Raising the Hopyard Trellis Poles

Finally. We're ready to raise the poles. First we've got to clean out any dirt and muck that may have fallen in since digging and/or draining.

 Here I've put a board down in the hole to help catch the pole.

Up.

and

Up.

 

 

 

Cleaning Out the Pole Holes

Just when you think you're ready to install your poles it becomes the wettest Spring on record. The constant rains washed dirt back into the holes and, due to the high water table, water was standing in the holes. We need to get this water out and remove all the muck before we can drop in our poles. This is one good reason to treat the poles.... they will be in contact with moisture.

Here is a hole right after it was dug earlier in the year.

Here it is after the rains.

Here's how it's done. Get out your dirty water pump and get to work.

Once you get the water out you're halfway there. Next you need to get out the post hole shovel and dig out all the muck. This might have been the hardest work of the trellis building operation. Lifting loose wet muddy muck out of a 4 foot hole is not something you want to experience. Only about 25% of the holes had water standing in them. The higher ground was pretty good, although, they all had the muck to remove... ugh.

Prepping the Hopyard Poles: Stripping Bark and Treating

Before we can put the poles in the holes we need to strip the bark and treat them with a copper sulfate product. First we get a wagon load out to the field.

We used a hatchet and draw knife to strip the bark. This was hard work but it needed to be done. You'll be happy, happy, happy if you keep them razor sharp.

We used a cheap hand pump sprayer to coat the logs. This stuff is very smelly and you'll not want to use this sprayer for anything else once finished. Keep the nozzle clean or it will clog up quick.

Here they are treated and ready to stand up!

Loading Up The Poles

Here we're loading up the poles for transport to the hopyard. This won't be good for the yard but what can you do right?

Drilling Holes for the Hop Trellis Mainline Poles

With the field layed out and marked with flags, we we're able to drill the holes. If you're doing this sort of digging or drilling... call JULIE first. With underground directional boring these days, you can't tell if there is something down there. In some cases, it's not even supposed to be there but you won't know unless you hit it or JULIE finds it.

A Bobcat skid-steer with large diameter auger bit here. These make short work of digging holes.

Here nearly all the holes are complete. It looks like a prairie dog ranch.

That's a 4-5' deep hole. You wouldn't want to step into that.

It was a long cold day and with equipment failures we weren't able to complete all the holes; we're just fifteen short. Next we'll be relocating, cleaning the underground contact portion and coating them with a copper sulfate treatment.

Tamarack Poles

A semi truckload of tamarack poles for the hop trellis. Our friend Randy up at Wildland Hops in Wisconsin sent a few poles down to get us started.. oh my.

Yeah, it was a bigger truck than I thought it would be.

 

Now those are going to leave a mark.

Over the Winter we'll be setting those poles in a grid out in the field. The first hopyard will take up just over an acre.

Stay tuned or sign up for automatic update to see this trellis go up!