Re: [gardeners] soaker hose
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 24 Jan 1999 01:12:10 -0500
KrisP, until perhaps 8 years ago, we used about 20 of the
black old-rubber-tire constuction soaker hoses popular in all
the larger garden sales stores. Before we switched to drip irrigation,
we had developed an easy and profitable system for irrigating our
stand of 10 hemlocks evenly.
The water supply hose can be a garden hose, if your area to irrigate
is far from a drip supply. At the end of this supply hose, whatever it
is, screw on one of the yellow plastic twin male shutoffs, available
everywhere. Attach the female end of your soaker to one side of the Y.
Replace the other or male end of the soaker with a second female.
You will then have a long black soaker with two female ends. Screw this
on to the empty side of the Y. Open both valves. Now when the water
gets turned on, it will force the water pressure to be equal throughout
the entire hose, and your garden or trees or whatever will be evenly
watered. The regular soaker delivers about 1/4 the water at the far end
of the line, without this trick. Be aware when you shop that they market
several sizes of hose repair ends. If by some chance you cannot get the
right size to fit the soaker, then create a very short "bridge" hose with
2
female ends, and screw it onto the 2nd part of the Y, attaching its
other end to the return of the original unimproved big black soaker.
Now I'm saying all this from the top of my head -- so if I've mixed you
up,
try drawing the layout of the hose on paper, with it's ends marked.
Look for the parts in real garden nurseries and also places like Flower
Time. They almost all have a large peg-board display of the line. We
used universal hose repair kits, nothing special.
It's actually easier to create the "bridge" hose because it turns out to
be easier physically to change an end on standard hose.Start with the
female end, cut off a short piece, then add another female. That's if you
have an old hose around that you can cut up <g> .....
Penny, NY
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