North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

Mark,  I guess I'm about to experiment with hops.  My son dug some bits of a 
vine gone wild and gave me some.  The dried hops they picked off the vine 
smelled heavenly.  The info I have seen says they do better grown straight 
up for 14 to 20 ft.  This one had gotten on a power pole, maybe not a good 
idea if the company comes around and sprays it from time to time.  We've got 
bamboo, can rig up a tripod or just sink a tall one in the ground.  And no, 
I don't want to talk about bamboo.  We love it and we hate it.  It's eating 
my fruit trees, there now it's a fruit related subject.  Don't plant any 
running bamboo within 50 yards of your fruit trees if you plan on living a 
long time.  Once they get going they can run at least 8-10 ft a year.  We 
saw where someone had put up an electric fence and run donkeys between their 
bamboo and their newly planted orchard.  We could see where the roots were 
running along, all tops eaten by donkeys but there was no stopping the roots 
without digging them up.  The 20 ft underground link between bamboo clump 
and orchard was going to be complete in just another year or two.  Donna