soaker hose use

i am using a soaker hose for the first time. if i plant my veggies in rows two feet apart, can i place the hose in the middle of the rows and expect the plants to get watered properly, also do i leave the hose on top of the ground or should i bury it and how long to i keep the hose on (i have a timer that can be set for 1 2 3 hours etc). ive seen some views on this site about the soaker hose but i would like some more info. thanks

Hi Herbie,

I don't have an answer regarding your hose question, but I had to say hello to you. I had a favorite Aunt who lived in Wappingers Falls on Spring St., so I know your area. I live in Calif., but was born in Newburgh, NY and that is where all my relatives still live.

Welcome to DG,

Donna

I used a soaker hose in the veggie garden years ago. I snaked it around between the plants and let it run for about an hour every other day in the summer and once a week in cooler weather. You will need to experiment in your garden to determine how long to let it run.

I would not just lay it down the center between the rows as that would have the water going to the path and not the plants.

socal - nice to hear from you. dont know how long youve been away but houses in wapp falls hve gone thru the roof. hope you enjoy calif.

zanymuse - thanks for the advice. maybe ill dig a trench and lay the hose it it so it gets to ythe roots better

Herbie,

Depending on your soil, the water will spread from a soaker hose from about 4" to a foot. The sandier the soil the wider the flow. In either case, however, putting it in the paths won't do you much good.

You can either bury the hoses or leave them on the surface, as you prefer. When I used them I would keep them on the surface, and cover them with mulch.

Even so, there are problems with soaker hoses. They tend to clog up readily; it's difficult to control the pressure along the entire run if you have much length; and they degrade relatively quickly---like in two to three seasons.

For those reasons I went with a drip irrigation system this year. So far, I like it much better.

brook - thanks for the info. the more i read replies from flks at dg the more i think ill return the hose and maybe try something else. tks again

One thing to keep in mind before you return them, Herbie. Most other drip irrigation systems only run in straight lines. That is, unlike the soaker hoses, you can't snake them around the garden in curves and esses. So if that's important to you, maybe sticking with the soaker hoses makes sense.

You might also check with Dripworks (www.dripworksusa.com) for both insights into what, and how, to rig your system. I found them to have fair prices, good equipment, and a friendly and knowledgeable staff.

brook - thanks again for the advice. i was just looking thru a gardners supply mag. and came across a sprinkler that stands 5 ft tall and waters in a 'gentle' 30 ft circle maybe ill just set it up to a ytimer and have it go off each morning for an hour or two.

Well there's a danger to that, too, Herbie. Top watering, particularly of tomatoes and peppers, can lead to all sorts of problems with fungal and other diseases.

I'm not as obsessive about this as others I could name. After all, God waters from above. But the more you can avoid it the safer your plants will be.

What's more, sprinklers of any kind waste an incredible amount of water which both goes where you don't need it, and through evaporation.

I tend to rely mainly on a hand-held nozzle sprayer and patiently water by hand (operative word is patience :) The benefits are that I'm forced to keep close tabs on my plants (I'm standing there staring at 'em for a good length of time) and I can pluck weeds as I go. Since I'm used to doing it that way, it's not a huge inconvenience to occasionally switch over to using a watering can to drench each with a little seaweed fertilizer.

I mulch the tomatoes with straw and I don't let muddy water splash up on the foliage, and so far - knock on wood - I haven't had much problem with the soil-borne diseases that can be exacerbated by overhead watering.

I'm sure there is some evaporation, but I try to do it early on in the day to minimize the effects. One of these days I might break over to a drip irrigation system, but for now, the hand-held watering works for me.

terry - tks for ur take on this subject. i used to hand water using a hose but i was working nites then and it was simple to come home and just go into the gatrden and water - now i leave the house at 4 or 5 am and its too early to water and its much to hot when i get home at 4 pm

Another reason for not watering overhead is that it dilutes the nectar in the flowers if you are in to butterflies and hummingbirds.

I guess I'm the only one that has had good luck with soaker hoses. I've been using them for yrs (at least ten or more) and they work quite well. Some of them are many many yrs old (at least the ones I haven't run over with the lawn mower or tractor!) :>)

I've used them underground, on top of the ground, around trees, etc. I've not had them get clogged up unless something crawls down inside them. I don't think people realize they should be flushed out from time to time. That may be one reason they are open-ended...they need to be opened at the far end and let the water run thru a few minutes and clean them out.

As for consistent water pressure...that is usually regulated with a "pressure regulator" (wonder why they call it that? eh?) that you're supposed to buy separately ($3-5!). This will ensure even pressure along the whole length of water line. (By the way, you can run five 100ft lines off of one hose bibb and keep the pressure up WITH a regulator. Without a regulater you can easily run a 100ft line by just turning on your hose bibb 1/8th of a turn.)

I agree with Zany and Brook, Herbie...don't lay it in your paths, put it where your plants are. Your soil type will determine how far the water will disperse, this being clay versus sandy.

I'm also not a big "overhead" water-er. Too much waste, too much water going in areas that don't need it, too much evaporation, etc. Overhead watering would be good for a large area where you want to get either lawn grass germing quickly or, in the case of a garden area, a green manure crop/cover crop, or salad crop germinating ASAP and all at once.

As for drip emitter systems...not bad! I have several hundred feet of them. The emitters can be flipped over from one side to the other to determine the "gallons per minute" so are easily adjusted to your water supply. The piping will last a long time, can be plugged if you "make a mistake" by putting a hole in the wrong place, can be easily rolled up when not in use, and can be operated w/out a pressure regulator (altho one would certainly benefit from using one).

Many folks tend to put the drip emitters right next to the trunk of the plants tho...be careful Herbie (and others). The feeder roots of a plant are AWAY from the trunk, usually at the drip line of the plant. A drip emitter placed close to the trunk of the plant will saturate that area with water, then the water will eventually seep outwards...by the time water is available to the feeder roots the trunk area is overly saturated. This could/will encourage prime breeding area for pests, disease, and fungal disorders. Again, your soil type will be a factor in this.

A soaker hose can also do this "When not properly regulated" (quotes seemed more polite than capitols!). However, because a soaker hose disperses the water along a greater distance/length the water is not concentrated in one given area (as with a drip emitter). Also, because of it's "weeping effect" the water is more evenly dispersed and not allowed to collect in one given area.

Hope this makes sense to ya'll. All in all, it's not so much which system is better, but rather how each is used, and used in a proper way.

Makes sense to me Shoe........I use them too. Above ground only and I disperse them amongst and thru my plants, and angle them where I have to. There are still many areas that have to be watered by hand, but these hoses do a lion's share around here.

"eyes"

(Mercy...I just re-read that post of mine above. Sorry, sure had a lot to say, didn't I?)

You're right, Eyes, those hoses sure save alot of time! I love it! Couldn't do with out some type of "self watering" system.

I love my soaker hoses,I grow tropicals,I like the fact if I have to be away,DW can hook them up and let them run,I do agree they deteriate after a few seasons.

TO ALL OF YOU WHO WERE KIND ENOUGH TO GIVE ADVICE ABOUT SOAKER HOSES. I THINK ILL GIVE THEM A TRY JUST TO SEE HOW THEY DO. THANKS AGAIN.

Just a quick tip about hoses. When our city has *spring clean up* people all over town throw away leaky hoses. I go around picking them up..some I have to repair the fittings but they're cheap and easy, and I buy the end screw caps. I connect the hoses together and because I gather so many I can make they long, short or whatever, and then I snake them around my beds, flower and veggies, and use an ice pick to add more holes; some I cover with mulch, others are on top of the soil. They work wonderfully, and are free! What could be better than that?

MossRose, that is great! It sounds like how I made my water-hoses for my "orchard" area. I got some cheap garden hose, laid it out along my fruit trees, then punched a hole in it next to each tree. All I had to do was lightly turn on the spigot and it would weep water off to the side of the tree and (unlike a soaker hose) not waste water between the trees. I'm on my 4th yr with these hoses now. It works.