We made our decision in 2014 to go with a full-height hop trellis and to try and produce as much volume as possible. The initial investment convinced us not to waste any ground space with a shorter structure and hop varieties that would prefer a height of 10 to 14 feet as opposed to a […]
Last week I was a bit frustrated. Our super cool wooden platform that we built to save money on having to rent and transport a scissor lift had failed. Our second year hops were laying on the ground and not growing vertical like they should be by this time of year. I had to make […]
So when deciding what size hop trellis you want (or should) build, one of the first questions you might ask yourself would be: Do I have a way to reach the top so that I can run cable, attach ropes, and harvest my crop? If you decide to build a small trellis, and by small […]
What does it take to build a hop trellis? That’s a great question with quite a few facets, sub questions, and answers. Let’s take this one step at a time. Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are: Q: What varieties of hops do you plan to grow? A: This will lead to […]
Planning out a full acre hop yard requires several steps before putting a single rhizome or even a single pole in the ground. Our hope was that we could install the entire hop trellis system…poles and hardware…before we planted the newly cut rhizomes. This would alleviate the extra caution and concern we experienced last year […]
The life of a hop farmer isn’t always a glamorous rock star job. More often than not, it is rough and tough gig that most people think we are crazy for doing. Rock removal is a perfect example. All of our fields have rocks the size of a coconut up to the size of a […]
Two weeks ago a forest products company in Sisters, Oregon delivered 26 freshly-cut Douglas Fir poles, each 22 feet in length. And so begins the 2015 Smith Rock Hop Farm expansion project. Over the next two months, that same company will deliver 70 additional poles and we will begin to finalize measurements and drill new […]
