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Re: Soaker Hoses (was Mel & So. Cal. Problems)

Hi Shawn,

     Having the soakers on for four hours every other day is certainly
outside the realm of acceptability!  And twining the hose back and forth
should certainly provide enough moisture coverage for your minimal cropping!

     Pull the hoses up, turn on the water, and see what happens--if they
weep sufficiently, they're not clogged.  Then, it must be the soil.  But,
even pure sand would hold more water than needing to water again in two
days--especially, as you say, it's only April!  Maybe give me a call, and
we'll delve into some other possibilities.



At 03:39 PM 4/15/97 PST, you wrote:
>Long! Sorry!
>
>Yvonne wrote:
>
>>For vegetables and berries, I augment this with the "weepy hose" soaker
>>hoses (NOT the hoses with holes punched every inch or so) covered with a
>>minimum of 2" mulch.  Just run the hoses so they're a foot and a half apart,
>>on either side of plants, so water seepage from both will meet in the
>>middle, at the plant, and "pull" roots to the saturated soil.  With an
>>automatic timer, they're the most efficient I've found.
>
>Hi Yvonne,
>I also use the weepy hose kind, and last year they worked well for
>double rows (hic! hic! don't flame me) of vegetables, since I could
>run them straight down the row. But this winter I spread the soaker
>up one row of four square feet and down the next and so on, so the
>hoses were smack in the middle of each square foot. I thought this
>would work, but 9 beets a square was a problem. Also, four plants
>(lettuce or whatever) was also a problem, because the hose was too
>far away from all four, or close enough for 2 but not for the other
>two. I hope I am making sense...It may be that my hoses are clogged
>from our hard water supply here in the Pomona Valley, and this was
>discussed previously on this newsgroup, the bottom line being I
>should soak them in pool acid (hydrochloric acid) of some dilution,
>but I never found anything big enough to hold them all and yet
>resistant to the acid, and never figured out what concentration
>to use that wouldn't eat the hoses!
>
>I also have a connection with a pressure regulator and a filter
>to keep the water pressure down (ours is very high) and to filter
>out any impurities from the pipes. But every time I try to connect
>an automatic timer I get a horrible leak somewhere upstream. So I
>have to put them on manually which is no big deal. But it's only
>April, and so far, just to keep 2 beets, two lettuce, six radishes
>and some cilantro alive, I've had to turn on the soakers for four
>hours every other day! I must have clogged hoses, but don't know
>how to fix them. I'm very tempted to go right out and buy another
>50 ft brand new. But I'd really hate to have to do this once a
>year. There must be something I can do.
>Shawn
>swestaway@smtplink.coh.org
>Claremont, Ca USDA9b Sunset19
>
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>
Yvonne Savio
Gardening Education Coordinator and Editor/Writer
Master Gardener Program
University of California Cooperative Extension
2615 S. Grand Avenue, Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90007
Phone:  (213) 744-4862
FAX:  (213) 745-7513
E-mail: ydsavio@ucdavis.edu

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