nope

It's a good thing, because you are doing you part to support a recycled product in your garden. You are also cutting water use by 50% or more. If that thought appeals to you.

All hoses including brand new garden hoses leach trace amounts of something into the soil. You are not supposed to drink from any garden hose unless it is a potable water hose (white hose).

I put soaker hose into my veg garden last week and like it so much I went back for more....for flower beds.

Now if I could figure out an easy way to hook up the main hose from the house or leave it hooked up...my only complaint. (Can't leave the hose hooked up because it crosses the lawn and my lawn mowing guy would probably just mow over it.)

You could hire a landscaper to put an outdoor faucet near the garden and hook up the soaker hoses to that.

Another way to do it yourself is to buy a section of 1-1/4" irrigation pipe, snake the garden hose through the inside of the pipe and bury it a few inches under the gound. The pipe will keep the hose inside from collapsing. I have done this to set up an electrical junction box outside near the garden.

I love soaker hoses! You mean the "leaky pipe" black ones made out of recycled tires, right?

I use them all through the flowers beds & into the veg garden.

Here's a trick I learned from an old gardener that works great:

Generally the hoses leak about one foot on either side, so if you have 4 foot wide beds, use two hoses 2 feet apart, and a foot from the edge of the bed to cover it perfectly. To keep them in a pretty straight line you can pin them down with "staples" you make by cutting wire coat hangers in two - cutting off the hook part, of course.

I've used this trick for several years now and it works great.

Also - be sure to either mulch or bury these hoses because sunlight degrades the material.

we have a similar situation with one of the soaker hoses. i put "quick connect" pieces on the spigot and on the end of the hose leading to my soaker, so i can easily connect when i need to water, and disconnect when mowing the lawn.

I just got a 50ft lenth of Vigoro (brand) soaker hose. Was about to hook it up and noticed a warning on the label saying it contained chemicals known to cause cancer (and, frankly, what doesn't these days?) INCLUDING LEAD. It also stated not to drink from it.

If I shouldn't drink from it and it is known to contain lead, I really don't know that I should be putting it in my veggie garden. Should I be concerned about eventual lead poisoning or something? I really was looking forward to an improved way to water my veggie garden but I guess, if necessary, I could use this soaker hose in my butterfly garden and go back to the drawing board for the veggie garden.

Any suggestions? Opinions? Reports of personal past usage?

Thanks!

Hi, on the quick connect attachments, I absolutely LOVE them!! I've gone one step farther and gotten the quick connect end to put on both my hoses that has the shut off lever, so I can turn the water off at the end of the hose to change attachments, or fill a water can. A lot less trips to the faucetgreat when I accidently unhook the end too. Just have to remember to shut off the faucet when I'm done.

Karen

I can't get the quick connect things to work. I can connect okay but disconnecting is a beeatch. Pulling the spring back and actually releasing the insert nearly takes tools. I'm no weakling but my hands and fingers are worn out before I get the parts separated. They are just simply stuck together. I was expecting them to be like an air hose attachment that can be separated easily with one hand. On the plus side, at least they don't leak.

The warning against drinking the water comes with every hose. The reason is that water stored in a hose can collect all kinds of microbes and macrobes. Bacteria and even mosquitoes can breed in a hose with a little water in it. Also a lot of people apply herbicides using a siphon attachment that contaminates the hose with poisons.

"Containing" lead and "releasing" lead are two different things. It might be, but I have no way of knowing, that the lead is bound up in the rubber, and as long as the rubber is not further ground up, would remain "contained" in the rubber. Still lead is something to be aware of and concerned about.

I would not recommend anything made by vigoro, they have notoriously cheap and poorly made products

I would worry about bad things leaching into the soil. The more important question is whether or not the plant takes up the toxins.

I recently bought a Gilmour flat soaker hose with no warnings. I believe it is made of nylon. I haven't tried it yet.

Zeuspaul

Can anyone tell me how to shorten a Gilmour flat soaker hose? Thanks

I love soaker hoses, too. Many people elsewhere on GW talk about how they've left these primitive things behind in the dust and have moved over to using drip irrigation with little tiny tangential lines that you have to insert drippers in for each plant. Not me. I had one of those systems that I set up, and it was fine for the first year, but I rotate crops, and the spacing didn't work at all the next year or years after that.

The soaker hoses work great when you mulch heavily. I just lay the soaker hoses either on top of the mulch or just beside the plants. I do try to cover them lightly with something, like hay or straw or even leaf-mulch, that will protect them from UV damage.

If you need shorter soaker hoses, you can cut them and use regular garden hose fittings to make them the sizes you want. If you need longer ones, you can connect two of them. I even installed on/off valves on each length so I can water exactly what needs it.

After much experience with these things, I HAVE learned that I don't like curving a soaker hose around the end of a raised bed and starting it down the other side -- it works much better for me when I lay two lengths down each side.

But each to his own, I guess.

organic_sierraf

I suppose all you can do is cut the flat soaker hose where you need it to end, fold over the cut end several times, and use a very tight clamp to securely close it off.

When using the soaker hoses, check them during operation to see how wide the wetting pattern is both at the beginning and end of the soaker hose. The longer the hose and the smaller the diameter, the less uniform the flow rate out of the hose is starting with the beginning end being comparatively high and the downstream end being low. Another compounding factor is irrigating with hard water, over time the pores will plug and not seep so well. I've never tried it but with a hard water crust affected hose, coiling it up and soaking it in a dilute acid may unplug the pores.

michael

For hard water, you can always install a filter where the hose begins. I think the external plugging of the holes is more likely, with dust and maybe small bugs or even tiny roots seeking water. If the water could be kept running all the time, it wouldn't be a problem, but of course that isn't possible. I just set up my system today, have one more length to attach, and so far on its third year, it's still working fine for my garden. I have four lengths of 32 feet and one length of 8 feet, just in soaker hoses. I may add more for watermelons and a winter squash or two.

You all may want to check out a book called Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart. In it they explore & disclose the truth about "recycled materials." Turns out most, including recycled tire, are actually many times more toxic than virgin materials simply due to the amount of additional chemicals used & applied to "re-make" it into something it was never designed to be in the first place. While in the end it still ends up in a landfill, pound for pound "recycled" products end up carrying & introducing many times more chemicals into the environment than their non-recycled counterparts. Sad but true. The intention is good, but in most cases it is only an image, a facade - marketing used to get you to buy a product.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cradle to Cradle free read on Google Books

I would NOT use that hose and take it back to the store for a refund. HELLO people just think about it, if its in the water, then it will be in your soil and therefore in your plants and ultimatley in your body if you eat those plants. This defeats the whole purpose of having a vegatable garden so you can eat vegtables without chemicals sprayed on them. You all may love soaker hoses but you in this world you have to be so consientious because corporations who sell these products do care about your health.

Thank you guys for the tips. I planned on using a 1/4" soaker hose on veggies, since they are easier and more cost effective than 1/4" tubing plus drippers, but was concerned because it says it is made of recycled tires. I will now go for the tubing instead.

Instead of costly drippers I can punch holes with a needle or get pre-punched tubing, which have emitters every few inches and the length or flow of emitters can't be modified. They are used commercially and can be hard to find at a local store.

There is an alternative by Intelligent Irrigiation (f/k/a Global Eco Soil Solutions) called AquaJet (f/k/a EarthMister). Search online for EarthMister or their new site intelligentirrigationllc com.

I think tubing and emitters separately will work best, even though it doubles the upfront cost for the emitters. It is flexible, so that if garden design changes all I need is to get the tubing, which is cheap. The emitters can be reused.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Depot: Toro Blue Stripe 1/4 in. x 100 ft. Drip Tubing with Emitters Model # 53640 Internet # 100003898 Store SKU # 716299 $16.47

I tested 1/4" tubing, plus a needle to make holes, and it seems to work just fine. 100 feet of tubing cost $4 to 8. Connectors, tees and elbows, to connect the tubing, cost extra but they can be reused. Emitters can also be reused but needle is more cost effective.

Needle size depends on water pressure and how much water you want coming out of the hole. A tomato plant will need more water (thicker needle, relatively) than, say, an onion, and if they are all watered from the same line you can use different needle thickness.

Groworganic sells soaker hose. I wonder why. It may be considered acceptable for some people. http://www.groworganic.com/1-4-mr-soaker-hose-100-roll.html

Here is a link that might be useful: EPA recommendation for Garden and Soaker Hoses (PS they allow lead in garden hoses, so read with caution)

I'm spoiled by using drip tape, T-tape brand to be specifiic. Having gained the experience of how to set up drip systems for vegetable row crop experiments years ago and then applying that knowledge to gardening, I would never go with the "leaky hoses" as they are a relatively crude way to irrigate when planting in straight rows. If your rows have lots of curves I suppose the leakys might be the way to go, try putting a pressure regulator on them to get more uniform performance. I found one way to get much more even flow at both ends is to use a Y hose fitting attaching both ends of the leaky tube to it and the source of water, basically, the water comes into both ends of the tube and heads for the middle.

The leakys work great for watering in a row of planted seed where you don't want to disturb the soil by watering over head, puts the water where you want it and nowhere else, weeds hate that:)

Several years ago I made an attachment out of an attachment that came with my wheel hoe that allows me to bury drip tape very easily in rows about 4 - 6" deep, that allows for cultivation during the summer with no fear of nicking the tape, bye bye weeds. Drip tape can be laid on top of the soil and mulched over, I prefer to bury it. Drip tape is far, far cheaper than leaky tube but does require some fittings and planning to put together a functional system.

There is at least one outfit that has kits that take a lot of the guess work out of putting together a drip system, check out the link below where I buy a lot of my components from and am happy with their service. No, I'm not trying to promote them and have no interest in the company other than I'd like to be able to keep buying stuff from them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Irrigation Direct

does anyone know a way to get the water out of a rubbermaid container into one of these, or even a normal hose? ive tried siphoning, it didnt taste very good, and took forever because there isnt that but od a drop in altitude