Beer Forum

I use twine strung up to the roof line on my house for the hops to grow up.
Is it possible or recommended to train more than one bine up each piece of twine,
or should I just run one piece of twine for the other shoots?

thanks for the help!

Hoov

My trellis is strung in a "V" shape, so I have two strings I can train the bines of each hop to. Some of my strings have two or more bines trained to them.

I think commercial growers limit themselves to three bines per string, but that has to do with harvesting, not hop health or productivity.

So yes, more than one bine per string is fine.

Charlie

I have even left my hops untended for 2-3 years (they're planted where I grew up, and I don't live there anymore)... the new season's bines just grow up the old dead bines, probably just like they would in the wild since no one is around to cut off the old growth. I have decided to basically leave them this way, because now instead of linear stringers like I made originally, the old bines make a matrix like a chain link fence that any new bines climb easily (supported by a three rail splitrail fence). It looks like a tangled mess, but yield is high, and low maintenance.

One quick question since I'm too lazy tonight to look it up. Which way do you start the bines around the twine, clockwise or counterclockwise?

Wayne

I train 2 bines up each rope. My Cascade comes up like a bush each year. I cut it back early to stimulate root growth and then train the healthiest shoots on the rope. They always like to climb clockwise.

To echo what everyone else has said: yes, several bines per hill on one string is fine.
And they like to follow the sun, so if you're looking at them from above, that's clockwise. Wrap em counterclockwise and they'll give you the finger...and unwrap themselves.

Also be careful when first training the bines, they're rather delicate. A combination of 1st-time bine wrapping/training and a day of strong winds left me with my first two shoots having their tips snapped off. If you remember that the ends are thin and can snap off at the segmentation points you'll be fine, just be careful when training.

Actually, Clockwise north of the equator and counter clockwise south of it.