experienced hops growers....when did you change your water schedule???

i read some older threads a while back where a few members stated they only watered every 2-3 weeks, instead of every day like a lot of us do. for those that use a watering schedule that spans weeks, when do you begin this? is it only for mature (second or third year) plants, or suitable for plants when they reach a certain height, or what? also, what is your climate like during the summer...and how much, if any, do you compensate for very hot weather (100+)?

I poke my finger in the soil. if its dry I water.

fist year plants have no root system yet so they need water more often.

mother nature has been watering mine every day

I am not an experienced grower but my impression is that growing these puppies is not all that tough once they get started, if the location is good. They seem like to like a lot of sun and good drainage. Nature has done all my watering - but living in Pennsylvania this year means that we have not had a dry week since about March.

Fred Zep,

Where are you at I am in the east bay area and also wondering about 100+ deg heat and what to do. We just had our first 100+ day and am not sure if I should water more or what?

its been a 100+ all week here and mine just keep on going..water in morning or late eve. you dont want to water in the heat of the day.

my first year get a little drink every day. my big girls,2nd year get less watering but when I water them I give them a deep slow soak.few times a week.

it's not that hot here and i have high humidity. i have been watering my new hops everyday, but just a little at a time. they seem to be doing well

thantos said:

Fred Zep,

Where are you at I am in the east bay area and also wondering about 100+ deg heat and what to do. We just had our first 100+ day and am not sure if I should water more or what?

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I'm in winters...that's 30 miles west of Sacramento... right next door to Davis.

It has only been hot this last week... other than a week long warm spell in May. Today it was about 105F.

I've been watering once a day, or every other day. I've been doing 1 gph drippers on each plant for 1-2 hrs per day, either once in the morning, or once in the evening.

I planted at two different times this year, so I've got some plants that are 7-8 foot tall, then some that are 1-3 feet tall. Both seem happy with the current schedule.

The little guys are definitely gonna keep getting more regular water, but I have also noticed that they have some red junk on the mounds...looks like fungus, so I'm gonna let em dry out a little bit. The big guys must have a semi-developed root structure, so I'm guessing that they would benefit from deeper watering on a less regular schedule.

I live in SW Idaho. High desert climate - hot days (+100 at the hottest), cool nights (typically 60-70) - typically very little rain in the summer.

I have seven trellises in a pasture that get flood irrigated once a week.

I also have 5 plants on my dad's deck. The yard next to these plants gets water three times a week and the hops get some water there. I also have a soaker hose around these plants to geve them additional water when needed.

I watch the leaves for wilting. All these plants get more water when wilting starts to occur. Watering deeply and less often will encourage deeper root growth and more drought tolerant plants. I only water the new plants this year twice a week during March and April - then I put them on the same schedule with the mature plants.

i water mine every other day or so in the mornings. If the soil drys out then i water or if the leaves begin to wilt...so far its worked very well. Will be building a no water earthbox soon so i wont have to worry about it

Depends on temps.
I water everyday.
High 80's-5 min. every 2hrs
Low to mid 90's-10 min. every 2hrs
High 90's to +100-15 min. every 2hrs
*when cones are in production, I increase the schedule 5 min.*

I switched from 3 times a week to weekly this year. I also increased the total watering to 6 hours from 3. Next year, I'll go to once ever 3 weeks as recommended to me by a professional. Even though hops will grow a lot of shallow roots, the plants do much better with infrequent deep watering.

I've also seen very health hop plants at the edge of lawns that were watered every day.

Just side note: most of my plants are 3-4 years old, but I replaced the Sunbeam this year and the new plant is doing just fine on once a week. But, it has been a cool, cloudy summer so far. The 89F yesterday is the hottest it's been.

scinerd3000 said:

i water mine every other day or so in the mornings. If the soil drys out then i water or if the leaves begin to wilt...so far its worked very well. Will be building a no water earthbox soon so i wont have to worry about it

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dude... what is a no water earthbox? i looked up earthbox.com...what is the waterless version? and why plant hops in a box if you have open ground to plant them in?

fred_zepp said:

why plant hops in a box if you have open ground to plant them in?

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The box heats up much earlier to sprouting temps than the ground would. So your growing season is extended this way. But you can build a raised bed garden or use some other container for that too - and for less than $60 per.

-OCD

Edit: There's a guy building his own out of rubbermaid totes https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/anyone-do-earthbox-65389/index3.html#post678101- that I can get behind. $60 for the storebought seems pricey.

fred_zepp said:

dude... what is a no water earthbox? i looked up earthbox.com...what is the waterless version? and why plant hops in a box if you have open ground to plant them in?

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i didint mean no water- i meant i dont have to water it. Since all the water stays in the resevoir in the base i wont have to worry about anything other than keeping it filled.

-beerocd, i never though about that but it sounds great. Hopefully that will increase my yields also

Once the plants are established I have no need to water, but lately we've had plenty of rain. Once they have put down good roots then they can get most of what they need from the soil. I have them well mulched so they don't lose a lot of moisture that way. I keep track of my rain gauge and try to see they get about 1.5 inches each week. I use drip irrigation to supplement, but haven't use it for a month now as it has rained a lot this spring.

Well,

I'm going every 2-3 days now... for about 2 hours at a time...so I'm guess that's 4-6 hours per week...a little less than what they are getting now. When the smaller plants get somewhat bigger, maybe I'll try once a week and see how they do.

Here in Colorado the temps have come up.90 s I am watering 12 hrs on 12 hrs off.

Here in Colorado the temps have come up.90 s I am watering 12 hrs on 12 hrs off.