Irrigating Hops in the Midwest
Great Lakes Region
Chris Lattak
Engineering, Sales and Customer
Support – SW Michigan
[email protected]
4266 Hollywood Road
St. Joseph, MI 49085
269.429.8200
800.874.2553
Why Irrigate?
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Ability to apply water when, where,
and in the amounts necessary to
satisfy the needs of the hop plant
Ability to most economically and
efficiently apply nutrients; spoon feed
More uniform, successful and rapid
plant establishment and growth
Significant yield increases of greater
than 20% vs. unirrigated. (20% is
considered a low number)
Increase of Alpha acids vs. unirrigated
! Growth @ 12 months from planting
Trickl-eez Company - Chris Lattak
www.dripmicrowizard.com
Hops irrigation results in Maine
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How long to recoup investment
How many additional acres could be irrigated with the conserved water
Using Western WA (only WA, OR and ID available), Hops, 10 acres, converting from
Gravity/Flood/Furrow irrigation to Drip, at a $0 water cost
Trickl-eez Company - Chris Lattak
www.dripmicrowizard.com
Irrigation Options
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Dripper lines suspended 14- 18 above rows offer the advantages of
easy inspection/maintenance; stay in place year-around; give a coir twine
fastening point; and avoid damage from mechanical cultivation. Possible
con: cannot cross cultivate hop yard (or cross rows to hang coir twine).
On the ground drip lines can be rolled up each season; allow clump-style
growing & cross cultivation. Possible cons: harder to inspect, no tie spot for
coir twine; prone to more mechanical damage from cultivation; greater
animal or insect damage.
Buried drip tape – not recommended. Cannot inspect, often damaged
during rhizome removal, not designed to match the longevity of a hop yard,
potential for roots to pinch off water delivery.
Overhead sprinklers. Overhead irrigation or center pivot can be used
successfully by growers who understand wet leaf diseases and time
irrigation cycles to minimize wet leaf periods. Possible cons: has to be
elevated to pole height; somewhat uneven distribution of water; (very
inefficient – 40% can be lost to wind and evaporation); cannot be used
effectively in windy weather, and is difficult to create different watering
zones. Overhead sprinklers are best used in conjunction with drip irrigation
to cool leaf temps on varieties susceptible to heat stress.
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Suspended or On Ground
In-Line Emitters or On-Line Emitters
* Italics are points that I have added
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From Great Lakes
Hops website with
italics added
On-Line Emitters
Button emitter placed where desired on blank polyethylene tubing
In-Line Drip Line
•! Advantages
–! Control Emitter placement
(keep them/water away
from posts)
–! Ability to clean individual
emitters if blocked
•! Disadvantages
On-Line Button Emitter
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–! Higher material costs per
linear foot (app. 50% more)
–! Higher installation labor
costs (app. 75% more)
–! Expand & Contract – lateral
movement of the tubing
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In-Line Emitters
Components of an Irrigation System
The emitter is welded into the tubing at regular intervals during the
manufacturing process
•! Advantages
–! Lower material cost
–! Lower labor effort/cost
–! Faster installation
•! Disadvantages
-! Cannot skip
posts to keep water away from posts
-! Cannot clean out individual emitters
(however, if one emitter is having
problems, it wont be long before
many are having problems and all of
the lines should be flushed)
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Example of a single zone irrigation system
– pump / injection station (1-2 acre typ.)
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Drip Irrigation: An Introduction - C.C. Shock Oregon State Univ. Extension EM 8782 - Revised March 2013
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USDA Soil Web Survey
Roger Rainville / Borderview Farms – Hops (located at center of aerial view)
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USDA Map Unit Description
How does water move in the soil?
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Trickl-eez Company - Chris Lattak
Why are we applying water?
Evapotranspiration (ET)
Loss of water from soil evaporation and by transpiration from the plants growing thereon
Crop Coefficients
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Water Use by Hops
30 during the Season - When? How Much?!?!
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
•! Goal = 30 in a 5 month period
•! 90% during heavy growth period
between training and flowering
(Mid May to Late July)
•! Deficit irrigation will stunt growth
and result in fewer and smaller
flowers
•! From April through August 2013,
the base Evapotranspiration (ET)
Rate in Southwest MI was
22.58. Take into account a 1.2?
(not 1.0) coefficient for hops and
that is about 27 for the 2013
season.
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How much water using drip?
We still need to take into account significant rain events (generally > .25)
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In the height of summer, a hop plant
can require 16gal/plant/week.
With 3.5
plant spacing and 14
b/n
rows, 16ga/plant/week using RAM
w/ 24
emitter spacing at .42gph =
1.85/week (run time of 21.8 hrs/wk)
for a 4
wide area running the entire
length of the row.
However, giving drip a 95%
efficiency rating, we are actually
only applying just over .08
/hr, SO...
21.8hrs/wk is actually applying app.
1.75 inches/week.
To achieve 1.85, taking into
account the 95% efficiency, divide
our run time of 21.8hrs by .95.
•! Giving us a target of
irrigating 23 hrs/wk at the
height of summer (2
/week).
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Typical Irrigation Scheduling
(year following establishment)
•! 2 to 3 days per week (every other day)
•! 1 to 2 (maybe even 3 in light soils or early in the
establishment year) times per day depending on soils
•! at the height of the season, as much as 3 1/2 hrs per day,
everyday (or 7 hours every other day)
•! An occasional deep soak (send the roots deep), but not
immediately following a nutrient application
•! In the year of establishment, shorter irrigation sets, but
more often, are more appropriate for the existing, smaller
root structure. However, we do want to encourage the
roots to delve deeper as the plant matures.
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Target area
•! A hop plants tap root can extend down 15
•! The majority of a hop plants roots are in the top
4 of soil, but will extend out well into the drive
middle (remember Mycorrhizae/root symbiosis)
•! Avoid wetting leaf area to keep mold/mildew
pressure down
•! Irrigation tubing with emitters every 24 will have
a solid wetted area the length of the row and up
to 4 wide on medium to light soils (possibly
more on heavier soil)
•! Irrigation depth (and width) depends on soil type
and the length of the irrigation set
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What else should we do with drip?
Apply Nutrients (N,C,micros) •! Water requirements
seem to shadow
Nitrogen requirements
Wisconsin
Washington
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Injecting Nutrients though our drip
•! Timing
–! Once (preferably twice) per
week.
–! Often every time we irrigate
(timers and proportional
injectors are irreplaceable)
–! In a manual system, allow
time for water to energize
the system (fill all the pipe
and tubing with water),
then inject
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Irrigation System Costs / Acre 2014
•! Greatest variable cost is the water source, power source, and pump
•! Irrigation Material only for a 1 acre system (excluding the source and
pump) – pump/injection through tubing. Using 3.5 b/n plants, 14 b/n
rows – 11 rows at 300 (3,300lf of hops/acre) w/approx. 940 plants/
acre
–! In-line emitter, on ground - $1,150 to $1,200/acre
–! On-line emitter, on ground - $1,425 to $1,475/acre
–! In-line emitter, hanging - $1,175 to $1,225/acre
–! On-line emitter, hanging - $1,475 to $1,525/acre
•! To hang the tubing, we need to add a 12-14 gauge wire 12-18
from the ground on every row – this can also be used to tie the
coir rope rather than using special ground clips every year
–! Price per additional acre for underground PVC, connectors and
tubing is approximately $450 less than the above numbers.
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System Maintenance
•! Periodic cleaning applications to the system if there are water issues
– acid (for mineral); chlorine (for algae); Line Blaster; Energized
Carbon products and Borreplex OA act as preventative plus
increase plant/soil health.
•! Filters at the pump station and/or injector site are your first line of
defense. Pressure gauges located just before and after the filter will
indicate pressure loss and when to clean the filter (if not automated).
•! Monthly flushing of tubing lines (opening up the ends of several lines
of tubing at one time to flush out material)
•! Watch for leaks in the hopyard, repairs require making a square cut
in the tubing and inserting a simple fitting.
•! Drain or blow out system at the end of the season.
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What are we doing in Michigan?
Mulching to avoid weed competition
•! Hilling on heavier ground –
remember, moist not wet
•! Hanging drip vs on the ground
vs sub-surface
•! Secret nutrient blends
(basically micro-nutrient
cocktails)
•! Carbon and soil biological
products (SumaGrow,
CarbonWorks Restore &
Balance, Solutions4Earths
BTN/NutriCor, Millers
Borreplex OA, etc)
Mechanical weed control – Weed Badger type
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Rhizomes vs. Plants
Plants preferred over rhizomes
the key (other than irrigation) to our hopyard establishment success
•! Large 4 Plug – 1 per Hill
•! Near 100% establishment
•! Uniform growth – no rhizome
variability / disease issues
•! Clean stock affects cone
size and yields
•! Plant 4(+) rhizomes per hill
•! Variable growth from plant
to plant – poor hopyard
establishment
•! Experienced significant
plant disease & virus issues
•! One 4 soil plug / hill
•! Near 100%, uniform
establishment
•! Minimal disease and
viruses (none that
we have heard of)
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•! This 10 acre hopyard
(Chinook & Cascade)
planted plugs in August
2012, photo August 2013
- 90% of a full crop
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Resources
•! Drip Irrigation: An Introduction
http://scholarsarchive.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/
handle/1957/37461/em8782.pdf
•! An Experiment on the Effectiveness of Irrigation and Cover Cropping
to Produce Sustainable Hops in Maine
http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/ProjectReport.aspx?
do=viewRept&pn=FNE11-711&y=2012&t=1
•! Hop Management in Water-Short Periods
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/em4816/em4816.pdf
•! Soil Ecology & the Soil Food Web
http://www.ecoversity.org/archives/soil_ecology.pdf
•! Sustainable Hop Production in the Great Lakes Region
http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/SirrineSustainable-Hop-Production-in-the-Great-Lakes-Region.pdf
•! http://www.gorstvalleyhops.com/pdfs/June_09.pdf
•! http://www.greatlakeshops.com/
•! http://hops.msu.edu/
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Trickl-eez Company - Chris Lattak
Trickl-eez Company - Chris Lattak
Trickl-eez Company - Chris Lattak
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