SkyHighBrew88
Well-Known Member
Because my job requires me to be gone many times throughout the month, I definitely worry during the hot days if my hops are getting enough water. I came home from being gone for 4 days this week and was a little worried to see that one of my biggest Centennial plants had brittle/crispy leaves and thought maybe I should set up a system where I could guarantee that they would be watered appropriately.
Below I've detailed how to install and use drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is pretty sweet since you can simply meter the correct amount of water to each hop plant and set it to water at regular intervals. It also prevents waste and excess water usage because it simply waters at the point of your choosing, thus preventing you from hydrating weeds you may not want watered.
So today I bought some components and a kit that allows them to be watered at preset increments and I thought after all the information I had received on this forum, the least I could do would be to show how simple this was to setup.
The first thing I wanted to do was use my existing water faucet and split it into two outlets. These Y-type outlets can be bought at pretty much any place that has a garden center.
Next I bought a single-port digital timer ($25) that allows water to be basically turned on and off at specific times at specific increments. For example, you can have it set to water every 1, 2, 3, up to 6 days at an approximate time of the day (I set 6:00am) and for specific lengths of time in minutes.
NOTE: If you have multiple gardens with different water irrigation systems you can buy timers with 1, 2, or 3 outlets as well. This timer also has a feature if you want to delay watering because of expected rain. The rain delay feature can delay watering for 24, 48, or 72 hours depending on your needs.
Next is the drip irrigation system itself. I found a kit at Menards for $30 (Rain Bird is the brand) and FYI the components inside the kit cost more to buy separately than to just to go ahead and get the kit.
Inside the box you'll find a pressure regulator, backflow preventer, and a hose adapter. All 3 of these components screw into each other forming one solid piece (shown below). The pressure regulator is probably one of the most important pieces. If you decided not to use the pressure regulator included, you'd probably overload the emitters and not have the correct pressure or rate to each of your drip points. The hose adapter on the far right of the picture is where the garden hose turns into a 1/2" irrigation tubing (all shown below).
Feel free at this point to run the 1/2" tubing down the length of your hop garden and use the included metal stakes to secure it down. At the end is a simple two-holed piece that simply kinks the end of the tubing and stops the flow of water. Once secure, you use a simple tool to insert emitters into the 1/2" tubing and from those emitters run 1/4" tubing to each of your plants. The beauty of this is that each emitter runs at 1 gal/hr (unless you buy an 2 gal/hr emitter which I have also seen). Included in the kit also is a special end piece and mini stake for where your 1/4" tubing meets the plant, this is used position/hold the water outlet and the end piece. The end piece is a simple outlet added to the 1/4" tubing that is designed just to prevent bugs from plugging up the tubing.
1 GPH Emitter
Emitter addition tool
End of 1/2" tubing, simple hose kink piece
Installed End Piece
Emitter=> 1/4" tubing => bug preventing cap & stake
After test running the timer and evaluating each of the emitters to see if they were providing even watering I'm impressed. The 1/2" tubing seems to hold the pressure and the emitters seem to be releasing equal amounts of water.
NOTE:
**I also have found a powerpoint presentation created at what appears to be Michigan State University. It says that for 1st year hop plants at CSU (Colorado State Uni.) they are using 1 emitter @ 1gal/hr per plant for 3 hours twice per week during the hottest part of the summer. I'm going to go ahead and assume that these plants are mid-summer mature 10ft bines, since mine are so small, I've cut that quite a bit for now.
**For second year growers, CSU has 2 emitters per plant irrigated during the hottest portion of the summer at 3-4 hrs twice per week. That equates to 16 gallons/plant/week.
Growing Sustainable Hops PDF (Details Watering Schedule Above)
Question for the experienced hop growers: Currently I have the system set to water once every 3 days at 7:00am at 30 minutes per watering (approx. 1/2 gallon per plant/watering). My plants are all first year and range from 3 inches tall to 9.5 inches tall at this point. I'm going to start with this amount and as they get older and larger, probably bump the time up from 30 minutes to 60 minutes or more gradually as needed. Any experienced growers care to share any thoughts on this watering schedule? Seem reasonable or too little?
DISCLAIMER: I'm providing this information solely because I had no f$%&ing idea what drip irrigation was (before researching) or how to use or install it (neither did the guy at the home/garden store). I found this really easy to do and feel that it is a successful and worthwhile installation. I had a rough time finding a whole lot of information on HBT about installing this type of irrigation system so I thought it'd be great to put it out there since it was relatively inexpensive ($50ish). If you have additional information about this or have experience using drip irrigation, well here is the thread to start discussing it!
Below I've detailed how to install and use drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is pretty sweet since you can simply meter the correct amount of water to each hop plant and set it to water at regular intervals. It also prevents waste and excess water usage because it simply waters at the point of your choosing, thus preventing you from hydrating weeds you may not want watered.
So today I bought some components and a kit that allows them to be watered at preset increments and I thought after all the information I had received on this forum, the least I could do would be to show how simple this was to setup.
The first thing I wanted to do was use my existing water faucet and split it into two outlets. These Y-type outlets can be bought at pretty much any place that has a garden center.
Next I bought a single-port digital timer ($25) that allows water to be basically turned on and off at specific times at specific increments. For example, you can have it set to water every 1, 2, 3, up to 6 days at an approximate time of the day (I set 6:00am) and for specific lengths of time in minutes.
NOTE: If you have multiple gardens with different water irrigation systems you can buy timers with 1, 2, or 3 outlets as well. This timer also has a feature if you want to delay watering because of expected rain. The rain delay feature can delay watering for 24, 48, or 72 hours depending on your needs.
Next is the drip irrigation system itself. I found a kit at Menards for $30 (Rain Bird is the brand) and FYI the components inside the kit cost more to buy separately than to just to go ahead and get the kit.
Inside the box you'll find a pressure regulator, backflow preventer, and a hose adapter. All 3 of these components screw into each other forming one solid piece (shown below). The pressure regulator is probably one of the most important pieces. If you decided not to use the pressure regulator included, you'd probably overload the emitters and not have the correct pressure or rate to each of your drip points. The hose adapter on the far right of the picture is where the garden hose turns into a 1/2" irrigation tubing (all shown below).
Feel free at this point to run the 1/2" tubing down the length of your hop garden and use the included metal stakes to secure it down. At the end is a simple two-holed piece that simply kinks the end of the tubing and stops the flow of water. Once secure, you use a simple tool to insert emitters into the 1/2" tubing and from those emitters run 1/4" tubing to each of your plants. The beauty of this is that each emitter runs at 1 gal/hr (unless you buy an 2 gal/hr emitter which I have also seen). Included in the kit also is a special end piece and mini stake for where your 1/4" tubing meets the plant, this is used position/hold the water outlet and the end piece. The end piece is a simple outlet added to the 1/4" tubing that is designed just to prevent bugs from plugging up the tubing.
1 GPH Emitter
Emitter addition tool
End of 1/2" tubing, simple hose kink piece
Installed End Piece
Emitter=> 1/4" tubing => bug preventing cap & stake
After test running the timer and evaluating each of the emitters to see if they were providing even watering I'm impressed. The 1/2" tubing seems to hold the pressure and the emitters seem to be releasing equal amounts of water.
NOTE:
**I also have found a powerpoint presentation created at what appears to be Michigan State University. It says that for 1st year hop plants at CSU (Colorado State Uni.) they are using 1 emitter @ 1gal/hr per plant for 3 hours twice per week during the hottest part of the summer. I'm going to go ahead and assume that these plants are mid-summer mature 10ft bines, since mine are so small, I've cut that quite a bit for now.
**For second year growers, CSU has 2 emitters per plant irrigated during the hottest portion of the summer at 3-4 hrs twice per week. That equates to 16 gallons/plant/week.
Growing Sustainable Hops PDF (Details Watering Schedule Above)
Question for the experienced hop growers: Currently I have the system set to water once every 3 days at 7:00am at 30 minutes per watering (approx. 1/2 gallon per plant/watering). My plants are all first year and range from 3 inches tall to 9.5 inches tall at this point. I'm going to start with this amount and as they get older and larger, probably bump the time up from 30 minutes to 60 minutes or more gradually as needed. Any experienced growers care to share any thoughts on this watering schedule? Seem reasonable or too little?
DISCLAIMER: I'm providing this information solely because I had no f$%&ing idea what drip irrigation was (before researching) or how to use or install it (neither did the guy at the home/garden store). I found this really easy to do and feel that it is a successful and worthwhile installation. I had a rough time finding a whole lot of information on HBT about installing this type of irrigation system so I thought it'd be great to put it out there since it was relatively inexpensive ($50ish). If you have additional information about this or have experience using drip irrigation, well here is the thread to start discussing it!
