Ditching My Soaker Hoses....Going Back To Sprinklers!!!!!!!!

Crispy toes are found as breakfast food with bean burritos and hot dogs in the hot deli fried food gas/diesel stops, Houston has meat pies and boudain balls along with the eggrolls and fried chicken tenders, my gut is grumbling remembering the things I've asked it to eat, chuckl, shudder, fried food. If the land where you lived was softer you would be sittin in deeper water, I love the Evergreens there, but always considered Seattle area to be Washington DC with rain, and hills, but you are flatter north of the Seattle area. If you came from Jersey it was definitely a major shock being dropped there, but so much more sweeter...

>> Houston has meat pies

So does Australia! Yumm! I would go back there just for the meat pies!

>> always considered Seattle area to be Washington DC with rain,

!!! Buncha nice-guy wusses. Where else would they call a 75-degree day "hot"?

I think of DC as laden with lawyers, hence predatory land-sharks. But I've neevr lived there, just visted.

I hate DC, I always want to slap folks when my knee isn't buckling from the bumper driving, NJ where I drive the cops do more screaming and yelling and fist shaking than anyone else, I DO laugh when San Francisco says it's raining hard and all I see is a little mizzlin rain, but I've run snow and ice and it's short sleeved weather- til you hit those areas where our Norwegians, Swedes and Russians settled- -4* is nice sleeping weather, but don't wash your truck or you'll lock yourself in- or out- of the place, hehehe, thunder showers in the fall(not spring) which is lightning and thunder in a snowfall for those folks who think Santa comes in a flat bottom boat, sigh, it's way too hot in Atlanta tonite

LOL!

>> I DO laugh when San Francisco says it's raining hard and all I see is a little mizzlin rain,

I visited san Diego once, and there was something between a mist and a light drizzle. Parents put their kids in to big plastic bags, and one store clerk annouced that HE was going to run accross the STREET in the RAIN and would get things for people (since he was such a Manly Man.)

I thoguht they were like the cast in a bad science fiction movie where radioactive rain turned people into giant murdering ants if a raindrop touched their skin.


>> NJ where I drive the cops do more screaming and yelling and fist shaking than anyone else

Some NJ cops are OK, but Clifton had thugs-with-guns.

My daughter chides me when I go walking in the rain. I tell her I was born and raised in England. If you didn't go out in the rain there, you'd never go outside!

>> I was born and raised in England. If you didn't go out in the rain there, you'd never go outside!

It's the same here in the PNW. We seldom have hard rain, but 8+ months per year, we seldom have a clear sky and usually have more than 5 days per week with some drizzle.

The lack of sun is more bothersome than the presence of rain!

i found a nice solution for my soaker hose dry spots. i bought an inline siphon and will occasionally remove the hoses away from the plants, connect the siphon and insert the feeder line into a gallon of strong white vinegar - this has resulted in a complete renewal of the hose itself and will refurbish it for a very long time.

Smart! Better living through Chemistry!

Hmm, if you had a pump, you could connect the hose in a circle and whizz the vinegar around under pressure with little waste.

If you had too-basic soil it would kill two birds with one stone! But I imagine bacteria would digest the vinegar almost as fast as it neutralized bases in the soil.

I never liked soaker hoses - there was always dry spots, they were ugly and hard to cover, and they eventually rotted. A few years ago I installed a DIY drip irrigation system and I just love it. It's totally customized for my needs and waters my ground level flower beds in the front yard, my hanging baskets, my planters sitting on the ground and on stands on my porch, and it runs in the back and waters some individual bushes and trees and then keeps on going and waters my raised vege beds. It's a filtered, pressurized system and all of it runs off of one faucet. I use all sorts of drippers, mini sprayers and drip tape/tubing depending on what area I'm watering. It's seriously one of the best things I've ever done for myself cause dragging the darn hose all over the yard was making me nuts and half the time I was too tired after work to do it. One of these days I'll try to remember to take pics of the different zones and different types of watering devices I use run on it.

ladysoth, I'm like you. I've installed drip irrigation in all my raised beds. Because I have beds in 2 different areas, I've installed 2 separate systems, plus another one for the earthboxes. Each has a timer. There are off/on valves for each bed in case one bed is empty or doesn't need watering. In the veggie beds, I used drip lines that have emitters every 6". In the flower beds in front of the house, I use a combination of both drip lines & individual emitters. The larger perennials get several emitters, while banks of annual flowers get drip lines.
Jo-Ann

Jo-Ann,
Please post some pics of your beds with the on-off valves. I'm installing my DripWorks system this weekend.

Two 4x8' beds sit next to each other, but the third is about 15-20 away.

Thanks!

Linda, Here's what my setup looks like. They are installed in the 1/2" line. I use The drip store for my irrigation needs. They provide great service. http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_parts/39 There is also valves for the 1/4" lines. http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_parts/50
Pic 1: Regular raised bed. In on position.
Pic 2: Raised bed along fence. In off position.
Pic 3: Close up. In off position.
Pic 4: Close up. In on position.
Pic 5: Uninstalled valve.

This message was edited Mar 22, 2013 11:35 AM

This message was edited Mar 22, 2013 11:36 AM

Jo-Ann,
Thanks for the pics! Looks like I need to order some of those on-off valves, but, the link doesn't take me to that part....

Linda, I corrected the links. The period at the end of the sentence was screwing it up.

http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_parts/39

http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_parts/50

Thanks, Jo-Ann!

Will these fit on my DripWorks T-tape system? It has 1/2" and 1/4" tubing, so it should fit, yes?

Linda

I use a Tee with one male hose thread, plus a "2-valve Y with hose threads" to splice an extra spigot onto my mainline.

Once you've laid out the mainline, each extra spigot only costs $3-$4.
For example, if you want an ON-OFF valve for some zon e, you can have that PLUS a hose spigot for about the price of the ON-OFF valve.

I cut up the cheap, long garden hose that I used to drag into three short lengths that I just leave exactly where I want them. They're always handy for spot-watering or chasing squirrels away.

Here's a little article with photos:
http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view_post/376952/

Linda, I think they would fit, but since I've never used DripWorks, I can't be sure. If regular 1/2" fitting work with your system, these should also. Check on DripWorks for the same type of shut-off valve.
Jo-Ann

This message was edited Mar 22, 2013 9:33 PM

Joann I use the Drip Store as well :) I have the on/off valves on my vege beds but no where else as my other beds are full of perennials and will always have stuff in them. Last year was the first year I used the 6 inch drip line (in the raised vege beds) - I'm not real fond of it because it's not as flexible as I'd like. I use alot of the mini sprinklers in my perennial beds and I have some of them mounted on my 4 foot fence cause I like some overhead watering on them on weekend mornings.

The Drip Store is great!

T Tape is really the way to go.

The guy I spoke with when I placed my order recommended the drip line over the drip tape for my raised beds, but I can't remember why.

The guy must have been selling drip lines.
All your pictures & things look like a lot of it will go wrong kind of stuff.
T-Tape takes only minutes to hook up & very little plumbing.
I had a round flower bed with T-Tape on it that lasted 3 years. Took about 2 hours to thoroughly water it.
All I did was start on the outside, go around, then move in about 8" & go around again & so on. Just a big spiral when done. Only one hook up to the hose.

Jo-Ann I think the drip tape is flatter and designed to run down straight rows. It also doesn't come in the 6" spacing like the micro dripline does (at least not at The Drip Store). The drip line works well for me, just looks kinda funny in my setup as I have the main line running along the top edge of a board that divides my raised bed in half, and then I have the drip line coming off from there. It kind of looks like tenacles, altho once the plants fill out they pretty much cover it up - see the pic below. Looks silly in the winter tho. But I find the drip line very useful for some of my flower pots on the ground cause I can run it right up thru the hole in the bottom of the pot, which I wouldn't be able to do with the drip tape.

CountryGardens - The guy that recommended it to me was a rep at The Drip Store and they sell every kind of drip irrigation you can think of, not just drip line. He sold me what he felt would work best for my specific needs. Not sure what you mean about my pics since I haven't posted any pics of my drip system until here in this post. In any event, my system waters much more than one bed - I have many zones to water and it all gets done at once with one twist of the faucet and I'm certain it will last longer than 3 years.

These pics were taken early last spring right after I set up the beds and ran the drip system to it.

Somebody else's pictures I was referring to.

Bernie I am with you all the way on the T tape

One thing I learned from a good friend that really works great on tomato plants, peppers, and eggplant is to put a #10 can around each plant. (That is the big one used by restaurants, the Olive Garden throws away a ton of these every day) Cut out both ends, and push them down into the soil a little around each plant. When you water, all you have to do is fill up each can and you know the roots are getting every bit of that water. It's a great way to not waste so much water too. It's also great when you want to fertilize in the middle of the season, just throw the fertilizer in the can and fill when water.

That's a GREAT tip!

I'm with pinger's Granny and Pappa, there was no money for stuff like Soaker hoses, Drip feeders or irrigation systems, to be honest, IF you have a huge garden, it would cost a fortune to set any of those up to do a proper job and the cost would out weigh any savings for growing your own, IF you have a a medium plot of growing stuff, much the same applies as there would not be enough stuff growing in a medium plot so you would still require shop veg to feed your need, IF you have a small plot, could you justify the outlay or would a nice new hosepipe be better or even buy a couple of watering cans.

I have a large plot, BUT don't use anything other than a hose pipe, reason being, I live on West coast where there is a higher rainfall than other areas, also we don't have the high temps that most of you guy's have and thirdly, I have quite a sandy soil (free draining) so I need to water in summer 2 times a day IF the temp is over 65F /69F, that's a heatwave to us, All plants don't need the same amount of water per day so it's silly to kill some off by over-watering.
By using the hose I miss out some plants and give them water every other day or longer IF required, others need watering morning then early evening, I grow Tomato'e, cucumbers and peppers ect in a large greenhouse where I set up a home made drip system only IF I am away for a weekend but on return, most of the plants are wilting or get a friend to come and water, I had my greenhouse set up with drip water/feed system a while back but to be honest it was a lot of work keeping up the water bottles that needed filling each day and by that time the hose had the job done better and again, the plants were fine.

I would say to all interested parties, can you recoup or justify the cost of your irrigation system with the type you choose, is it just laziness that you want an irrigation system for, is it because your away a lot and cant look after your plants, or is is just because you think your plants will be better off and cost + wasting water is irrelevant, then a new toy will keep you happy for a few months, remember though, these things need care, need cleaning out and pos repairs so take all that into account, personally, unless I had money to pay for all this and some more for the maintenance of this, then water bills that don't matter, then go for it, personally I'd rather buy a nice group of fruit trees or outdoor furniture or lights for my driveway and water my garden with a hose which allows me to look at all the plants as I go, perhaps pull out a few weed at the same time,

Do keep in mind, a lot of this stuff never lives up to the adverts we watch and unless a pro is fitting it then it may take months of fiddling about, BUT on the other hand, their must be many, many people who swear by there home built systems but there are no 2 types of soil the same, no 2 environments the same and no 2 gardeners the same, we just have to select what works for us and be honest when passing on our own experiences,

Take your time to think about it and maybe go see a system already set up,
happy gardening, WeeNel.

I guess, with sandy soil, you can hand-water to a good depth, quickly. In my clay, I would have to keep coming back to a spot many time, every 5-10 minutes, if I wanted to water deeper than 1-2 inches.

Even though I have a small yard, I have 10 (very small) beds. Two are just one square yard each. That took a lot of time, standing around with a hand-sprayer. What actually happened was that I very seldom watered deep enough, and the roots stayed shallow.

With dripline or even small sprayers, you can water gradually and deeply, over the whole yard, with one timer. And not expect anything to die if you go away on vacation.

I'm still in the phase where I'm enjoying fiddling to get an efficient layout, but I expect to use less water to give the plants more even, deeper watering, and free up some hours per week for gardening activities other than standing and spraying.

I wouldn't say I'm lazy, but I do work a full time job and with my commute that means I'm gone from home nearly 10 hours out of the day. Then come home, cook, do household stuff, etc. I sure don't want to spend an hour of the 4-5 hours of "me" time dragging a hose around my yard in 95+ degree weather.

The DIY drip irrigation systems are made out of sturdy pvc and they are not gonna rot or break. Maintenance is minimal - in the fall I unhook it from the faucet, run an air compressor thru it to get the water out so it doesn't freeze, and that's it. Human error can cause some problems, like if you're digging a hole and hit the line with your shovel, but really it's just a matter of being careful. For me it was well worth the minimal time and investment it took to set it up and I love that I can add onto it so easily if I create a new bed or plant a new tree.

We have a fairly complex setup for our garden, involving several zones of permanent feeder hose one of which runs under our brick garden path to the other section of garden, and then outlets for T-tapes at the beginning of each row. But I never feel that the plants are getting enough water that way. We often turn the hose on several rows at a time overnight, but the soil is still never really wet. How do you guys manage with T-tape?

You just need faith in the T tape. The water goes out a couple inches & down into the root zone, instead of just wetting the top layer of soil. It must work. Between June 1 & October 8th we had only 4" of rain, with the biggest 8 tenths of an inch. We had terrific crops watering with T-Tape. Over 2 acres watered.

I also had qualms when I ran some dripline and only saw TINY damp spots on the surface. The water goes down, and THEN spreads out. I'm also sure that the roots reach out to the wettest spots.

One person explained to me that this is a benefit. Weed seeds mostly sprout on the surface. If the surface is dry except for a spot the size of a quarter, no weeds sprout over 99.9% of the surface.

I still worry, but the plants don't seem to share my concern.

Having at least one sprayer somewhere in the zone is reassuring - you know that water is on!

Yeah, I can see that it's on, and what you're saying is reassuring. We usually bury our tape under mulch but we can see what's happening at the connections to the main trunk. Those nice overhead sprinklers look great but I've been having a lot of trouble with early blight the last couple of years. Still getting decent crops but the plants give up sooner than they used to. So I'd like to go just drip especially for the tomatoes.

>> I've been having a lot of trouble with early blight the last couple of years.

I'm lucky to get away with overhead watering. My only concern would be the Snow Peas, but they look fine until each plant is old an d giving up - THEN all the leaves get sick at once. Nary a spot until then.

Slugs are my nemesis, not mold, blight, rust or fungus.

When we lived in Washington State we put a duck run around the perimeter of our garden and the slugs never had a chance!

I've heard that! Attack ducks.

Of course then we had an Attack Raccoon, but DH dispatched it.

Those raccoons can be intimidating.

When I was at Boy Scout camp, one would raid our tents at night. Some kids tried to trap it. It was too smart for them most of the time.

Then some really dedicated kids managed to drop a steel garbage can over him. The racket woke people for miles around. I never found out if he tore his way THROUGH the can, or just managed to fling it away. He sounded like The Hulk or Wolverine.

After that we were content to let him steal our cookies.

We've managed to catch them in Havahart traps but it's hard because they're so intelligent.