Triple-H

I recently bought one of these and after testing it out in my sandy soil have gone back to the drawing board.
I have decided the stake in the ground is a flawed idea, as I have to continue to tighten the rope throughout the season I was just hammering the stake in farther, and this seems like a bad idea as it and the root mass are sharing the same space. I do not want to continue damaging the root mass just to tighten the rope.
Last night I went out and bought a 12-foot long, the width on my trellis units, pressure treated 2x4, took it home and ripped it down to 1.5" x 1.75" x 12'. The plan is to mount this to the 4x4 vertical posts about 1" off the ground. Then with the addition of these

I can attache the rope at the top of the trellis and then through the eyebolt on my bottom cross brace, and tighten the nut to make the rope taught. As the rope stretches throughout the season I can just tighten the nut. I'm planning on the 1.5" x 1.75" warping a bit but it will only be able to warp just sop much because the ends are bolted to the 4x4's and wood does not stretch much in length.

And of course, pics will come.

Last night I was going to get up on the ladder and get the new ropes strung, but holy crap, was it ever windy out. I decided nooooo way, I'll do that on a calm night.

Gilly_S2KFreak

must update subtitle... says updated 6/8...

A 2

The credit must go to Jeff https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/700...t__p__20454883

I was only upping my PPD by posting to his response

blueosprey90

I didn't know they had progeny. Do you think we should send a gift?

Triple-H

I admit, I had to go look that word up
Yes, the vine is indeed a perennial, and it's babies are more shoots
And it seems the bigger the root mass gets, the more it wants to grow, as in bigger, as in more fruit, and as in sending out more shoots
My main plant is going to be a monster this year I suspect, last year the vine at the ground in the fall was the diameter of my thumb

Triple-H

Thanks Jeff for bringing this back
My main focus this week is to get the trellises updated and all set for another growing season

NH_s2k_Guy

What do you do with the hops once they're grown?

Triple-H

Well year one there was no fruit
Year two was last year and I tried to cultivate too late so the fruit was no good
I'm learning a bit each year on exactly what one has to do
I have no real plan for the fruit at this point as I have too many hobbies to take up beer making now
Someday I hope to use the fruit to make some beer
As the vines continue to grow I continue to make more connections to local breweries, who knows what the future might bring
The key is though, to know why I planted these things in the 1st place, and they are doing these well
A- as a novelty as they are so fast growing and unusual
B- as a visual fence to separate my back yard from the neighbor

A 2

hobbies like keeping the Greater Rochester area micro-breweries and beer stores in business

Triple-H

I got some of the new stringers up last night, and the lower boards measured out, cut to length, and marked for drilling
As it will be wet tonight I'll just work on the drilling, 22-holes, for the lower braces
I can also cut the wood for 4 other smaller braces for the big monster singular pole
Since Sunday afternoon 2 of the plants have grown more than 1.5"
The shoots coming out of the ground look like purple tarantual legs