Drip Irrigation for Hops

[tknice]

Put up a DIY drip irrigation system for my hops that seems to be working great so far. Best part is it only cost around $20!

Well, I already had the bucket so that would have added another $10.

Here's the whole writeup:
http://www.brewgeeks.com/drip-irrigation.html

 

[tojo]

Nice. How often do you fill and how much?

 

[tknice]

That is the question isn't it... lol

I'm new at this so it's going to take some trial and error (hopefully less error). I heard a great podcast a while back that talked about all of this stuff. It was one of the sunday sessions from 2006 and it had Vinnie Cilurzo talking about hops.

Obviously it depends on climate (hot or mild etc.), but I think he said you want to drip around 1-2 gallons per day. The soil should stay moist with definitely no pooled water.

 

[tojo]

I'm just getting my garden together and will definitely take this into thought of my design.

 

[SteveMillerTime]

Time to dig up an old thread! I noticed on your site it hasn't been updated (like you said it would! ) - was just curious, how'd the drip system work for you and what would/did you change?

 

[Toymaker]

I'll bite on this old thread bump...I use drip irrigation for my garden and hops. It works great. I use Home Depot drip irrigation parts (spikes and tubing). I also collect rainwater off the roof of my garage in 8) 55 gallon plastic drums. That is enough water to go without rain for about a month. Drip irrigation is very efficient, especially when the plants are mulched well. They key to getting a drip system working well is pressure. If you are using household water pressure it's no problem. If you are using a gravity feed system you need to have the water raised a bit to get the pressure needed to supply enough pressure for the drip heads to work properly. The water needs to be about 4' higher than the plants.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

I just started using drip tape off of a 250 gal tank I fill from my pond. I use 1 gph tape and it works great. Drip depot has the best prices. Use a mesh filter from the tank also so the holes on the tape do not clog, around $10 and are cleanable by unscrewing a cap and they self flush!

 

[SteveMillerTime]

I'm definitely gonna try this for my hop garden this year