Soaker hoses

[kjmatson]

I am concocting an idea for watering our gardens which will eliminate our demand on our well water. Has anyone here used the soaker hoses you can find in Tractor Supply and if so what did you think about them? Do they work well?

[Beeman]

I've got one of those black rough surface ones that seep right thru the casing. I use it on a rain barrel with gravity feed. I had to elevate the barrel to get enough pressure and remove the plastic restrictor in the inlet fitting of the hose. It does get clogged from the mud and laying in the dirt. All I do is hook it to my regular hose and the pressure cleans it off. I think the low pressure drip irrigation would work better with the hose that you place the drip nozzles into but that's down on the to do list.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i use soaker hose for my onions , it still takes presure to make it work so i am not sure what you are thinking for water but it will need some pressure also it does seem to put out more water closer to the presurized end.

there are a number of drip irigation options out there to use less water by getting it to where it is needed and not every were it is not needed.

it definitly waters better than the sprinlker wasting much less

i bought mine at walmart i think

[chickenista]

I use the uber-cheap rough soaker/seep hoses that you can get at Dollar General and I love them. Won't garden without them. 50 ft for $7.
I do not like the sprinkler soaker hoses.. they are awful and do not work well.
For the parts that lie across the pathways I use electrical tape to wrap around so that I do not lose water onto the pathway. Works great that way. I get water only where I want and need.
For my heavy drinkers or in the heat of the drought I do supplement with bottle waterers. I have one 2 qt juice bottle or a big cat litter jug with holes drilled in the lower sides. I can control the speed of flow by screwing/unscrewing the lid. It is a great way to deliver compost/manure tea too.

[turtlehead]

You say you're trying to eliminate your demand on well water but you dont' say what your alternative water source is. We have a pond that is uphill from the garden, and there is a water line that runs from the pond to down by the house (and garden) and terminates at a frost free valve. We tried hooking up soaker hoses but they clog in no time. We tried putting a filter inline and it clogged in < 30 mins. We tried a "fan" style sprinkler and it, too clogged in no time. But what DID work was one of those sprinklers that ... dangit, I can't make the sound in print. Kind of a slower chuck-chuck-chuck-chuck going one way and then a super fast dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit coming back the other way. That's the only thing that hasn't clogged on our pond water - well, one clogged but for the most part it works pretty darn well.

Yeah, you lose some to evaporation, and you get water on the leaves of the plants which isn't the best... but it's better than not getting water into the garden at all.

[Nomad]

I saw something on a gardening show this morning about the soakers. The garden had no weeds because the water only went to the plants. I missed where the garden was located but it looked like a pretty arid place. Around here we get enough rain that weeds would still be an issue.

Nomad

[kjmatson]

Thanks for your help everyone. We have an old Artesian well which is set at the base of a large shale ledge. There are several springs in this ledge and the land is sloped down to the well. I am going to clean the trench up that is already there and then trench the face of the ledge to the well. I have an old Ford tractor and wagon just need a large water container to mount to the wagon. I will put a 4" x 4" in the ground with 3 outlets to our 3 gardens. The wagon will be set uphill from the gardens and have the soaker hoses gravity fed.

I am going to filter the water going in the storage container before it goes to the water hoses. I mulch alot with straw and leaves so mud shouldn't be an issue.

[sebastes]

you might want to consider using drip tape rather than soaker hoses. More and more of the large commercial ag farms are switching to drip tape over flood irrigation. We've used drip tape in our raised beds for a few years now and we think that drip tape is far superior to soaker hoses. Cheaper too!!

Queen Gil is one brand that is available.

[kjmatson]

Thanks sebastes I will look into that right now.

[kjmatson]

I will have to sit down and really work this out. I have 3 gardens.
#1 is 20' x 50'
#2 is 8' x 50'
#3 is 14' x 50'

[Michael W. Smith]

I use soaker hoses, but mine is hooked up to the well. I'm not sure how much pressure would be needed from just a gravity fed system for it to work.

Anyhow, I set the soaker hoses out in the garden where I want them and then cover with black plastic and then plant the tomato and pepper plants near the soaker hose. When things get dry, I turn them on and let them get the ground wet. The plastic holds in the water and prevents it from evaporating so fast.

Water where you need it - and NO WEEDING!

[beaglady]

I did very similar to the method Beeman posted. My garden beds are on a small slope, and I used a 55 gallon drum on a lawn tractor cart to hold my water. I parked uphill and things worked fine. As the drum emptied, I did have to tilt the cart to keep the water flowing.

Last summer, I filled it from the well, but next year, I'll have a rainwater setup.

[kjmatson]

Originally Posted by Beeman

I've got one of those black rough surface ones that seep right thru the casing. I use it on a rain barrel with gravity feed. I had to elevate the barrel to get enough pressure and remove the plastic restrictor in the inlet fitting of the hose. It does get clogged from the mud and laying in the dirt. All I do is hook it to my regular hose and the pressure cleans it off. I think the low pressure drip irrigation would work better with the hose that you place the drip nozzles into but that's down on the to do list.

I was thinking about the drippers as well however I am doing a lot of companion planting and don't really have "rows" I would have drippers all over the place.

[kjmatson]

Originally Posted by GREENCOUNTYPETE

i use soaker hose for my onions , it still takes presure to make it work so i am not sure what you are thinking for water but it will need some pressure also it does seem to put out more water closer to the presurized end.

there are a number of drip irigation options out there to use less water by getting it to where it is needed and not every were it is not needed.

it definitly waters better than the sprinlker wasting much less

i bought mine at walmart i think

Thanks Pete. You found the drippers at walmart? I will have to take a look at that and see.

[Drew Cutter]

I would second the use of drip house instead of soaker. If don't mind a large water bill use soaker hose. I would add a timer to the list. This way you set it to water your garden at the right time. I've even seen where a timer has a connection to the internet to see what the weather is doing , if rain if forecast then it doesn't water the garden.

[kjmatson]

Thanks Drew I think the drippers would be better for me also; I just have to figure out how many I will need.

[Macybaby]

I tired gravity feed with soaker hoses. It worked well about half the season, and then the hoses got a bit hard and it would not work any more. Worked fine if I hooked them up to the faucet though.

I had a 150 gallon stock tank just a bit uphill from the garden, so it wasn't that much pressure. I had someone tell me they take an old hose and drill small holes every few inches and use that, and it does not plug up like the soaker hose does. I'm going to try some different options this season to get something to work.

I put a float on the stock tank so I could turn on the water and let it fill without a worry. Then it would take another 2 -3 hours to soak out into the garden. Once it quit working I started watering the plants individually with the hose. We have too much wind and dry weather for overhead watering. I only had my water use go up by about 1,000 gallons a month.

I want to get the old well working, but it would cost about $1000 to get the casing replaced. Our well water isn't considered potable, but it would water the animals and garden just fine.

Cathy

[Allen W]

A lot of drip irigation supplies and information here. I have never ordered from them, just keep patching up the old hoses I have. Started with a pile of the old soaker hoses from an auction until we picked up some old drip lines. The soaker hoses were gone after we got the drip hoses.http://www.dripworksusa.com/

[paintlady]

I have the same type as Beeman and had the same problem last year in that they get clogged with dirt. They didn't seem to water things evenly which could have been caused by the plugged holes. I will however try to keep them cleaned out better this year and will use them again.

[unioncreek]

Soaker houses put out way too much water. I've switched to using drip tape and irrigate over 1000 feet of row with drip tape and a small sump pump.

Bob