I made the below post on the Fruits forum in relation to acidification of water for blueberries. I thought I would repeat it here, as it could just as easily be used as a less expensive mode of fertilizer injection, or pH + fert mix injection. The injector is attached to my hose bib by a 5 ft hose, and a 1 gallon milk jug acts as my reservoir of dilute acid (for now, a more permanent and secure 5 gal bucket is in the works). Then, and 50 ft hose and a standard shower wand is attached as my distribution device. Just be aware, that changing the settings on a sprayer, or adding a second hose will add backpressure, and change the mix. It still works, but will need adjustment to maintain the same ratio. ____________________________________________________ I spent more than my budgeted amount on plants this year, so the addition of a fancy injector for acidification of water for lowering the pH of my irrigation water as out of the question. With almost 30 blueberry bushes, and living in a very dry climate (both low humidity, and very little rain), watering via buckets or watering cans, each treated to adjust pH was also not a viable option. My solution is a venturi device to pull acidified water into a stream of water and then distributed via a hose. Here is the second attempt to build a satisfactorily working injector. The first attempt was to use a ½ inch injector bought off ebay. Unfortunately, the smallest injector I could find on ebay required a flow rate that could not be delivered through a hose and hose end sprayer. Already on order was the Mazzei 283 in the picture above. Although still ½ inch threads, the injector is much smaller, and hence, designed to operate at much lower flows. I had to cut and mend the first attempted setup in order to fit the Mazzei, as the Mazzei was about an inch shorter. Hence the coupling next to the ball valve. This setup worked, but the ball valve left lots to be desired in the way of adjustment of the pressure differential on the two sides of the injector device. The injectors function is regulated by the amount of pressure differential between the input and the output, and the resulting flow rate. By opening the bypass ball valve, and letting pressure increase on the downstream side of the injector, less injected material is pulled into the stream at the venturi. Conversely, the injection rate can be increased by closing the valve, and increasing the pressure differential. I’m using 98% sulfuric acid, significantly diluted into a jug. This mixture, of which I’ve tried several concentration rates, ranged from 12 ml to 21 ml per gallon of water. This diluted mixture is then piped to the injector, and when a portion of this is mixed with the irrigation water, the overall resulting pH coming out the hose end is adjusted. As I said, the ability to precisely adjust the pH of the resulting water was lacking. And, if I wanted to use regular water, or less acidified water for fruit trees, or other uses, I would either have to pull off the hose and rearrange things, or open the ball valve all the way, and then readjust the pH through titration, and attempt to get the ball valve in just the right position. To address the adjustability, and add an additional bypass to simplify changeover to non-adjusted water, I built the following injector setup. Here is an exploded view of most of the parts, prior to assembly. I ended up adding a 200 mesh filter, as the secondary irrigation water here can be very dirty, and the orifice in the injector is small enough that it could get clogged. The use of a gate valve provides sufficient control, even if it still is not as precise as I would like it to be. I suppose one could use a needle valve for fine adjustments, but incorporating one wouldn't be as simple. And the additional ball valve allows me to simply open it to not inject acid, or close it to use the injection capabilities. The pH in my potting mix is a little high right now, so I’m adjusting the water coming out the end of my hose sprayer to a pH of 4.5 for the time being. After a few waterings, I’ll crack the gate valve open a little bit more (or I could add less sulfuric acid to the dilute I’m injecting), and put the pH closer to 5 or 5.5. I haven’t carefully tracked the costs of this setup, and I’ve spent extra in the various tinkering and rebuilds, but I think it is reasonable to say that one can be built for less than $50, presuming you already have tools and pvc cement. $60 if not. The injector is the most expensive part, about $30. A pvc gate valve is spendy, at about $7, which I found online, although some people say they can be found at their big box hardware stores. I suppose one could use a metal one, since it doesn’t come in direct contact with the acid, but I didn’t feel like dealing with any corrosion that could be possible. The rest can be obtained at any hardware store with a decent sprinkler component selection.

easy? holy crap. any easier it would be a weed. seriously though, neighbor had some growing in his yard, we both hate the chain link fence that seperates us, so we took 2 cuttings and stuck them in the ground. our fence is like maybe 50 ft long, and the 2 plants sprawl pretty much all the way across. every summer bees love it, my dog loves it, i dont brew anymore, but i give probably 2lbs of fresh hops to a buddy every year. in fact here, i usually get two harvests. we dont fertilize it(dog does), it gets FULL Virginia BEach sun all day, theres maybe 18inches of soil(wide, between my drive way and his) theyre growing in, weeds, grass, the occasional hit of the weedeater, whatever, it keeps on spreading. and all we do is rip the dead stuff off at the end of the year and cut to the ground. hard part, i have never seen hops sold locally, maybe on the net? as far as brewing, you have to figure out what you want to brew and what kind of hops that requires. theres a ton of varieties i think.

I grew Mountain Glory again this year (2009) and it performed better and tasted better than last year (2008) even though this year was wetter and cooler. Also grew Scarlet Red again this summer and it produced more and larger fruit than Mt. Glory but did not have quite as deep a flavor. Both of those tomatoes still are average with regard to flavor. Better than anything I've bought in a store, but not as tasty as several other hybrids I've grown (Better Boy and Big Boy for sure taste better) and not nearly as deep or rich a flavor as many open pollinated favorites. Personally, I think the breeders have gone so far with certain traits to build holding and shipping qualities, while ignoring flavor for so long, that even when genetically enhancing these newer hybrids, they still have quite a ways to go before recapturing whatever flavor traits they already have let fall out of commercial hybrids. Next year I'll try Mountain Magic, but there you're dealing with a saladette or large cherry tomato and there are many hybrid cherry and a few hybrid saladettes that have superior flavor. Oh, and I did pick up a few Fabulous tomatoes earlier this year like in April or May from Paul Mayse that he grew in his hoop houses and those were very tasty after I left them to fully ripen on the counter.

Generally speaking, no. There shouldn't be much difference in gas you use either. They are required to have pretty much the same additives. Now, having said that, I'll share an experience of mine. A few years ago our '98 Durango dropped a cylinder. It had a stuck injector. I dumped a bottle of techrolene in the tank at fill up and it ran fine. Next fill up, it dropped a cylinder again so I dumped in another. Cleared up again. Next fill up, dropped the cylinder again so I ordered an injector and dumped in another bottle of cleaner. Of coarse after I purchased the new injector, never installed it, it hasn't dropped a cylinder since. Got it in my tool box just in case, but it's been years now. So, if you want to in the name of preventative maintainence, you can dump one in when you change oil, or once a year or whatever you want. If something comes up like on your daughters car, you can do what I did and see if the problem goes away. Don't be surprised if it doesn't though. There's no such thing as a mechanic in a can. If an injector is just sticking little, the additive could very well take care of it. If there's something wrong with it, it won't do anything. I was just lucky. Would have been luckier if the problem cleared up for good before I purchased the injector. jmo