So, I’ve decided to go crazy and grow my own hops. I’ve already acquired a Galena and a Mt. Hood rhizome. All I need now are a couple of Cascades. Oh, yeah, and a trellis or two. I’ve been scouring the Internet, and have found little that I think would work for me. I saw a few mentions of using PVC pipe as the material, but I’ve yet to find any good detailed plans. So, I thought I’d throw some ideas of my own down onto paper. I was thinking of using 4in schedule 40 pipe for hopefully enough strength and secure it with larger sleeves set in buckets o’ concrete buried two feet down. Two large bolts, arranged vertically, passing through the sleeve and the vertical poles would secure the structure and hopefully give it enough rigidity. I wanted to do it that way, partly, so I could take it down easily in the winter, and also so i could upgrade the structure to wood at some point down the road. I’ll put eyebolts along the cross bar and attach the line with a lobster claw, so that I can unclasp the whole bine and bring it to the ground for harvest. I’m not sure what type of line to use yet, and so I need to do some further reading on what hops prefer to cling to. I’d read some folks use those ground screws used to chain a dog in the yard as an anchor for the lines, but I was thinking ground stakes would probably do the trick.

I don’t know, I’m sorta still in the discovery phase of this whole project. If you have had any experience, ideas or luck with hop trellises, please drop me a line. I’m stabbing this in the dark, otherwise.

As soon as I get going, I’ll be sure to post photos. The spring blizzards we’ve had this past week here in Denver have set me back a bit. More time to research, I guess.