AGROPET® Polyester Wirework for Herefordshire Hop Gardens

Across the Herefordshire hop gardens, from the Frome and Lugg valleys to the orchards fringing the Malverns, growers still rely on tall trellis wirework to carry each bine through the season. AGROPET® high-tenacity polyester (PET) monofilament gives that structure a lighter, non-rusting alternative to galvanised steel wire.

Why galvanised steel struggles in Herefordshire hop gardens

Herefordshire's damp westerly climate is ideal for hops, but it is punishing on metal. Long spells of high humidity, wet winters and repeated summer rainfall keep permanent wirework damp for much of the year. Galvanised steel wire corrodes wherever the zinc coating is nicked during tensioning, knotting or annual stringing, and rust streaks then work into the crown and the developing cones. The plant-protection products used against downy mildew, powdery mildew and aphids add further chemical loading that steel does not shrug off.

AGROPET® does not rust. As a PET monofilament it carries no zinc coating to fail, so wet weather and spray residues do not undermine it the way they attack steel. That makes it well suited to the permanent overhead and vertical wirework a hop yard depends on year after year.

A lighter cable that is easier to string and tension

Hop trellis work is heavy going: overhead wirework is rigged at height, and every bine is trained up strings run from ground anchors to the top wire. AGROPET® has a density of just 1.36 g/cm³, roughly five times lighter than steel, so reels are easier to carry along the alleys and lines are quicker to run out and handle at the top of the trellis.

It is tensioned to around 1% elongation using turnbuckles or Gripple® tensioners, and it can be knotted by hand, which suits the seasonal cycle of stringing and clearing. With an elongation at break of about 16%, it flexes under wind gusts and the growing weight of a laden bine rather than taking a permanent set.

• Ø 2.6 mm — 300 kgf
• Ø 3 mm — 365 kgf
• Ø 4 mm — 405 kgf
• Ø 5 mm — 616 kgf

Built for the season and for the grid

AGROPET® is dielectric, so it does not conduct electricity, a genuine advantage where hop yards sit close to overhead power lines or on-farm electrical runs. It is UV-resistant and stable from −40 °C to +90 °C, with a melting point of 250 °C, so it holds its properties through frosty Herefordshire winters and warm harvest weather alike. It is supplied in white and crystal, and it is recyclable at the end of its working life.

The monofilament is made in Europe by Textil Villa de Pego in Pego, Alicante, under ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification (Bureau Veritas). You can review the full range of gauges and breaking loads on the AGROPET® product page and match the right diameter to your top wire, side wires and stringing.

Photo: Mark Stebnicki (Pexels) · Pexels License