how come you guys are not more in love with soaker hoses ?

[trioderob]

I started using them and they seem ideal for palms.

everyone else here uses drip systems

why ?

[DoomsDave]

They work great on large palms.

But if you have a lot in a small place, as I do, I just sprinkle, plus the plants get a cool and refreshing shower after a hot, funky day.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

You've obviously not used them for very long. They're terrible, they clog up after a while. I will never buy another soaker hose, they're really total garbage. You can get them to work again if you take the soaker hose and massage/squeeze/bend every inch of hose, but that's a lot of work.

[trioderob]

  Quote

they're really total garbage

glad I asked before buying many of them - only purchased 3 and love them but if they clog up - that sucks

lets see how long mine last

Edited August 29, 2014 by trioderob

[Walter John]

Water restrictions.

[trioderob]

bummer

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

  On 8/29/2014 at 8:09 PM, trioderob said:

  Quote

they're really total garbage

glad I asked before buying many of them - only purchased 3 and love them but if they clog up - that sucks

lets see how long mine last

Mine lasted about 1 season. When I turned them on the next year, almost no water came out. If you only have three, no problem, you can basically trample on them in the Spring before you put them back out. It will make them work again. After about three years they crack and fail.

[NApalm]

Ha! Ask kennybenjamin about his love affair with soaker hoses!

[trioderob]

if you look at the design of a palms roots a soaker hose is perfect

gets the water in a very even distribution right under the entire canopy

also any slow release fert gets better distribution

Edited August 29, 2014 by trioderob

[Moose]

  On 8/29/2014 at 8:01 PM, Brahea Axel said:

You've obviously not used them for very long. They're terrible, they clog up after a while. I will never buy another soaker hose, they're really total garbage. You can get them to work again if you take the soaker hose and massage/squeeze/bend every inch of hose, but that's a lot of work.

Same here - they don't last very long. I buried them under the mulch and they got rooted over. Too much of a pain to yoke them out. I just keep mulching over them.

[trioderob]

do the drips last long ?- with the hard water out here seems like they would clog too.

the little I played with them they seemed finicky and subject to damage / problems

Edited August 29, 2014 by trioderob

[trioderob]

are you guys saying that I should use this stuff here - 1/2" soaker line ?????

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Use that only if it has anti-syphon. Otherwise, when it's laying on the ground, the vacuum created after the water shuts off will suck in debris, and they'll be clogged up in no time. I use the Netafim ones because they will not clog up.

[Jubaea]

The soaker hoses that i have used don't put out much water on the ends of them leading to drought stressed plants or over watered plants. I now water by hand the areas that have soaker hoses.

[Jim in Los Altos]

I have three areas served by three natural rubber 25' soaker hoses that have been in place ten years and they work as well now as they did then. Their dependability really depends on your local tap water quality. The only issue I have with mine is weaker pressure the last few feet of hose otherwise they do a decent job of wetting the soil where I want it.

[Tyrone]

  On 8/29/2014 at 11:32 PM, trioderob said:

are you guys saying that I should use this stuff here - 1/2" soaker line ?????

That looks like Netafim boreline. It's not really a soaker hose although it is a hose with outlets, they're not just holes in the outer skin of the hose. The simple designs do block up. The netafim ones have a more sophisticated system at each outlet. Obviously when these things are running they are putting out a small amount of water over time and the speed of the water in the pipe is actually quite low. This will over time allow small particles to build up at every outlet. With these Netafim dripline/boreline you must connect each lateral to a common plenum (ie another hose that all the laterals drain into). At the end of this plenum you hook up a tap or one of those automatic purge line valve things, and periodically you open this valve up (if it's automatic it will open itself up every time the line is turned on). What this does is run the water down each lateral at full speed and this picks up the debris sitting at each outlet and pumps it to waste out the end of the plenum. Obviously though for any drip line, drippers, or small outlet emitters you must run a fine filter at the start of the system otherwise if you have a big system you'll be unblocking hundreds of emitters instead of one filter. I would always run a small mesh filter or 120 micron disk filter with any boreline/dripline to give an added level of particle control in the system.

Having consistent moisture around a plant is always going to be beneficial, and palms will grow at their optimum if they have a consistent moisture pattern around their roots. When you look into it though, it's not an easy thing to do especially if you're on sand for example. Clay is much easier.

[Palm crazy]

I gave up on soaker a long time ago, they sometime get big leaks in them. This is what I have been using in the garden since and it works pretty good and fun to put together. Can’t beat the price. $20 bucks for one kit, http://www.digcorp.com/homeowner-irrigation-products/r750-adjustable-micro-sprayer-kit

Edited August 30, 2014 by Palm crazy

[palmsOrl]

  On 8/29/2014 at 8:01 PM, Brahea Axel said:

You've obviously not used them for very long. They're terrible, they clog up after a while. I will never buy another soaker hose, they're really total garbage. You can get them to work again if you take the soaker hose and massage/squeeze/bend every inch of hose, but that's a lot of work.

This has been my experience with them as well. Water is plentiful and relatively cheap around here, so I just water the whole garden with sprinkler heads that administer a steady moderate rain to a circle 30 feet in diameter with no dry spots or streaks because of the rotary action. Leave in place for 2-3 hours, then move to the next section. I've had to water ALOT lately.

[Justin]

I've had very good results with the mini soaker hoses, the ones that come off of drip lines. Since the water that goes into the hoses goes through both the filter in the pressure reducer, and the emitter that connects the soaker hose to the main drip line, I guess that's why I haven't had any clogging problems. I use the mini soaker hoses, drip emitters, and mini-sprinklers, all running off the drip line, and this has worked quite well in most of my yard. The soaker lines are particularly good for things that want more water, and for areas that are hard to reach and/or blocked as to the sprinkler spray.