Sprinkler to Soaker Hose/Drip System

11 years ago

My project to convert an existing sprinkler zone to a drip or soaker hose system is taking me 3 months of research, with what is starting to seem like "no hope" results. The main reason is to properly water my herb garden. The majority of the sprinkler heads are in the back yard and area of the garden. For the most part, I am comfortable with converting the sprinkler heads to a drip system. My dilemma is that there are 2 sprinkler heads on that zone that are on the other side of the fence separating the backyard from the front/side yard. For the most part, I would be content capping them both off. But this is Texas and I'm concerned that the lack of water along that 10 foot span of the house, would have an effect the foundation, (I could care less about the grass). My thought now is to cap the one farthest from the house and to the one closer to the house, connect a soaker hose that would be buried along that portion of the house. But I can not find any information on that type of connection or if it is even possible while having a drip system on that zone as well. Anyone have any experience or knowledge of this?

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mixdplate
Original Author

11 years ago

Mahalo lehua13 for your quick response, but I am absolutely clueless on how I would go about connecting to another zone or creating a new one. And I sure don't want to spend another few months researching the "how to" on that. The soil is clay, so I would also like to keep any digging to a bare minimum. Your last question is valid. I figure I would need a pressure regulator and possibly an elbow fitting to connect to the soaker hose and bury it about 6" away from the foundation. But I'm not even sure if that kind of setup is possible or exactly what fittings are needed.

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Comments (6)

lehua49
11 years ago
mp,

This type of mix use for a zone is always a trade off. Check your zone flow rate and pressure to connect the two heads to another zone or create a new zone for it and balance the other lawn zones. Is your soil under and along the house edge clayey or sandy? With that info you will know what to do with that strip close to the house. Are you not sure what fitting to use when replacing a head to drip? Aloha
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Howdie all. I just finished installing the major elements of my sprinkler, and drip system. In thinking through how I want to set up the drip around my trees, I remembered that I once used soaker hoses connected to a regular hose for watering them. My issue is that I remember that soaker hoses require a very low pressure. While I have an adjustable pressure regulator on each of my lines, I wanted to ask if anyone had tried this before, and what their experiences have been. Thank you for your willingness to share your experiences with me.
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When I started my garden, I used soaker hoses. The roses were babies and the circles of hose around them were small. Then the roses started growing and compost and mulch had been put down several times on top of the hoses. Pulling the hoses up in order to enlarge the circle around each rose was a pain in the butt and tricky, often tearing the roots. The most serious issue with soakers is the type of soil you have. In clay soil the water from the soaker will spread wider before it flows downward. In sandy soil it doesn't spread as far before gravity pulls it down, so more circles of hose are needed to wet the same area and more water is required. I found them to be inadequate during the Florida summer with my sandy soil. In the winter of 2010 I switched to micro-sprinklers from Lowe's like Nanadoll described. I like the sprinkler heads, which are basically misters, because I have placed them so that the whole bed is watered, i.e., the whole root zone of the roses and companion plants which keeps the soil cooler and the microbes happier with no dry areas. It's a very flexible system in that connections are easily plugged if not needed, moved or added on. The different radiuses mean there is very little overspray and wasted water. My only problem with the micro system has been the squirrels. They chew into the connectors (and regulators, valves, hose-end converters, etc), creating geysers, loss of pressure and dry garden beds, so if you run the system while your still asleep (like I do) unless you test the system regularly, you won't know you have a problem until the plants start to decline. I have had to bury the connectors or wrap them in hardware cloth to protect them from the %^#%@$* squirrels. I also wrapped the 1/4" lines going to the pots because the squirrels would cut them. They chew off the top on the shrubblers (they spray in a wagon-wheel pattern) which creates a geyser. Also, some of the little connectors between 1/4" tubing & the 1/2" poly are tricky because there is a right way and a wrong way to insert them in the poly. If you insert the wrong end into the poly, it's not a secure connection and it will pop off - uh-huh, creating a geyser. So there is a learning curve to this system, but once you get the hang of it, it's great. I'm very happy with my micro system. I only have a .17 acre lot (60x125) that is all garden, and I used at least 400' of 1/2" poly. The great thing is that you can easily extend it which I have done. Pressure has not been a problem, and I have sprinklers about every 6' on both sides of the beds. But I have learned to despise squirrels with a deadly (I wish) hatred since they also chew the canes on my climbers constantly. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...
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I'm in the process of installing a micro system. I was somewhat intimidated by the system at first, but found it's not complicated at all. Lowes sells all the parts, adapters, etc. (FYI...10% discount for military, active and retired at the store. They don't advertise this much.) I started out hooking one zone into an outside faucet. Now I'm brave enough to tie into an inground zone we no longer use. Our county extension office (Hillsborough) offers workshops on micro irrigation. The following link gives good info too. Here is a link that might be useful: Micro irrigation
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Hi Marti, this is the info that came with some of our hoses. The manufacturer recommends spacing between soaker hoses based on soil type. On sandy soils the hose should be 1 to 1.5 feet apart. On loam soils, hose spacing should be 1.5 to 2 feet apart. And on clay soils spacing should be 2 to 3 feet apart. If you have a heavy soil, which is hard to dig, then use the 2 to 3 feet spacing as you wind or spiral the hosing in and around the plants to be watered. The manufacturer also indicates that the hose should be operated at low pressure and flow Â 10 to 30 pounds per square inch (PSI). However, this requires the addition of a pressure regulator at the supply end of the hose. Rather than attaching a pressure regulator, I suggest just barely opening the hose bib to obtain the smallest amount of water flow through the hose. Although not scientific, my tests have indicated that by just opening the hose bib slightly, the flow rate of water out the hose is about .6 gallons per foot-of-hose per hour. So, a 50 foot soaker hose would apply about 30 gallons of water per hour. Comparing this to the output of one gallon drip emitters on standard 3-foot spacings, the soaker hose applies double the amount of water over the same given time. The time needed to water with a soaker hose will depend in great part on the type of plants being watered. Trees require the longest soaking since their roots can extend down 3 feet. Small garden plants and ground covers need the shortest soaking since their roots extend down only 12 to 18 inches. The object is to allow the water to penetrate down to the rooting depth. When laying out the hose over the area to be watered, remember to watch spacing. When watering trees, start the soaker hose a few feet from the trunk. Spiral the hose out several feet beyond the edge of the branches. This will allow watering of a substantial portion of the roots. When watering shrub or ground cover beds, snake the hose through the area, extending the hose just a foot or so beyond the outermost branches. Turn the hose on and allow the water to run 30 to 60 minutes, then check the depth of wetting. You can do this by using a metal soil probe. A 3-foot piece of metal re-bar or a thick wooden dowel will work. The rod can be pushed through moist soil, but stops when dry soil is encountered. Measure the depth of wetting and adjust the watering time of the soaker hose accordingly. It may take several hours to properly water a tree. A final suggestion. Rather than run your soaker hose for a continuous time period, try running it in cycles Â one hour on and one hour off until the desired depth of wetting is reached. This will further slow the rate of application and increase absorption.
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lehua49
11 years ago
mp,

1. need flow and pressure of your mainline. Fill a 5-gal bucket with water from your water source and time the fill. Buy an inexpensive pressure gauge from the hardware or garden store that fits to your hose faucet($10-$15).
2. Has your irrigation been shooting away from your house or toward from the lawn. Do you have other vegetation along the house that has been irrigated(planter areas)?
3. Do you have or can you obtain a layout of your irrigation systems valve locations and zones with head counts? What model and brand of heads are you using to irrigate with?
4. Do you have money to have some work done by a professional licensed contractor? Your research can be used to discuss detail with the Contractor?
5. Are you willing to answer more questions and receive answers as the forum is more knowledgeable about your situation?
6. Or all you need is the details on how to hookup your sprinkler with a drip line?

Testing your patience quotient. Aloha
mixdplate
Original Author
11 years ago
Really not interested in doing any re-zoning or anything that intricate. This is a one woman project and want to keep it simple as possible. Just need a possible resolution for: "My dilemma is that there are 2 sprinkler heads on that zone that are on the other side of the fence separating the backyard from the front/side yard. For the most part, I would be content capping them both off. But this is Texas and I'm concerned that the lack of water along that 10 foot span of the house, would have an effect the foundation, (I could care less about the grass). My thought now is to cap the one farthest from the house and to the one closer to the house, connect a soaker hose that would be buried along that portion of the house." Mahalo!
lehua49
11 years ago
mp,

Sounds like a good plan to me. Go for it and see what transpires. Aloha
PRO
Laurie Brasnett
9 years ago
BTW I was looking for gardening advice and it appears my personal garden web has switched over to my pro page. I am responding as an amateur urban gardener only.
Hope our personal experience can encourage you. I lived on the clay of the Canadian prairies and has a SSW facing side yard that could not grow grass (too hot in summer with reflection off stucco home) so I planted thyme and let it go. The bees came and set up lots of hives underground, so you know it was dry. Best friends a girl gardener could ever have. No gophers, no snakes, no pests. The Burr oak trees thrived. The foundation was just fine. The entire house was on a manual operation system but I had valves installed inside the house. Likely if you have clay without any ancient rock coming up you will be just fine. Go for it. Shut off the water between houses and see what happens. Just mark where you close off lines in case you need to restore the original system.

When our house was newer we had some soil settling from the infill for excavation, but that was easily remedied by adding more and resloping. If you have heavy clay you could slope your side to create a simple gutter to drain front and back at the edge of your property line. Ensure your soil slopes away from the houses. You may want to add gravel for a walk way, which ants and trespassers do not like as much as paving blocks. If you are in a suburb with close neighbors you could work on a mutual beneficial no water zone with drainage to front and back. Hope this encourages you.

In our new location we have arid steppe again but the soil is sandy and rocky as we sit on an ancient river system. I have done all the line and layout (the fun dirty digging work) but hired a professional to work at the irrigation diverter. I do a lot of math as a K&B designer and felt hiring a pro irrigation brain to calibrate and assemble the additional pressure controls was money well spent.

Sprinkler to Soaker Hose/Drip System

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Sprinkler to Soaker Hose/Drip System

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