watering hops

**ben the brewman** · 05-14-2008, 11:29 PM

i have noticed that most of us have been part of many other hobbies and thought i would share this with all of us who keep fish. i was watering my hop vines with just regular tap water then i thought about all of the aquarium water that i change every couple of weeks and thought that would be great to water them with instead of just letting it run down the drain. i have set up a gravity drain with a ball valve so i can just turn it on and get the amount of water that i want and its working great. aquarium water has a decent amount of nitrates in it as a byproduct of the fish and thats exactly what plants use for protien. i have been doing it for a week now and they are growing great.

**david_42** · 05-15-2008, 01:21 PM

I have a bunch of gerbils & they love to shred small boxes. When I clean out their cage, I put the litter on the hops and till it in. The droppings feed the hops and the shreds loosen the clay. Also helps with water retention.

**GilaMinumBeer** · 05-15-2008, 01:27 PM

Excellent resourcefulness my man. Now there some green thinking.

I have been suggesting an aquarium now for the last 2 years to SWMBO and have yet to get her to agree. I want a 55 gallon full of Betas or guppies. I just like the scale of the small fish in a large tank.

I will have to keep this in mind when I do get the tank. Has the cost of aquarium care come down any over the last several years or have the available products gotten any better?

**conpewter** · 05-15-2008, 01:29 PM

Those are both good ideas, I set up a rain-barrel with a ball-valve drain on it hooked up to my drip irrigation system, still perfecting that but I think it will save a lot of water.

I also use fall-leaves and lawn clippings to mulch around my hops, keeps the weeds down, lawn looks great, and it will decompose and feed the soil.

**Melana** · 05-15-2008, 01:43 PM

I also use aquarium water to water my hops (only on the weekends)! We've been fairly dry for the last few days up here so my aquarium output has been falling short of my watering demand. One of my hop plants has been growing at a rate of about 2" a day!!!

Atl300zx · 05-15-2008, 02:23 PM

i highly fertilize my aquarium for the plants in it. 1/2 tsp Nitrates 3x a week and 1/8 tsp of CSM+B, Phosphates, and Potassium 3x a week. This is in a 55 gallon tank. I worry this might be a bit much fertilizers for a plant that produces "fruit". The plants in the tank gorw 3-5" per week (also has co2 injection).

Do you all think this will be too much for the hops?

**ben the brewman** · 05-15-2008, 03:28 PM

you should be alright with all of the fertz in the water. if your worried about it only put it on them on the weekends or twice a week or something just to see how they do. my new rhizomes are loving it and the cascade crown i bought is gowing ape s**t.

Atl300zx · 05-15-2008, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben the brewman

you should be alright with all of the fertz in the water. if your worried about it only put it on them on the weekends or twice a week or something just to see how they do. my new rhizomes are loving it and the cascade crown i bought is gowing ape s**t.

Do fertilize ur water column as well? or is it just naturally fertilized by the poo in the water? B/c my levels are about 10-12x the levels u would see in a tank fertilized soley by poo.

**Melana** · 05-15-2008, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atl300zx

Do fertilize ur water column as well? or is it just naturally fertilized by the poo in the water? B/c my levels are about 10-12x the levels u would see in a tank fertilized soley by poo.

If you're worried about the fertilizer levels in the tank why not dilute before you put the water on your hops?

**ben the brewman** · 05-16-2008, 02:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melana

If you're worried about the fertilizer levels in the tank why not dilute before you put the water on your hops?

diluting it would be a good idea to. i dont water with the water from my planted tank it only from my other tanks that i use the water from. i used water from the planted one last year for some flowers in the yard and they did great. hope this helps