Using a Soaker Hose For Drip Irrigation

I hope I don’t get beat up by some crazy gardener for saying that soaker hoses are used for drip irrigation. I am aware that there are two different systems out there…soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems. Here are my thoughts on it – soaker hoses drip. When you apply water to soil, it’s called irrigation. Therefor, soaker hoses are used for drip irrigation.

Anyway, if you read my previous post called, “Dormant Grass During the Summer Months,” you know that we are having a small problem. I’m not sure we are in a drought, but it sure is hot out there. It’s been a sustained heat with very little rain. Sure, we had a short thunderstorm yesterday, but that really doesn’t count for anything.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I wasn’t all too worried about the grass going brown, I was more worried about the Rhododendrons suffering in this heat. Their leaves get curled when it’s really hot outside.

For a few says, I tried to solve the dryness problem by walking around with the hose in my hand. That didn’t really do anything because the water just rolled off the dry, hard, cement like dirt. It was frustrating to say the least. I knew that I need to hook up the soaker hoses and let them run.

Soaker hoses are great. They are pretty much, “set it and forget it.” All you do is roll the hose out and make sure it’s near the plants you are trying to water and then turn it on. Let the water run for a while and then turn it off. The slow dripping of the water does a much better job at penetrating the dirt than simply spraying water on top of it. That’s why they say that soaker hoses save so much water. I’ll even add that they are much more effective than watering plants by using a hose or even sprinkler systems. Well, if you need to broadcast water for something like a lawn, you aren’t going to get away without using sprinklers.

I set up four 50 foot soaker hoses that run across the front of the lawn, near the road. I made sure to run the hoses near the base of each Rhododendron bush. Then, I let the water run for about an hour. I have been doing this for a few days and am crossing my fingers that it’s doing something. I know for a fact that the water is getting down into the dirt, I just don’t know if one hour per day is enough time. I’ll keep checking and let you know.