When spring growth begins, each bine has to be trained so that it grows up the support strings. Training is a time consuming process, with five or even six training passes having to be made. A large number of semiskilled workers are necessary during training. A lot of land in traditional hop gardens remains unproductive because of the area taken up by supporting structure. The room required by the huge support dictates where a hop garden can be planted.
Costs associated with traditional hop garden construction are very high.
Maintenance of these yards is very expensive and it requires skill to realign and tension the wire every season. The traditional hop garden support structure is permanent. Once it has been constructed, it is expected to last at least 15 years. There is little chance of the land underneath the supporting structure being used for growing anything else in addition to the hops. Sourcing this workforce is becoming increasingly difficult in the light of modern legislation controlling working conditions.