originally dated August 29, 2020
The next step in our construction was irrigation. And it could not be completed fast enough. For several weeks, when it was just the four rows of Chinooks (264 plants), we used 5 gal pails and red solo cups. One person would drive the tractor with full pails in the bucket, and the others would gently pour a cup of water carefully around the plant.
As we planted more plants we had to come up with another temporary way to water. We got a 1000L tote and a hose and carefully watered our 1000 plants.
Hops are thirsty plants. They love a lot to drink but they do not like to have “wet feet” and water on the leaves can lead to big problems. The professional standard for hops is drip irrigation. This keeps these picky plants dry while supplying enough water to keep them happy.
We decided to suspend our supply line a foot above the plants. This required high tensile wire to be secured to the poles. So we loaded up a spool of wire on the tractor and Matt anchored it while I drove away.
Once the wire was up we suspended the supply line.
Then emitters were punched into the supply line above each plant. These emitters will regulate the flow of water to 1 gallon per hour for each plant.
Then each emitter had drip line attached.
And that was the easy part.
Logan spent countless hour connecting the whole system. He created a system with 3 different section coming off the main pump and the pump is attached to our large cistern. This photo is of Logan waiting and hoping that it will work this time.
After much trial and error, and many trips to the hardware store it all came together. The water from the tote, into the cistern, through the pump, down the supply line, and to the plant. Our backs were saved and the plants were watered with the flick of a switch…ish.