Stringing to start soon

Matthew took delivery this week of the drums (or coils) of coconut coir, which can mean only one thing….stringing the hop garden is set to start soon. 

The coconut coir comes all the way from Sri Lanka, but it is the best material with which to string the garden.  The coir is sturdy enough to help support the weight of the hops, but dries out in the open air under the sun, to be brittle enough to break when we’re ready to harvest.

With 8 drums in a ballot, and 34 ballots, that’s a lot of coconut coir!  Each plant needs 4 strings from the ground to the tensioned wire-work 16 foot in the air, then there's the distance between each plant.  With 6,500 hop plants to string, Matthew will be using over about 100 miles of coconut coir in total.

Last year, Matthew was stringing in the snow, so let’s hope for more clement weather this year for his sake!

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