What Is a Soaker Hose?

Ideally, the soaker hose allows water to gradually leak out through small holes along the whole length of the hose. Giving a steady rate of water to the ground where plants can absorb water directly through the root system, with minimal water pressure.

The most ideal way to water your garden is with a soaker hose. This is an exceptionally effective method for watering gardens without waste. Utilizing a quality soaker hose gives you the best odds of coming out on top in gardening. The objective isn’t to simply get your garden to develop, it’s to make your garden thrive.

Soaker hoses are the trick of the trade for gardeners. Soaker hose systems are made to permit water to leak up and down the length of the hose. They are far superior to sprinklers and watering cans, plus, they’re less expensive than your typical irrigation water systems and whenever they are set up, require very little work or maintenance.

A soaker hose- appropriately named for providing a generous amount of water to your garden- gives a delicate and predictable, amount of watering over a relatively large area. On the off chance that your area is experiencing drought-like conditions, your thirsty garden will thank you with beautiful blossoms and delicious vegetables!

Where To Set Up

Place the soaker hose in the desired locations requiring water, ensuring that you cover all of the areas that need watering. Spread out the soaker hose in your garden, being sure to weave around plants to reach whatever area could reasonably be expected.

For larger garden sizes, you’ll need to join several hoses together. Multiple hoses can be connected, but it’s recommended not to exceed 100 feet in length in any part of your garden. Once you have weaved the soaker hose through your garden, cover it under a bit of mulch to prevent water from evaporating during warmer weather.

Turn the nozzle on, barely enough to cause water to leak from the openings. The water is then displaced low, onto the ground, where it can be absorbed directly by the roots without getting water onto any of the foliage. Remember, keeping the foliage dry will decrease the chances of unhealthy contaminates, and fungi finding their way to your plants, causing them to become sick and possibly die. Once all your soaker hoses are joined, turn on the water and give your plants the drink they need!

How Much Water Does A Soaker Hose Use?

To ration water and ensure its effectiveness, run your soaker hose and place a rain gauge under a part of your soaker hose and turn on the spigot to see how long it will take to gain one inch of water. One inch of water is all you need a week. Once you fill your rain gauge and monitored the amount of time, divide your time by however many days you choose to run your soaker hose.

If it takes one hour to fill your rain gauge with one inch of water, you can then choose to run your soaker hose fifteen minutes a day (early to mid-morning so as to not lose any water to evaporation) for four days!

Occasional Maintenance

If by chance that you struggle remembering to switch off your water, set up a battery-operated spigot timer. This ensures that you will not need to rely only on memory. There are also devices that are equipped with a downpour sensor that monitors the dampness of the ground and automatically overrides the watering timer if there is a sufficient amount on the ground.

Remove the end cap of the soaker hose occasionally and flush the hose with water to eliminate any clogging. This is particularly important at the joints where multiple hoses are combined and covered under a layer of mulch.

A soaker hose is an ideal way to go to keep your garden green and healthy!