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Aug 19, 2018 11:31 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Tara
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Zone 5a)
Bookworm Daylilies Hybridizer Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
So question as I'm planning for next years gardens... I've tried soaker hoses (they all burst open after less than a year of use, even when I try and regulate pressure), drip hoses (I don't like how they spray up and water the top of the foliage and blooms), I had an above ground sprinkler system however this became brittle and broke after 1.5 years... what types of reliable watering systems have you guys used??? I'm at a loss... I'm not an early bird, and watering at night is not the best... also I hate dragging a hose and my one sprinkler around for hours on end which I can't do while working (however I work for the schools and have summers mostly free).
I'm mostly worried about my gardens along the foundation. This summer we've had such a terrible drought, I need to figure something out. Grumbling
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Aug 20, 2018 12:29 AM CST
Name: Dana P
Canton, OH (Zone 6a)
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Region: Ohio Composter Birds Garden Photography Garden Ideas: Level 1 Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Tara, being that my property is the size of a postage stamp, watering with the hose nozzle is my go-to method. Some people get drip irrigation kits from Lowe's or Home Depot. Of course it depends on your specific circumstances as to how it could layout, but the idea is that you choose where to attach the drip nozzles in to the main line, so it's completely customizable. I think several kits can link together as well, and perhaps you could get a timer to connect to the hose bib.

That's my first thought, at nearly 2:30am Blinking Perhaps I might have a better suggestion after I get some sleep Hilarious! Hilarious!
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Aug 20, 2018 6:22 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Tara
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Zone 5a)
Bookworm Daylilies Hybridizer Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Good point, I didn't say how big of a space I'm working with 🤗
I do have a timer and we have an acre. But the two beds I'm most worried about are along the house: 5x25 and 8x40.
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Aug 20, 2018 6:37 AM CST
Name: Ginny G
Central Iowa (Zone 5a)
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Tara my prior garden had a sort of hose with small sprayers in it that wound through the beds. They were on zoned timers. I think it's like a snip and spray system. Spray stayed low and worked great. I'm trying to figure out how I can do it at the new house. Because all the water drains out when off I don't remember that I had to blow them out for winter. If it sprang a leak you just spliced and repaired it.
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Aug 20, 2018 8:29 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Tara
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Zone 5a)
Bookworm Daylilies Hybridizer Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
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Aug 20, 2018 9:10 AM CST
Name: Ginny G
Central Iowa (Zone 5a)
Plant Addict!!
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Region: United States of America Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Lilies Irises Region: Iowa
Tara the amazon one, although my sprinklers were very low to the ground. I made sure they sprayed so they would hit all areas of my gardens. I had a huge border garden in back and foundation gardens both front and back.
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Aug 20, 2018 11:06 AM CST
Name: Ken
East S.F. Bay Area (Zone 9a)
Region: California
I get no rain from June through October, so irrigation takes precedence over everything else. I wasted a lot of time and money figuring out that simple is better with watering systems. Any system that depends on mini-sprinklers or a small number of precision openings is going to be a maintenance nightmare due to clogging by particles or mineral buildup. Drip always sounds nice, but a daylily bed needs wall-to-wall moisture, and most drip systems aren't designed for that purpose. Plastic or vinyl soakers are not reliable, or tough enough to survive sun and garden wear-and-tear.

Because many dissimilar products are called "soaker hose", it's hard to tell what we're talking about. My favorite and most successful is usually called "leaky" or 'weepy" hose—it's a round, rough looking hose about 3/4" in diameter, usually made from ground-up, recycled tire rubber. Have you ever tried that? Were you referring to that type of hose when you said that it sprayed the blooms and foliage?

Browsing online, I see that there are a lot of these "weepy hoses" available now. When I bought mine, there were only about three. The "weepy hose" I used is on the larger side, about 1/2" inside diameter, and designed to function best at low pressure, around 5-6 psi. I've used them on long narrow beds similar to yours. In order to prevent the occasional larger pore from spraying the foliage, the flow needs to be regulated and the system needs to be 'engineered' and tuned somewhat in order to balance the pressure throughout the system. But it's pretty simple to set up. If you're interested, I can elaborate. I think they're really the way to go, they've been very long-lasting for me, going on at least 10 years.

Ken
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Aug 20, 2018 11:51 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Tara
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Zone 5a)
Bookworm Daylilies Hybridizer Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
CaliFlowers said:

Because many dissimilar products are called "soaker hose", it's hard to tell what we're talking about. My favorite and most successful is usually called "leaky" or 'weepy" hose—it's a round, rough looking hose about 3/4" in diameter, usually made from ground-up, recycled tire rubber. Have you ever tried that? Were you referring to that type of hose when you said that it sprayed the blooms and foliage.....

...But it's pretty simple to set up. If you're interested, I can elaborate. I think they're really the way to go, they've been very long-lasting for me, going on at least 10 years.

Ken


I have used those kind Ken, but I never got my pressure to what it needed to be and ended up with them "blowing out" 🙄 The kind that spray the tops are like the menards link from before.

Please explain what I need to do!

Thank You!
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Aug 20, 2018 12:33 PM CST
Name: Ginny G
Central Iowa (Zone 5a)
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Ken do you have a link to one that would be good?
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Aug 20, 2018 1:30 PM CST
Name: Ken
East S.F. Bay Area (Zone 9a)
Region: California
I looked first on Amazon, and a lot of the commonly available soaker hoses I found, even the ones which appeared to be the "good kind", had a lot of negative reviews with regard to durability and even water distribution.

I bought mine from A.M. Leonard, but it's been a few years. Products are changing at an alarming rate these days, but this is probably it.

http://www.amleo.com/pro-serie...

@IAgrl

I gather that you couldn't get your pressure down to a reasonable level, so the hoses blew? I have the "fix" for that. I'm putting together a general guide which will address everything, I hope...

One other question. Are they seedling beds or display beds? Are the daylilies arranged in rows, or are the plants staggered? If they're rows, how many rows, and what's the row spacing in each bed?

Ken
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Aug 20, 2018 1:46 PM CST
Name: Ginny G
Central Iowa (Zone 5a)
Plant Addict!!
Bee Lover Miniature Gardening Native Plants and Wildflowers Peonies Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Region: United States of America Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Lilies Irises Region: Iowa
Thanks Ken - I think you're helping both of us nodding nodding nodding My gardens are random and include several perennials and lots of daylilies and lilies and would need something that can "wind" through them. Thank You!
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Aug 20, 2018 2:34 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Tara
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Zone 5a)
Bookworm Daylilies Hybridizer Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Mine are random, "cottage" design... I do have a very small area for seedlings 8x10, but it's at the end of my long foundation bed in back. Whatever we set up, it'll be ok.

And yes, I could not get the pressure at the correct level so they would eventually "explode".

Any wise advice is greatly appreciated!

Thank You!
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Aug 20, 2018 2:35 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Tara
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Zone 5a)
Bookworm Daylilies Hybridizer Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
I guess I should say I had them "snaked" through my beds and held in place with fabric/lawn staples...
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Aug 20, 2018 7:18 PM CST
Name: Ken
East S.F. Bay Area (Zone 9a)
Region: California
This hose comes as a bulk item, with no hose fittings or anything else.

That's fine, if you have a good hardware store, you can do better than the cheesy accessory kits that the leaky hose manufacturers sell.

First the supply line. You can just run a garden hose to your bed, or make a dedicated supply line. Get a barbed brass female hose connector, and a hose clamp for your supply line. There are specialized fittings for that, but the barbed fittings they sell a hose-end repair kits are fine. If you have an old piece of garden hose with a serviceable fitting on it, then that's one less piece you need to buy.

Thumb of 2018-08-21/CaliFlowers/a2dd82

Now to the "manifold" and the leaky hose system.

You'll need a hose-end shutoff valve. This is where you attach the supply hose from the spigot, and will be used to set the water flow for the leaky hose system. It's easy to set and monitor, and rarely needs adjustment.

These valves come in common (cheap) small inside-diameter, plastic or pot metal models which may reduce maximum water flow, or you can get the top-of-the-line Dramm heavy-duty shutoff, which hardly restricts flow at all. Maximum flow may be important or not, depending on how much leaky hose is in the system.

Standard hose-end shutoff
Thumb of 2018-08-21/CaliFlowers/42fb10

Large-bore, heavy duty shutoff
Thumb of 2018-08-21/CaliFlowers/4fc8b4


Sorry, I have to run off now, I'll finish up tomorrow. There's going to be a little artwork involved.
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Aug 24, 2018 3:10 PM CST
Name: Ken
East S.F. Bay Area (Zone 9a)
Region: California
Sorry for the delay, It's been a busy week, plus we spent a day picking up a new puppy, so there's been no time until this morning to put this together.

The final pieces to the system are plastic 1/2" barbed hose connectors. I get these from the local hardware store—I think they're designed for use with black 1/2" flexible pipe, (I think it's ABS?) and possibly intended for sprinkler systems. Tees, elbows and end-plugs are the pieces you'll need. The only images I could find are of black fittings, but the ones I buy are gray. The fittings pictured were very expensive on Amazon, but reasonable if purchased locally. Quite a few items are that way.
Thumb of 2018-08-24/CaliFlowers/01bd59
Thumb of 2018-08-24/CaliFlowers/e11091

Because the leaky hose is fairly soft, I like to use stainless steel safety wire instead of hose clamps for all of the leaky hose connections.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005SUWZAU/

Scrap pieces of 1/2" garden hose can be used in the manifold and delivery system everywhere you don't want or need to water. Garden hose is stiff and needs a hose clamp, light-duty clamps can be used on the low-pressure side of the system, which is anywhere downstream of the hose-end valve.

The setup for a 5' x 25' garden bed would be something like this.
Thumb of 2018-08-24/CaliFlowers/26a4d7

This layout shows lines spaced a foot apart, and assumes a fairly heavy soil. Drip systems of any type are rarely suitable for sandy, or very fast draining soils. The perimeter lines should be run around 6-8" from the base of the plants, so that a wide-ranging root system develops. The idea is to supply moisture as uniformly as possible to the entire bed and 'drip line' of the plants.

To put the system into service, close the hose-end valve, hook up the water supply and turn on the faucet. The leaky hose lines will be full of air, so open the hose-end valve slowly, but fairly generously at first, until you see that the leaky hose is dripping or spraying water throughout its length. You can sometimes tell by ear when the air is expelled because the water flow slows. There will be some fine sprays of water shooting up here and there, by watching those, you are able to tune the water flow. I usually adjust the hose end valve so that those sprays are around 3-4 inches, or less. That way the hose weeps nicely throughout its length. I have put a pressure gauge in the system when it's running this way and it's always less than 10 psi. It's very dry here in the summer, so every few weeks I'd hit the beds by hand with a spray wand, concentrating on the underside of the foliage in order to keep spider mites under control. This also helps wet any dry areas that may develop in the beds.

For longer runs such as an 8' x 40' bed, first determine that your water supply can keep up with that much leaky hose, then build the "supply manifold" at the middle of the bed and run water through 20' runs in each direction. If your water supply is inadequate, the 40' bed can be split into two zones.

The leaky hose will last much longer if it's covered. I used a mulch. The manufacturer suggests burying it, but I've never tried that. Rodents may chew on it for the moisture, rabbits will do it just for fun. Damaged hose can be repaired with a male-male barbed fitting and a couple of twists of wire.
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