except by the 
traditional method of using a ladder.  The cones need to be harvested when 
they are 
just opening but still green.  It isn't possible to take the vine down 
without 
damaging the lot.

We've had some really horrendous wind storms in the summer but neither the 
poles nor the vines have ever come to any harm.  This season I'm moving the 
hops 
vines to a more or less permanent location and using locust poles which ought 
to last in place for a number of years.