In trials it was found that a head of dense growth at the top of the wirework was inhibiting full yield potential and making harvesting difficult. If height ad been increased beyond this, many of the benefits associated with dwarfs would have begun to disappear. O riginally there was to be little change in the stringing process. Coir yarn was used in early field tests and found to be strong enough to last 2 or 3 seasons. In 1992 results of field tests howed that hop bines grew well on livestock fencing, however a lack of flexibility made mobile harvesting difficult.
Tests continue in an attempt to find the est alternative to coir string.
Some farmers are experimenting with plastic netting. The unknown factors associated with this technique surround its ability to stand up to the wind and how long the plastic netting will last. This is twice the normal planting density used in England for the conventional varieties which increases the cost of planting by necessitating twice the number of hop setts. The picking machine which has been developed to harvest dwarf hops combes upwards on both sides of the hop hedge, with picker units detaching the cones from the bine. The bines that are left behind fenece enabling nutrients to be naturally recycled into the soil.