Soaker hose/Irrigation by leaky pipe
- To: "'perennials@mallorn.com'"
- Subject: Soaker hose/Irrigation by leaky pipe
- From: P* S*
- Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 13:47:33 -0800
I used soaker hose last year in my veggie garden and in a couple of new
perennial beds. I dug a very shallow trench (no deeper than the diameter of
the hose), and lay the hose in the trench (the whole purpose of the trench
being to keep the hose in place), then covered with about 4" of mulch. Hose
ends or "kinks" were anchored with a piece of wire pushed into the ground
(picture a heavy staple over the hose); the free end was left just barely
poking through the mulch/dirt. I'd hook the hose up as needed and would let
it run for 2-3 hours.
It worked great. The set-up *was* on flat ground, so I wasn't dealing with
dips, slopes, etc. I was using piped water, and so didn't have trouble with
plugging (as someone mentioned earlier could happen with unfiltered well
water).
If you want one part of the hose to NOT drip, you simply wrap it with duct
tape (or something similar) when it is dry.
One thing: These hoses are designed to be used at very low pressure. You
just barely turn the water on; the soaker hose fills, then water begins to
seep or ooze from it. This allows the water to soak into the soil slowly,
rather than pooling up and running off. Too-high pressure can actually
cause the hoses's holes to expand, which can spoil the gentle effect of the
seeping water through the pinhole-sized openings.
Another thing: At year's end, you really need to flush the hoses out and
also scrub the exteriors, to get rid of dirt and silt that could plug the
holes. Then you just let them dry and hang up for the winter. I found
these a very cheap (on sale, a 100' hose was about $8-9), invisible,
plant-healthy, and effective way to water.
Sue P.
SPesznec@lhs.org Milwaukie, OR.
> I've used it, but haven't been terribly happen with it. It certainly can
> cause a flood if you leave it on long enough. But my garden is mostly on
> a
> hill, so it presents all kinds of challenges -- maybe the "leaky hose"
> would
> work fine on level terrain. I'm going to try an irrigation system this
> summer. . . .
>
>
>
>
> What about so-called "leaky pipe", the rough-surfaced hose from recycled
> tires. I have read good things about it, but not tried it. It is said to
> leak
> out just as much water as the plants need, and no more, working on the
> principle of capillary attraction. Which I understand to mean that as the
> plants suck the water out of the ground, the then dry ground sucks the
> water
> out of the leaky pipe to become wet again.
>
> Does any one know about this, and have good or bad things to say about it?
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
