Buried Soaker Hose Problem

Shoda 5/4/2010, 11:15 am

I buried soaker hose for our SFG beds. Our beds are 11" deep and I put the soaker hose at 6" down. This seems to be too far down considering Mel's Mix is below the hoses. What is happening is that no matter how long we run the hoses, the top 2" say dry.

I mentioned this in another post but wanted to know what other folks are experiencing. I ran the hoses at various pressures and times but still had to top water. Has anyone tried the buried soaker hoses at different depths? I still have a few beds to build and want to try to avoid this issue with them. Any feedback?

**WardinWake** 5/4/2010, 3:55 pm

Shoda:

I buried soaker hoses just below the serface of Mel's Mix to keep the spray from spraying out of the box. When I keep the water pressure very low I get the best watering. I still l need to serface water lightly. One advantage of keeping the water running very low is the sun will warm up the water as it moves down the hose to keep the plants from getting a "cold bath".

God Bless, Ward.

**timwardell** 5/4/2010, 10:11 pm

Hmmmm.... it does sound like you could benefit from raising the hoses in future beds. Every set up has it's own little quirks.

Shoda 6/4/2010, 1:19 am

I guess I wasn't leaving the soaker hose on long enough to fully saturate the Mel's Mis. I still haven't figured out the "golden" number of minutes but I do know that after 6 hours, my SFG beds (and an additional 5 feet of perimeter) were VERY wet.

No I didn't do this on purpose, my timer stuck. However, my plants looked VERY happy after the soaking. Guess they needed a little more water then I was giving them. Time to get a new timer! I am just glad I checked the garden one more time before bed or it would have been on for 15 hours before I caught it. YIKES!

To others with buried soaker hoses: How long do you leave the hoses running?

Squat_Johnson 6/4/2010, 6:58 am

I leave mine on for 45 minutes or so. Because they are buried 3 or 4 inches, I don't count on it watering things like lettuce, or seeds I just planted. I spray those with the hose.

**timwardell** 6/4/2010, 9:21 am

I leave mine on 45 minutes to 1 hour. Like blue0801 I don't rely on the soaker hose to water new seedlings. I use a watering can for those squares so I know I'm getting them wet from the top down.

Glad you caught the problem before drowning your plants.

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