Hi Mary,

Yes, My whole yard is run with a drip system. It's wonderful and I love it!! It's also on an automatic timer system so once it is ON...I just check periodically for problems with the drip ends,etc...It runs for a designated time/day,etc...this year I am changing it to run twice a week but a longer drip time. I also live where it gets hot/humid in the summer.

I wonder about the same thing as you wrote about-does the water extend out further then where it drips. Can anyone answer that question?

Mary - I would not be without these. I have them currently in the new bed under the huge balsam (read dry part-shade), and plan to add emitters for the pots I put out. Eventually, as budget allows, all of my beds will have them. I leave them on a slow trickle all the time. I am on a well-system, and it seems to be just fine. Now that I have decided that the lines are where I want them, I will bury them. I think that is the trick - to make sure they are getting the important bits before you finalize. The water then soaks out from there, and the roots will go to the source. I don't use the ones that spray, but rather the ones that sweat though the pipe/tube. I saw this system years ago at Dizzy World. In the heat and humidity of the FL summer, the impatience still wilted from the heat, but the gardeners there said they were not damaged, and came back when the mid-day heat subsided.

It will definitely cut down on your watering chores, and make your plants much happier!!

Nancy.

Like Beca and Nancy, I wouldn't be without drip hoses. I put the much over them with the end where I can remember them and find them (lol). They work great and don't lose water to evaporation as does a sprinkler!

I use soaker hoses - similar concept. After the plants have been established for a few years, I rarely need to run them. But my climate is different.

As for the soil moisture question - apparently what happens is as the water soaks in, it starts spreading horizontally as well as vertically down. So what you end up with is sort af a triangle with the hose at the peak but water spread out so the wider base is where the plant roots are. One way to check is after the hose has run for a while, dig a hole somewhere and see how far down and wide the water has penetrated.

I've used the type that are made from recycled rubber that just weep, they didn't do a good job for me so took them out.

We are going to install an automatic watering system on a timer in one section of the garden that has several beds in the next week or so. Still trying to decide which emitters to use, I'm thinking the type where the water just bubbles out every couple of feet.

Hopefully someone who has this kind of system will chime in with what they have used.

Annette

Cyn - good point about knowing where they are! I have more than once put the garden fork through the hose!! Thank god for duct tape!

Nancy.

I use a soaker hose (recycled tires - weeps). I find I get a lot more water near the source and less towards the end of the hose. I think part of the problem is the need to maintain a certain amount of pressure to get water to come out the whole length of the hose. I use it where a regular hose won't reach.