The Drip Is In

With our solar-powered irrigation system installed in 2021, I sleep a little better during the Summer growing months, especially when I can’t physically be at the Farm. I know that x number of times per day for x number of minutes (frequency and duration depending on the chance of rain forecasted for the upcoming week) the hops are getting the water they need.

At some point, it’ll be nice to have soil sensors in the fields that determine whether or not the crops need additional irrigation or not, which furthers our determination of conserving resources as best we can. As another convenience, we’re working on a “home grown” solution (thanks YouTube!) to monitor the water level in the tank from the barn wirelessly.

At the end of last season, I uncoupled the new tank level sensor and other wiring from the panel and brought it inside for the Winter. While they’re meant to be outside all year, we had an issue at the start of the previous season with the panel starting back up (RPS replaced it under warranty for free) but it was down time and we try and avoid that as much as possible. After getting the panel reconnected and all the related sensors, it first showed “Tank Full” which wasn’t possible. I panicked at first, but then figured I’d let it stay powered on and maybe it needed some time to cycle through…sure enough, it did after about 15 minutes and the pump started cranking away.

I let the filter backflush out first (we have high levels of iron in our well water) which will be a weekly chore, thankfully a quick one, each week through the Summer. After that, changed the direction of the flow, headed it to the tank, and Huzzah…we were off again on another season. It’s a 5,000 gallon tank so it takes quite awhile to fill up. I let it run for a full day before I opened things up the next day and started repressurizing the lines.

With the tank filling, time to pull the drip tape out of storage in the barn, gather up all the connectors, gauges, and prep the dripline cable that will suspend it about 4-5″ above the hop hills. Some Farms leave the drip tape right on the soil, which is fine.

For us however, as we hand weed or via weed whacker or flame weeder vs chemical herbicides, we need the drip tape suspended out of the way. About two hours later, with the cable in place, I ziptied the drip irrigation tape to it, finished up all the weeding, set the timer, and fired it up. Away we go.

My brother-in-law Bill and my sister were down from Erie for the holiday weekend and he’d offered to help with any tasks I needed an extra hand with. He kindly turned the compost pile with the IH while I was then able to work on other tasks. With pretty much all the tasks I’d hope to complete for the weekend, I was able to get some sunflowers in for Mom that I’d started as transplants a few weeks earlier. With the last of the frosts behind us, it was time for them to go in where Grandpa’s garden used to be.