Did I mention that I'm not really very fond of heights?
Some days, you just don't have a choice. In fact, let's make that two days, since I messed up on the first one. In this post I will start to show you how I plan to grow my hops this year. Unfortunately it'll take all year to see if it works, but I'll show you the start of the set up and the recent work I've done.
DAY ONE - ENDING UP A LITTLE SHORT
The goal was to run a heavy duty chain between two trees, about fifteen feet or so in the air. In the photo above, my two older @little-peppers are checking the distance. The chain was twenty feet long and could support 415 pounds, so I figured that it should work.
Since hops bines can grow twenty feet or more in a season, and because they can use some serious support, I thought that this set up would be good. Here you can see me climbing the first tree with the chain. For a guy who weighs about 200 pounds, I can still get around pretty good.
The chain itself was not only heavy-duty but also heavy. I figured it would handle the job well and be built to last. There was one minor detail that I hadn't fully taken into account, but I'll get to that shortly.
To hook the chain to the trees I planned on just looping it and attaching it to itself. Here you can see me up in the tree attempting to get that part of the job without falling out of the tree.
Hops love sunlight too, so I wanted to trim off a lot of the extra branches. Here Pinkie-Pepper has taken a photo to show how she used the clip to loop the chain through the handle of my saw so that I could pull it up into the tree to cut some branches.
She did a great job and I was able to just pull the saw safely up for my to use.
When cutting branches off of a tree that you are in, the most important thing to remember is not to cute the branch that you are standing on. Thankfully I remembered. However, when I got up into the next tree, I realized that my chain was too short! Rather than taking a photo of that too and risking a fall, I quickly climbed down and call it quits for the day.
DAY TWO - MORE CHAINS & MORE TREES
After picking up some more chain and more clips to join them together, I revised my plan slightly to include another tree. Above you can see the three trees and the points of attachment. I've also drawn yellow lines connecting the dots to represent the chains, but the chains in real life will be somewhat slack to account for growth, wind, and swaying.
The plan is to run wire from the ground up to the chain and plant the hops plants near the base of the wire. Then, as the hops bines grow, they can run up the wire to the chain, and figure things our from there if they want more. By the end of this growing season this area may just be one big wall of hops.
Here you can see me back up that first tree removing more branches. I was planning on removing the lower limbs on the trees that I was going to keep in this area anyway, so if the chain idea doesn't work, I haven't really lost too much other than the fact these branches would be helpful to climb back up and remove the chain.
This is me climbing the middle tree, which was a little easier than the first one because there are two close together. Eventually I wedged myself between the two trunks and used opposing forces to climb up. Thankfully, the chain wasn't too heavy for me.
While this may not look easy, it is still not as easy as it looks. I've climbed around a lot in life, and for the most part know my limits to a point. Since I've never been beyond my limits though, I might run into trouble one day. Basically, I could be lighter and stronger, but since I'm not I deal with what I've got.
That is me in the final tree. Thankfully, the project went well and no one had to take pictures of me falling. I really don't like being up high but I hear that falling down low from up high can be even worse. I will try not to find out first hand.
Once the job was completed for the day, I quickly returned to the ground floor where I prefer to be! I'll keep you posted on how this idea works out. As usual, I'm optimistic!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-knowing-which-branch-to-cut
Until next time…
Don’t waste your time online, invest it with steemit.com
FOR MORE PAPA-PEPPER CONTENT, CHECK ME OUT ON SOLA
Very completed safety belt @papa-pepper, you done your work with safety first, but I do not know How My friend @my451r done his work in Climbing this coconut palm
I think we made same post tonight but in differences sense :D
Greeting from Aceh-Indonesia
Interesting! I've never tried climbing one of those!
You must try it @papa-pepper :)
One day I hope to!
Hope dream come true @papa-pepper, Actually I do not know if in your area had been some coconut palm, is there @papa-pepper? :)
Very good adventure
Good post Mr. @papa-pepper
I upvote and resteem
15 feet is always a little higher than it seems. ;)
Those plants are going to be YUGE!
We will see! It looker looking back down too!
Sometimes The Wrong Person Teach Us The Right Lessons In Life.
The Good Life Is One Inspired By Love And Guided By Knowledge.
Wow. This idea is great and I hope it will work out.
Are you growing your hops for beer or food?
Since they are bitter like lemon, I have recently seen recipes with hops for "normal" foods like ice cream and bread. They are supposed to make a very potent savory spice.
I think I may need to buy some for my spice rack.
I'm not personally growing them for beer, so I'll try about everything else that I can with them.
No animal or pets today. Lol. Please just be careful. This looks so high and dangerous. But ofcourse u'r obviously a strong man. Weldone boss
The animals are coming!
Yea right. As usual #smiles
Thanks for sharing this photography
Good job friend
Are you going to be using them for brewing beer? I have no idea which other uses hops have...
Where I live, Belgium, these things just grow everywhere. I should really try using them for a small micro-brew. Would be interesting to see how the use of wild hops affect the taste and quality of the beer.
You crazy climbing those trees!
Opinions vary!
I climb huge mango trees that even boys dare not climb, am I crazy? Nope, just adventurous , spontaneous and fun
15 pies es demasiado alto, @papa-pepper cuidate mucho, saludos desde venezuela...
Hahahahaha. Glad you didn't fall Papa. Well done. I really hope it works out too. With these efforts, it has to. Little peppers always making things easier. Love them.
Yeah, those @little-peppers certainly do help out a lot!
They are blessings.
It is not the fall that hurts you but the sudden stop ;-)
Good point!
Wow, what a huge job! Cant wait to see how the hops grow and endup looking!
We will see, and I'll let you know!
Great! :D
Better you than me in the tree! I hate heights with a passion. I want to try to grow some hops but I think I will need a different solution for letting them grow skyward. There always solutions to problems...
Wow wow fantastik...
Very very good @papa-pepper
I also like homesteading
below my homesteading
hope @papa-pepper likes it
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@scoutting/homesteading-works-handed-over-by-god
you are careful in doing the activities, because this is a bit dangerous, let alone you @papa-pepper climbing wear shoes.
That's impressive! Not just the ingenuity to come up with the idea of hanging a chain, but also the actually climbing into the trees and attaching a chain. I'm thinking maybe an extension ladder might come in handy for you. Could help with the harvesting too. :)
A what?
Extension ladder. It's like the ladders that are on fire trucks, but much smaller and portable. You could carry it on your own. You can pick them up at Home Depot.
You could get a longer ladder too. The example I linked to is only a 20ft one. It is also rated for 225lbs. You said you're 200lbs, so you might look at getting a ladder that's rated for 250lbs... just to be safe.
Follow up with this post I’m interested to see how everything works out. What part of the country did you say you live in?
The Ozark Mountains.
Your adventures is what makes you who you are..
♥️ much love to @papa-pepper, keep being optimistic.
And I like this project it would be nice to see the stages of growth of the hop tree.
This is probably much more cost effective than building a hops structure from the ground up. Very creative indeed.
Using a chain is a bit expensive, isn't it? The hop farmers use wire for that, and poles that are about 20 ft high, on a open field.
Because the trees may be a problem - once they have leafs it may be too shady for the hop. But lets see how it goes...
@papa-pepper terlihat sederhana tapi ada kreasi yang sangat bagus dan unik
Going up is not bad, it is the coming down. Even the fall is not bad, it is the sudden stop at the bottom.
Perhaps I missed it, but I did not see any spring at your connections or any slack in the chain. (It May be there and I missed it). But when the wind begins to blow. The trees will not sway in unison and, if there is no slack or something to take up the variations in tension on the chain and the changing distances between trees, the chain or the securing mechanism might break. I suggest an extension spring at each anchoring point.
Engineer and missionary
Photo by century spring
When you want to retrieve the chain stand in bluerthangreens machine bucket, no worry about branches, hydraulic power to lift the weight.
Smarter not harder
You are really an adventurous man, I hope the hops turn out fine, just keep us posted would love to see how well they would do.
@papa-pepper
If you haven't purchased rhizomes yet I recommend using fully rooted crowns. Several places offer them but I've had good luck with Great Lake Hops (no shill). They've got a massive selection of unusual varieties. (like Teamaker for non brewing purposes) and I haven't had one fail yet (not bad for a sample size of 400 plants)
Also don't underestimate the weight of the fully grown bines Ive ha 3/16 aircraft cable snapped like spaghetti. you can expect those trees to bend inward if the plants are happy!
Happy Hopping!
wow incredible brother I liked what you did, I'm going to follow you I love gardening!