Drip on plants, blood on fingers... help!

OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit. My fingers aren't bleeding but they are definitely bruised, raw, and aching.

It's from pushing the tubing (1/4 inch hose) onto the nozzles and onto the emitter thingamabobs. I only did 19 plants and I have almost 100 to go.

HELP!

Is there a secret to this? Tell me, tell me now. My insurance copay went up this year!

I cut the tubing as straight as humanly possible and push, wiggle, twist, and push some more until it finally goes on. By the time the sun started to set I started chewing on the tubing to loosen it up! It helped but I do hope there's a better way!!!

Who has drip irrigation? Spill the beans! How would I ever manage to hold the little things with gloves on? What do I push against? The palm of my other hand is permanently dented.

Begging for advice,
Jen (It's a good thing I love my new courtyard!)

The trick is very simple. Hot water. Fill a coffee cup with hot water, microwave it......reheat as necessary. You won't need gloves cause it goes in slick as a whistle.

A propane torch works good too. Just touch the end of the hose for a second or two, it'll soften them up and they'll slip right on!

I don't have a drip system, but hot water does wonders for aquarium fittings!

I knw there was a trick to it! I'm testing out the theory after work... no after baseball practice... Oh, shoot. I'll test it tomorrow!

Thank you!!!!!

ROTF Why is it all these things that are supposed to make our lives so much easier, either kill us or bankrupt us to get them working?

Got something to vent about there Michelle? LOL

used both hot water and the propane torch/cigarette lighter trick. Found the cigarette lighter easier and cheaper than the propane torch due to having to turn it on an off even with a piezo starter. A five pack of bic lighters was only $7.50 at the local convenience store. If using disposable lighters that fill up the landfills is a problem, a Zippo-type refillable lighter is also reasonably priced. I had a problem keeping hot water hot close by the work area, but it actually worked better when the water was really hot than all the other methods.

Good luck TucsonJen

LOL Angie! Yes I do. I had to put a bunch of rubber coping/insulation type stuff around every single window and doors on my greenhouse. OUCH!! Then there are all the pull rope to start tools. The starting is worse than the running!

Hey Don, get yourself one of those scripto/other brand grill lighters. LOL You get a bigger flame and push button starting. :)

Jen-

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! My husband got me all the stuff to do a drip irrigation system for my birthday last month, with the biggest part of the gift being that he would install it. He got the main line laid down about half way and did maybe 4 of the little dripper attachments. His fingers were so sore he couldn't even button a shirt! I had a sinking feeling I was on my own to finish it after that, and was wondering what I was going to do. Thanks for posting this- I will break out a lighter and some hot water and get to work!!!!

Jamie

The other solution is to wait for HOT weather. The connections will be soft enough to work on easily. Of course by then those of us in HOT climates like Dallas, California, Arizona will have lost all our plants to the heat and won't need a drip system. :-)

That's true- I want it done BEFORE our temperatures start to approach those found on the surface of the sun! :) I have to spend an hour hand watering everything every morning in July/August. Not just containers. In fact, containers get watered 2x a day when it's really hot out. I can soak them in the morning and they are bone dry when I get home in the afternoon. Even those in shade. So yes, that drip system needs to get installed ASAP!!!! :)

The hot water trick is by far the best but no one mentioned that you can keep it hot outside by putting it in a thermos. Jessamine

I actually did have a "tip" to add! Imagine that!

My husband ran a main line of tubing all around the house. Just our preference b/c of how my beds are all set up. That main line is broken into 2 parts and hooked up to 2 separate water faucets (we have 3). Once that was all laid out and he was ready to run water lines to individual plants, he took more tubing and did a "dry run" by cutting them to length and just butting everything up against each other- barely stick them into the various couplings, dripper "buttons," etc. After he had it all laid out, he GENTLY picked up the whole thing and brought it inside to hook together. Again, they are just barely stuck together as he is bringing them in. But he did sit on the floor and brutalize his fingers cramming it all together for the "final hook up". My point is, he had access to hot water right from the tap, he just didn't to use it. Unlike me, he doesn't like sitting outside on the ground for long periods of time so that's why he brought them in to hook it together. When he took the assembled lines back outside, the only thing he had to do was lay it all back out and hook it up in 2 or 3 places to the main line he ran at the back of the bed. I hope that makes sense and you can visualize it! I am going to do it the same way, I will just be in the kitchen at the sink when I do it.


Jamie

I worked on my drip system a bit yesterday and I used the hot water technique. It worked like a charm!

I thank you, my fingers thank you, my husband (who had to put up with me whining about it) thanks you.

About one-fifth of the way done,
Jen