what is your ideal watering hose?

19 years ago

Wow...this is a great forum site with lots of fine info.

It seems that I fight with a hose every year and buy a new one like garden gloves. Its getting expensive and frustrating; kinda like looking for the perfect flower. I even bought the hose male/female attachments with limited sucess. Any tips on those things?

My tiny yard has a water faucet by the front door so a hose must look good. I've had two curling hoses and love the weight but they don'tlast. My perfect hose would be light weight, self coiling , nonleaking, and last forever.

Any suggestions??

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Comments (16)

jannie
19 years ago
Mine would empty itself and roll up for the winter. Almost every year I forget to bring my hosees in, and at least one cracks open from the ice.
meldy_nva
19 years ago
Ultra-light-weight and non-kinking - and long. DH keeps buying those heavy hoses that I can hardly drag because they don't kink like the light ones.

sdogwood -
buy a brass "Y" and use feeder hose to either side. Then the extra hose can be wound up out of sight of the front door. I finally got a feeder hose to the front yard (my faucet was in the back) and I can't figure why I waited 30 years! Now there's a faucet at the front, and the roll of hose hangs out of sight behind a bush. The convenience is wonderful.
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hc mcdole
19 years ago
I would like to run hoses to select spots in the yard (bury or conceal) and bring these hoses up to a temporary or permanent faucet. Now I can carry a lightweight hose (coil hoses look nice but they sure do tangle all the time) to these watering stations and hook in via a quick disconnect (I have found quick disconnects are nice when new but becomes very aggravating with age/use). If watering stations were conveniently placed around the yard (like spacing of irrigation heads) then maybe all you would need is a 25 foot hose. Wouldn't that be nice?

There is nothing worse than dragging 100 feet or more of heavy hose around the yard that kinks, knocks over pots, breaks plants, and occasionally hits you in the privates or face when you try whipping the hose into place.

Also it would be nice to have a remote control to turn the water off at the house to allow changing sprinklers and wands without walking back and forth for such a simple procedure. Click - turn off water, change sprinkler to wand, click - start watering. All you would need is a remote the size of your car door remote and have enough range to get to the valve back at the house.

I would also like to have irrigation controlled by my computer so I could log in anytime, anywhere and take control. All you would need then is a remote camera to see what the weather looks like at your house plus other things.

How about drip irrigation with misting, emitter drippers, leaky hoses, mini sprinklers on a timer? I did that one year and it worked great especially with pots and watering restrictions. Biggest problem is picking the right emitter for the size pot and type of plant. I would also try to make it permanent by hiding all the hoses if I do it again.
meldy_nva
19 years ago
I use the quick-conects; one variety has a mini-faucet (turncock?) and I use those near (and at) the attachment end. Saves lots of walking. Link shows a couple of types, I have both brass and plastic ones, and have never had leaks or drips from either type.

Here is a link that might be useful: hose connections
britania
19 years ago
My perfect hose would "AIRBOURNE" instead of on the ground. This would help stop it catching on everything in sight and tying itself into the wonderful "Kinks" that I constantly have to walk back to, to correct.

Also, the hose would stay UNTANGLED!!! (the way it was when I stored it) and not give me a hard time getting into KNOTS, when it was time to be used.

It would stretch, if I needed to travel 200ft, and automatically retract if I only needed 5ft

And for an extra $25.00 it would water my plants while I was on vacation
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
19 years ago
Back in the 1960's when hoses were $1.29 at the superdrug store I bought a Craftsman brand $24 hose at Sears. It lasted for 30 years outside in the sun all summer with the pressure on and frozen solid in the winter. Finally had to sell it at a yard sale for three bucks.

Do they make that kind anymore?
dreamweaver_
19 years ago
Albert...
Sure do. My son bought me one about 10 or 15 yrs ago, it's received the same treatment as yours & it's still as good as the day I got it.
Only bad part...they are a bit heavy to pull around.
jkirk3279
19 years ago
I've heard that if you make your own they last longer.

This topic came up once before. Someone said that the best hose he ever had was from a dairy farm and made from clear 1" tubing.

That got me thinking. I may go buy some PEX and make up some homebrew hoses this year.
becky_jean
19 years ago
For the past 2 years, Sam's has had really heavy duty, long, black hoses. We've gotten 2 & love them. The end couplings are even heavy duty. We bought one of those roll up cart looking things for one of them & just put the other one on a hose minder attached to the outside wall. Think I saw them at Sam's again the other day & am thinking I'll go ahead & get one more!
oldfarmer
19 years ago
Look for a 3/4 inch hose. They are a little hard to find and are expensive but they are invariably well made. They will cost at least double what a good 5/8 hose costs. They also carry a lot more water at the same pressure.
MLcom
19 years ago
I have shut off valves on mine, and agree the Sears rubber ones are great. My idea isone that does not kink, or freeze up in the dead of winter. Horses need water even if it is only 10 degrees outside.
Eliza_ann_ca
19 years ago
I want one that never kinks or catches on something whenever you are pulling it along.I swear I "cuss" more on garden hoses that anything else in the summertime.
Now if mother nature would give us a good soaking every night between 2 and 6 in the morning....THAT would be the perfect garden hose!!!
Eliza Ann
Flowerkitty
19 years ago
Here's the one on my wish list - drinking water safe! If you look at the labels of most hoses they warn not to consume water from the hose. I think they are made with recycled toxic junk. Plus, this one is made in USA

Here is a link that might be useful: Best Garden Hose
Railroader
18 years ago
Who makes or sells a good non kinking 3/4" hose, I have bought two from Home Depot, and and looked at some from Lowes, and one from Orscheln's Farm supply, none were non kinking. Sam's or Walmart don't seem to carry 3/4" hose, at least not in my area. Thanks
ALPSin_NY
18 years ago
Adding to Flowerkitty's "made in the USA" would be one that is NOT purchased from Wal-Mart!!
sandy0225
18 years ago
my ideal hose would be "cordless". Maybe some kind of a sending unit on the faucet that would "beam" the water over to me at the nozzle! ha ha ha
Actually, the hose doesn't seem to matter, I just use a lot of those "hose guides" to keep the hose from killing what I'm trying to save. I have those things all over the yard, in all the corners of the flowerbeds. The best ones are the ones that look like pineapples that my hubby got me for christmas from Lowe's. They are cute, and work well, too.

what is your ideal watering hose?

Comments (16)

jannie

meldy_nva

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