OK. I am hand watering some of the new plants from the RU. (Let's not do one so late again!) I wonder if there are studies that show the effectiveness of the watered area (soaker vs hose) x the amount of water. I guess I still need some convincing!
Stephanie....don't try to send Mark to HF they are out in the warehouse. Oh well I tried.
Rats! Thanks for the head's up Sheila. Did they give you an expected date when they'd be back in stock?
Yes...they said the warehouse showed out of stock, and when they got them in it would take three weeks to receive and order!! LOL!
Sheila, I don't know if that test will work. A soaker hose restricts the waterflow, so I don't think as much water is used in 5 minutes as would be used with a hose with an open end on it, even though the faucet is turned fully on on both. Just like you can hook up a water hose with a spray nozzle on the end but even though you have the faucet fully turned on, if you set the nozzle to "mist" or "shower," not as much water will be used as would be if there was nothing on the end of the hose to restrict it.
Did any of that make sense? If it didn't, I have an excuse. Been working outside in the heat all morning. Just a few more flagstones to install - Been telling myself that for a while now. Ugh!
A soaker hose is nearly solid and slows down the flow of the water. The idea is to make the water come out very slowly and evenly and soak in, not run off. The instructions that came with our soaker hoses said to use a pressure reducer at the faucet for even better results.
You can run the soaker hose for 10 min and do more good than hand watering, but reserve the hand watering for tuff spots. Soaker hoses come in several fashions from nylon to rubber, THEY ALL straighten and become rigid with water in them, or disburse the water flo uneven-as in, less water at the end than the beginning. A way to break down the hoses into shorter lengths and multiple hoses can be done with pvc pipe and timers,- my dad uses a remote control timer on his raised bed, dunno if I have a pic...how much are you watering that you need a lot of water bananna18? Ha! a pic! he even does the raspberries in ground this way...
Hey Anna, my DH said think about when you turn on a hose that has a nozzle and restricts flow vs. a open hose.
Changing the subject.....we are due for some storms in lower central Tx tonigh looks like. Hope the rain comes but the hail can go away!!
I was in FW yesterday, miserable hot, hot, hot, whew. I left just as your storm was turning the skies dark blue, Vernon was a dust bowl, brassy sky, blowin the dust hard across the open plains. Am in Denver tonite, much cooler weather, hope you guys get another soaking.
I think we will get hard rain and maybe the dreaded hail and high winds, more elec. outages.
All I got was wind and about 3 drops of rain and a couple of pieces of hail. :/
Sorry Stephanie. I was hopefull last night, even to the point of pulling my citrus up under the shop eves in case of hail. A few drops and it was like the red sea parted and left us high and dry. One went north of us and one south.
I took a class a while back offered by TAM and reguarding mulches.. they recommended that you use what ever grows your area.. like if youre in an area with tons of pine trees like I am then use pine needle or pine bark mulch .... using a mulch made from plant material not native to your area is not a good idea.. they also said NOT to amend it into the soil, let it decompose naturally and to allow for nitrogren loss in the soil... so that means you have to add nitrogren back into soil when you fertilize
.I have soaker hoses set up in most of my bed and this is what Ive learned so far
get a water meter and use it!!! it helps to avoid things like thinking youll remember to turn it off but dont.... youll prevent things like waking up at 4 am going AKKKKKKKKKK and runing outside in your jammies to find flooding and wasted water!!!!!!!
if the ground is extremely dry run it a bit, wait, then do it again.. the water will absorb better
run it with just enough pressure to allow for a slow drip
make sure its buried with dirt or covered with mulch to keep the sun from damaging it
I use an 18 gauge wire that I buy in a roll to make my own U pins to hold the soaker in place... that way I can get my sharper curves to stay in place and it helps to hold it when laying it out
I realized that water flow can be regulated at the source...thought of a kink in the hose. Duh!..........While cleaning my garage, I found a double pack of soaker hoses. I don't know if they had degraded over time, but they both broke as I was trying to get the kinks out of them. Grrr!
They were new, but you had them a long time? Maybe that is what happened to the one I had, we had only bought it about a month before it sprung a leak. It could have been old and dry rotted; maybe it wasn't the dog.
I had one of mine get a hole in it and since it was buried I just figured something ate into it till I realized it was from running too much pressure thru the hose.. since these are not solid like regular hoses too much pressure can open areas of them cause damage to
sometimes they are a pita but when you get it figured out they do save time and money....
The first hose tore while water was running through it, so I tried to unravel the other before I attached it, but it snapped. I think it was probably old and stiff (like me)Are the ones from HarbourFreight made sturdier?
I didn't get to look at them, their warehouse is out of stock on them. But they look like the one I got at WM for $14. It is a flat poly coated product, very lightweight and flexible unlike the old type hoses.
Which reminds me.....I left it on...time to turn it off....bye!
Timers are probably a good accessory!
I usually have my phone with me and set it, and didn't have it early this morning. CRS by the time I get back to the house!
CRS?
Can't Remember S**t (or stuff)
Just read through this thread. Great info. We just put soaker hoses in the veggie beds and my DH buried the pvc pipe from the faucet to the gardens. We had turned off the sprinkler stations back there since I learned overhead sprinkling is a no-no! We have them on a dual timer, since I don't want to water the tomatoes as much as the cucs and eggplant. IIt comes on around 4am. After reading this, I think I need to watch it a while to make sure nothing has broken and that it is putting out water at the right rate.
And since this thread was about mulch (!), I use cypress mulch or whatever is cheapest from Lowe's for the veggie gardens but switched to pine bark mulch and nuggets on top for all flower beds. We just like the way it looks :)
Hmm, I sent a couple more pics. I wonder where they went??!
Good for your DH, they can be so helpful.
Thanks Step! LOL! Yep, CRS is my current disease.
I have NEVER seen soaker hoses with a long life, nature of the job and the materials, think its why they are trying new materials on them. I know that dry rot gets into them very easily, the long wait tween winter to spring, etc, and the summer heat can turn anything brittle and well cooked. Even milk jugs only last a season before they get so brittle they crumble, good luck guys
those soaker hoses are popular. Out of stock at Wally and didn't see any good kind at Lowes. Now I realized I've asked what CRS is before. Oh...my poor brain
Don't feel bad, texting shortcuts leaves a LOT out of communication clarity, lol, I won't remember when I go to nex page!
Crs is also refered to as CRAFT syndrome and in each the r stands for remember
