Most Efficient Way to Water?

[clsmith15]

I have a small vegetable garden, about 20 feet long and 4 feet wide. It is mulched. I have been watering by hose once a week, one inch. I'm in a drought area and was wondering if it would be more efficient to water via soaker hose.

[VALENT]

Probably, but I wouldnt think one inch a week for your garden would be using all that much water. Are you currently flooding the whole garden at once?

[wildhorse]

Water when the sun goes down .

[Callieslamb]

I was shown in our Master Gardener class that when you water by hose - a lot of water all at once - it spreads sideways in the soil. When you water slowly, it drips down deep. Since deep watering is what you want - I would do with the soaker hose. Nothing is lost to evaporation in the air WHILE you are watering either. Mulch well to retain the moisture. Tilling exposes more soil to the air to dry too. Mulching will reduce the need for tilling or weeding.

[clsmith15]

I'm using a spray nozzle so it's flooding a little but soaking in pretty quickly. No, it doesn't use a lot of water but I'm trying to cut back wherever I can. I've heard that it's better to water deep once a week rather than frequent light waterings. It wouldn't cost a whole lot to get soaker hoses for that small a garden.

[Liese]

How much organic matter is in your soil might be a consideration, if you have alot then watering 1x/week might be fine since the OM will hold the moisture, but if you don't you might want to break that up to 2x/week. Plus if you are on a well, then I would think that watering half as much but 2x/week might be easier on your capacity - this is something I have to factor with our 100' well. You are right that watering deep is good for the plants, makes them more drought resistant and you were smart to keep your garden size so manageable too.

[wy_white_wolf]

Just something to consider:

When water is sprayed though the air it simulates rain. It absorbs small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, and CO2 from the air. These all enrich your soil. The trade-off in conserving water by using soaker hoses or drip systems may end up hurting in the loss of nutrients.

[clsmith15]

The beds were made out of composted horse manure, shavings and hay so lots of organic material. I am fertilizing fairly often before the weather heats up. I am on a well.

I learned to keep the garden small after lots of experience with big intentions and not enough time to maintain it all.

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by wy_white_wolf

When water is sprayed though the air it simulates rain. It absorbs small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, and CO2 from the air. These all enrich your soil. The trade-off in conserving water by using soaker hoses or drip systems may end up hurting in the loss of nutrients.

I have never heard of such a thing and would like view a reliable report on that subject. I can not believe that soaker hoses and drip systems are less effective means of irrigation and in any way deprive plants of any nutrients.

Martin

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

"When water is sprayed though the air it simulates rain. It absorbs small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, and CO2 from the air. These all enrich your soil. The trade-off in conserving water by using soaker hoses or drip systems may end up hurting in the loss of nutrients."

The down side is that it spatters soil on the plants and causes tomatoes and their relatives to be exposed to verticulum wilt, etc

[TNHermit]

I drip irrigate on row crops. But for tomatoes and other plants I use these. 6 for 1.99 right now



you just stick a 10 oz plastic coke bottle in them and shove it in the ground. you can even use 2 liter with a little support. I suppose you could use MT Dew or pepsi if your that type

You get them here

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93182

[clsmith15]

I drip irrigate on row crops. But for tomatoes and other plants I use these. 6 for 1.99 right now



you just stick a 10 oz plastic coke bottle in them and shove it in the ground. you can even use 2 liter with a little support. I suppose you could use MT Dew or pepsi if your that type

You get them here

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ct...temnumber=93182

I was thinking of doing something like that with old milk containers (not a soda person) but I could not find the plastic spikes. Now I know where to get them.