Pfister Pfarms - A hobby hopyard

Hello everybody,

My name is Tim, and I have an addiction. In 2011 I planted my first hops. Since then this forum has been a major source of information and inspiration, so I would like to say "Thank you" to GVH_Dan, PleasantValleyHops, HALIFAXHOPS, and everyone else that participates and supports these forums.

This thread will likely be updated quite sporadically as what spare time I have with a full time job, a pregnant wife, and two step children is being devoured by the construction of this yard. Heck, I'm tossing this onto the forum as I pound down my coffee and get ready to go back out to the field. So without further ado:

This is my fifth growing season. I had a small 20 plant project up in Green Bay, but abandoned that when I moved down to Oshkosh, WI to live with my (now) wife. Last year I grew some plants in our garden and in planters, but these were for decoration of our wedding and, obviously, I found myself staring at our 12x6 garden this spring thinking "this is not big enough." Also, our backyard is shadier than preferable, not all that large, and mostly is part of a rental property.

So I needed to find some ag land. As luck would have it, I knew of a 3/4 acre plot behind the old location of the shop I work for. This plot sits out front of an apple orchard and has been used to grow pumpkins and such in the past, but has gone unused for the last two years. So I approached the owner...

I grinned and chuckled along with the owner as I assured him that I said "hops" not "pot." I carefully explained and repeated myself that the plants are perennial and require a large trellis. This did not bother the owner and he inquired about how much area I needed. I gave him a rough estimation of how large I intended to start and informed him that I may like to extend it in the future. An agreement was made and we shook on a very fair $50 per year (Very fair on account of the fact that the plot is just outside of the city, literally 1/4 mile from my house). I did ask about signing a contract, but did not push for one (this year) as I did not want to inadvertently insult the man when I had no where else to go... That said, next year, once we grow an understanding/working relationship I will get him to sign a basic ag land rental contract, to protect my property should the land suddenly be bought by someone else (it happens).

Moving on.

My youngest step-son and I potted our rhizomes because I knew that we were behind schedule and that it was going to take a few weeks to plan and build. If there is one thing that GVH_Dan has said repeatedly, it has been to build the trellis THEN plant the hops!




So potted plants have been sitting behind the (new) shop while I built and planned the trellis, receiving light watering every other day. About 70% of them are now showing signs of life. Meanwhile, all of my second year plants are going bananas... Pressure is on to get this trellis built!

Rewinding a little bit; the trellis has been a series of concessions and set-backs. I would prefer not to hear too much criticism over my design, as I am well aware of where the weaknesses are. The cost of this "little project" has been getting away from me and SWMBO caught wind of what I was spending... Turns out, she wants to use this money to buy stuff for our unborn child... Is she crazy? It's hop season! LoL. So yes, some of these concessions were made because of money, others because of materials available, timeframes, and the fact that I have to do much of this work myself (and I don't own a tractor).



So I cut back the size from 99 plants to 66. I decided to space 3 rows of plants 10' apart. This is a little smaller than industry standard, but I don't have a tractor and didn't want to upset the land owner by going too big too soon. The plant spacing will be 3' with poles at 0, 36, and 72 feet; placing 11 plants between each pole. I will be planting 3 varieties: cascade, centennial, and chinook; 1 variety per row.

The top 18" of soil is nice and loose as it is disced (terminology?) twice per year, even though it hasn't been used. Unfortunately, I do not have time for analysis, so I intend to use some backyard practice and till in some composted manure prior to planting the rows. Drip irrigation will be used (the drums are set aside at the shop) and additional fertilizer can be added that way in the future.

The posts. Ugh. The posts. I wanted 18' trellises, but it just wasn't going to happen. Money and lack of equipment nixed that height. I settled on pressure treated 4x4x20's. These could be special ordered in for me for a reasonable $35 (minus 11% rebate) each. It took a week to get the poles in. In the mean time I paced the field, measured, and planted flags to mark post locations.



When the posts arrived, a friendly kid with a forklift managed to break one... Setting me another week behind.



Well, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep moving. I got the hardware installed on the poles and attempted to dig the postholes. To keep the hardware snug, I drilled 23/64" holes and knocked the 3/8" bolts through with a hammer...Don't ask how, but I managed to crush my thumb. Splattered it real good. Nail hasn't fallen off yet, but It rendered the rest of my work for the day one-handed.

About the hardware. It's not overkill. Concessions were made. I fear the 4x4 post will be my weakest link (Oshkosh winds are ridiculous). That said, The cable is 3mm (1/8") galvanized wire rope. The bolts are 3/8" and no, the turnbuckles are not forged.

However, I did link the top eyebolts so that they would be grounded through the guy wires in case of lightning strike.



And the through-holes on the center posts are reinforced with a bit of brass tubing to keep the wind from sawing at the lumber with the cable.



Also, each row has a hand winch mounted of the northern pole allowing me to tension and lower the top cable. Trying to harvest 66 plants from the top of a 12' ladder, sinking into the soil, 1/4 mile from anyone who could hear me shout did not seem like a good idea. I saw a lot of small scale farms using this winch trick, and thought I would give it a go. With a super saver coupon, the winches were only like $18 a piece from our favorite Chinaland tool store.

My buddy and I wasted $54 renting a two-man posthole digger. This machine was cumbersome and did not deal well with clay. After 3 holes, we were exhausted and had to quit for the evening.



My teenage step-son and I went out the following two nights with a clam-shell digger. We successfully got the other six holes dug in short order. The clam digger dealt with the clay much quicker than that damned motorized auger... If I do anything more than six post holes, I will be looking for a tractor mounted auger in the future! On account of rocks and clay, we could not quite get down to a depth of 4'. All post holes are 42" to 46" deep, another concession. This raises the lower cable (the one for rope attachment and irrigation) by a half-foot... Wishing I hadn't drilled those holes until the posts were set!



Yesterday afternoon my father joined us and we got the posts set and started on the earth anchors. Each of the end poles will be guyed out in two directions, hopefully helping fight wind stress on the 4x4s. Since the rows are only 10' apart, that means that the angles aren't all 45's, but you do what you can and hope that concessions won't bite you in the keester. This is only a "hobby" anyhow... Shhhh. I don't want to hear it. They aren't going to blow over!

Transporting the assembled poles from the shop to the yard.



Here you can see my father using the winch to bring up the top cable. My step-son has his hand on the cable in back. I've got high hopes for this rig:



First row set:



All three set:

So now that I'm done wasting an hour on HBT, I've got to get out to the yard and finish putting the earth anchors in. It's been very dry in Wisconsin lately, so I think the plants will stay in their pots for one more week. This will let me get the tilling done and possibly get the irrigation put in place.

It is supposed to rain late this evening. So I will have the boys raking the soil and spreading the white clover seed. I hate weeding, so we are going to try using a cover crop. I like the idea of extra nitrogen that the clover is supposed to provide.

Enough chatter, I need to get to work! Cheers

I am curious who is going to pay for the water needed for your plants?

Way to go Meester Pfiester....
Definitely a labor of love....good luck down there!!

Following

Way to go...

A couple of things:

I believe in WI its not child labor if you are the parent or GUARDIAN...so no problems using the boys.

Also, small hands are well suited for unraveling bines and training. Too bad you don't have some girls that spend their time knitting. They are really fast.

If it isn't, mention to the landlord to look into getting the taxes as ag for that land. It varies from municipality to municipality but in Madison a lot of the developers throw corn or soybeans in on property even downtown to pay lower taxes until they are ready to build.

Enjoy. Make sure the boys are enjoying themselves (load them up with soda when at the farm). It makes it easier justifying the time to SWMBO.

beernutz said:

I am curious who is going to pay for the water needed for your plants?

Click to expand...

That would be me. $0.27 to fill a 55 gallon drum at home. Rigging a plastic drum rigged up with a 12v pump to run off my tow hitch (dont ask why the previous owner had put a trailer brake on a minivan with a 1" receiver...) With a float valve on top I can fill the drum while I sit with the family at dinner. At least that is my current plan. Did I mention the field is a quarter mile from my house? Either way, pray for rain ;-)

very nice thanks for the look

S_M

Good luck can't wait to see how it comes along! Can't beat $50 for land!

I am exhausted and fried crispy. The little one helped me get the earth anchors in and fasten the guy wires.


We got those attached just before the wind got crazy. It was a relief to see it stand rigid, but the center posts have me concerned for when the hops are actually hanging on the trellis and the wind comes through. I think the answer is going to be to tie those three together, but that can wait for a bit.

I got the tilling done. The soil is nice and soft, should make for happy roots. I added in a 1/2 yard of manure and some 10-10-10 to get things started.



By the time I was done, the sun was setting and I was an expert at throwing rocks to the exact edge of the field. (I had LOTS to practice with). I raked the tilled rows up into nice hills and contemplated calling it a night... Nope, a quick glance at my Raindar app and we are definitely getting rain tonight. So in the relative darkness (thank you full moon!) I ran up and down the field dragging my 3' rake and then used a hand spreader to get the clover seed down.

Does this sound like a lot of work? It is. More than once I wondered if I had bitten off more than I can chew. Getting the plants in the ground seems like it should be the easy part at this point. The kids can help me with that. Good news is that there's a chance of rain each day this week so I can scratch my head at work for a day or two about getting those drums rigged up out there.

This is amazing, you've made incredible progress very fast.

I'm actually working on a similar project, 60 plants, 20 ea of Cascade, Columbus and Nugget on my fiance's family farm. I considered doing three rows, but ended up with one long row, almost 300 feet long. 3.5' plant spacing, 10 plants between posts.

The trellis isnt up yet, cable arrives today though. I'll be using 20' lengths of 4.5" scrap wheel pipe that my father in law (to-be) has hanging hanging around.

I planted 2 weeks ago, and the first 10% were up as of Sunday.

I'm excited to see your build progress, Great work!

I can already tell you are going to have a monster harvest, maybe not this year but soon. All the conditions are perfect. Good soil, full sun, drip irragation, and full sun (yup said that one twice). Just wondering if you plan to get the %AA's tested since you will have hundreds of ounces to use up?

If you need some help picking later this year - I work for hops.

Mike
Snowcreek Brewery
Lodi WI

Beerfst and SnowcreekWI, thank you for the encouragement. Beerfst, I'm afraid that I don't know what wheel pipe is, but I would love to see some posts as you get your field setup.

Tonight the sun set entirely too quickly. The teenager and I got the bottom cable installed and the ropes strung on one of the rows. It was too dark to snap a picture, but It suddenly felt much more real with those ropes draped like that. Despite the winch, I still had to climb a ladder to tie 6 of the 22 ropes, which had me rather relieved that my posts are only 16' tall, any taller and my discomfort at that height would have turned into rather well founded fear ;-)

Last night's rain was much needed, but I was frustrated to go out and see all the weeds that already started in such a short time with just a little water! I hope that the clover can overtake them I put down 5x the amount of seed that would normally be required for my little 1/10 acre. Fingers crossed.

The baby plants can stay in their planters until the weekend, but I have 17 second year plants that are going crazy. I might just have to transfer those tomorrow so that I have something to harvest for all this work! (7 of those plants do not have guaranteed spaces in the new yard as their lineage can be questioned, and as such I may just grow them as decoration either on an arbor at home, or a may-pole out at the hopyard)

The big thing I am questioning right now is irrigation. I have very limited time to make a decision here if I intend to get it up this weekend. I know that drip is favored by many, but I have some concerns. The two major concerns are:
1) emitter spacing, the tape will likely have to jog around the outside of the poles, so the spacing will be off
2) how can I attach this tape to the lower cable in a way that it wouldn't just sag or be pinched?

This leads me to believe that using something like PEX or this: https://www.dripdepot.com/product/529f78ac75eb5129974e1300?show_product=4596fd8075eb512997560000 would be a good idea for my small setup. The rigidness would allow me to simply attach it to the lower cable with cable ties and I could put my own holes in at the spacing required (ugh, more work!) My two major concerns with this are:
1) What size hole to use
2) how to make the hole. Drill bits tend to leave flashing inside that like to restrict flow outwards. I'm thinking I could heat a drill bit with a MAPP torch and melt the hole in. I dunno, frustrating. I guess I could wiggle the bit once it has punched through and leave the cap off of the end, then flush it through.

I am open to input. Thanks!

SnowcreekWI said:

Just wondering if you plan to get the %AA's tested since you will have hundreds of ounces to use up?

Click to expand...

Yes-ish. This year I may or may not. given that it's more about root development that it is about harvesting. However, I have a newspaper article somewhere in the other room that stated there was a gentleman in this state who was supposed to be doing affordable testing for hops right here in WI. I will be looking into contacting him for sure; LOCAL.

Getting the AAs will be a must, as my intent is not to use them myself. I know a few brewers in the Northeast Wisconsin area, I'm hoping to work in conjunction with one to produce a local and/or harvest(wet) ale.

Here's that article:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/money/2014/09/04/retired-evansville-chemistry-teacher-tests-hops/15100433/

He's a retired chemist/homebrewer. Here's his website:
http://midwesthopanalysis.com/

thanks for the link on hops analysis, it has been bookmarked. You also answered a few other questions I had but didn't want to be too forward. A harvest beer will reduce the drying and packaging/storage needs. I now know what a basement oast is...

I still think you will surprised with the initial harvest with the layout you have, my (7) first year cascades put out 46oz of dry cones last year, and they are almost 2ft tall, growing 4 or more inches everyday now.

I am no help on the irrigation question, I hand watered about every other day last year, while training the bines and plucking a gazillion asian bugs too - it is a eye-level horizontal trellis system.

I made a hasty decision last night and ordered 250' of 1/2" polyethylene tubing from drip depot last night, along with end caps, a punch tool, and 70 .5gph emitters. The emitters are turbulent flow style and claim to work on low PSI gravity systems. Let's hope they do. And let's hope that 1/2" is large enough to reduce the effect of lamineer flow down each row

Kids were out for dinner with grandma and SWMBO wanted romantic dinner. I didn't mind grilling steaks, but it cut into my daylight. I got the centennials dug out of my garden and transplanted to the hopyard. 11 down, 55 to go

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Rain keeps missing us, the field is getting dusty, and I can't wait to get the irrigation in. The teenager and I got the other 44 ropes tied up tonight and also placed the other two lower cables... But somehow I came up short by just 1 thimble, so Grrrr. Tension that up this weekend I suppose. Package from dripdepot.com is slated to arrive tomorrow.

I've been tying all my ropes up using clove hitches. I'm curious what others use. Occasional I see videos where they tie a knot one handed, super fast. As a boyscout, I'm curious what that knot could be!

Also, the design with a single winch and a fixed mounting point for other cable's other end works well enough, but a 12' ladder is required to tie 6/22 of the ropes. Just a heads up to anyone considering this method. If you made the far point moveable, the it would be 3 ropes at the center pole that would still require ladder access.

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I've seen a similar video with the pros stringing up the field. They had them do it slowly, and they use a clove hitch

Edit: found the video, they slow it down around 2:20

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE7wi11M9DQ[/ame]

Awesome, thanks for the vid! I didn't think to soak the ropes. I see that the wet rope makes it easier for them to whip and tie one handed. That's neat!

I stopped at the yard after work today just to check on things, snapped this pic of the neighboring apple orchard (that I'm renting the field from)

My buddy is coming down from Green Bay tomorrow to help me setup the irrigation. Pending the success of that, we will transfer the remaining plants.

The materials showed up today. I gotta say, I'm a sucker for a company that says thank-you; especially with candy! (thermaworks also does this)

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Today was a busy day, yet I wish I had more to report. All the ropes are up and tied, both top and bottom. The irrigation is in. The remaining plants still wait, pending successful testing of the irrigation. I have not completed the water transfer barrel.

My buddy Bill came down from Green Bay and put in a solid 7 hours helping me. His assistance is indispensable, and I cannot thank him enough. Together, we got the barrels rigged up with valving and filters, and built stands for them that will keep them elevated about 2 feet above the drip line. If interested in building a rig of your own, PM me for dimensions. The first one was trial and error to get it right.





Once hauled out to the field, we got the 1/2" tubing installed. After Bill's departure, I installed all of the emitters.





I had a break as I brought the teenager to his highschool dance. During the chaperon down time, I went to the shop and worked on the water transfer rig. I had to repair my HF pump, the stupid thing was returned and restocked with buggered up brushes/armature. I had exchanged the previous one for this, because someone had run that one dry and melted the veins! Ugh. Given the 5 weeks that I have owned the pump, I decided it would be easier to repair than return. So that's fixed.



I installed a 3/4"NPT bulk head on the bottom of a plastic drum. Tomorrow I will pick up the adapter to go from 3/4NPT to 3/4" garden hose and complete the build. At which point I will be able to test the irrigation.

Cheers, and remember that tomorrow is mother's day!

Finally got the irrigation sorted out. Here's a little vid I that I shot.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rc9lsuoNJQ[/ame]

Numbers were timed out on the other two barrels. It takes 4:30 to fill the blue transfer barrel. It then takes about 9:30 to transfer that into the black drums. There's a little drive time, so that puts a complete refill at about 1 hour.

Irrigation was tested, found one emitter incorrectly assembled and one I forgot to install. Corrected these problems and am pleased to confirm that all 22 per row appear to drip at the same rate. That said, I placed a 2qrt pitcher under one and left for 30 minutes. When I returned, it was clear that the pitcher had recent overflowed. This means the emitters are putting out ~1.0gph (not .5), despite being run on gravity with very little head pressure. I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing yet, but I have concerns about errosion at the point of drippage.




There's a good chance of rain tonight; knock on wood. I hope to get the other plants in the ground by midweek.

Very impressive cant wait to see thise hops climb!

It's been 16 days since I've posted last. Nothing incredible to update, but for fear of people suspecting premature failure, I thought I would pass along the transpirings of the last 2 weeks.

All the plants are in the ground and getting over the initial shock of transplant. In fact, they have really perked up in the last few days as we have got very nice rain-sun-rain-sun cycles. Most all the plants are climbing rope. Some of the stronger chinook and cascade are reaching chest height. The centennial remain a little whispy, but my experience with them is that they are not strong growers.

In fact, I had this confirmed by James of Ghorst Valley 2 weeks back. I drove up to Green Bay on a Tuesday evening, as Titletown Brewing Co. was doing a nightly beer-education thing for GB Craft beer week. James gave a great presentation and fielded questions for over 2 hours. The knowledge I gleened in that time was WELL worth the drive!

The irrigation, when not windy, has been working great. Evidence shows that the drip delivers water just to the area of the plants roots. That said, the emitters are too high. There are some erosion problems, but of greater concern is the wind. A slight breeze and it misses the target. I have purchased some 1/4" tube to drop the emitters to the base of the plants and I intend to get that installed this weekend.

The steel drums are rusting internally. I'm keeping my eyes open for plastic replacements as the rust has clogged one of my pre-filters and a handful of my emitters. It will only get worse if I continue to use the steel drums, as I intend to start adding fertilizer to the drip come June.

Weeds are growing fast. I have beat them down once with the weed eater, I need to find a cheap mover; one that I can feed rocks to. There are no signs of the clover coming up, what a waste that was. I covered the hills in Preen to keep those weeds at bay.

very nice thanks for the update

S_M

Mowing the grass makes the focal point look bigger, if you catch my drift...

So I dragged the mower out to the yard to knock back the ridiculous weeds. It might be a hopyard, but it's also my zen garden, and I want to feel like my plants are making more progress than the weeds!


That said, the plants are all looking stronger and growing daily. A handful of them are taller than me at this point.





Just gotta remind myself, on the daily, that the first year is about ROOTS. Who cares if all the neighbors think I'm nuts when my giant trellis is minimally covered in green? Well, I do... But: ROOTS. They'll take off, WI is just a little behind you warmer states. Highs in the upper 60s and lower 70s haven't really been helping.

Great progress! I'm super interested in the results come September.

There is a Lot of growing season ahead. June and July see the bulk of growth for my own plants. I'm not too far south of you in Northern IL, and it has been a super mind spring and transition into summer. No really hot days to speak of yet. Hopefully they shown up soon and last through July. If you have growth already at 5-6 feet, and is continuing to go vertical, you are still in very good shape!

Good lord! I couldn't even mow my lawn this weekend and as for growing anything, I'm more of a plant and pray kind of gal. This is impressive indeed. The irrigation setup is truly awesome as well. Nicely done.

Did a quick walk through tonight, things are looking good, you can tell that (overnight) the plants have started their growth phase. Pictured here isn't even one of the strongest plants, but it was marked with a twist tie about 27 hours ago. There are many plants that showed even more growth. About 18/66 are now head-height or better.

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Didn't have much time this week to do anything. Rain, rain, rain, then a busy weekend serving homebrew and obeying the SWMBO. I scooted over to the yard tonight for a quick walk around. Plants are looking great, got several pushing 12' at this point.



The plants are largely healthy, but I did notice a familiar pattern on two plants...



In Green Bay, it was Japanese beetles. Down here, in Oshkosh, last year, my problem was these little buggers. They eat just enough of one leaf to kill it, then move onto to another... and another... and another. They hide on the underside, so they can be tricky to find. The sunlight helps find them, then SQUISH!



Only other thing is a minor thing. This is the first year I have ever used coir rope. It seems much more likely to cause this scenario than the sisal rope I used to use. The ends of the bines get caught in a loop of the fiber and are unable to keep growing up.

The boy and I squished more caterpillars and freed some tangled bones. Cascades are definitely winning the race now, side arms are coming in. Chinook not far behind. Centennial continue to straggle. Weeds need mowing/tilling.

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tjpfeister said:

The boy and I squished more caterpillars and freed some tangled bones. Cascades are definitely winning the race now, side arms are coming in. Chinook not far behind. Centennial continue to straggle. Weeds need mowing/tilling.

Click to expand...

You should sell caterpillars juice to pay some bills from your setup. If you don't use any chemicals, you can advertise it as being bio (always higher price for bio stuff).

Squished A LOT of critters tonight, then went to Menard's and bought a load of Sevin.

The rain and windy weather had finally let up and last night I got a chance to spray last night. Picked up one of those Harbor Freight 4 gallon backpack sprayers. It did a great job applying my Sevin to all them dirty, dirty caterpillars!

Took a few shots this evening; nary a caterpillar to be seen





Hop Monster wants to hug you!



And this guy will be the first to reach the top, less than 1" away right now. There's another one that will likely hit the top wire tonight too.



Weeds are the next item to contend with, now that the caterpillars are D-E-D dead.

Were the caterpillars more present on some varieties than others ?

No, equal opportunity leaf munchers it seems

tjpfeister said:

No, equal opportunity leaf munchers it seems

Click to expand...

I found that these tiny terrors liked my chinook more than my other three. The bulk of their destruction was found on that one plant. All otgers had only one or two of them on the underside of the leaves. I lost a lot of leaves to them😣, but my foot exacted a swift and terrible revenge👹! Now all is well in the world.