How Long to Water Garden With Soaker Hose

Irrespective of the purpose for having a garden, you will need to find an effective method of irrigating you plants. You can use sprinklers, soaker hoses to deliver water to your plants. For many gardeners, using the soaker hose is the perfect way of delivering water to their gardens. It’s effective and convenient to use.

Many people have opined on the length of time people should water their gardens with a soaker hose. Some say 15 minutes is okay. Other say 15 minutes is a little bit long. Different answers have surfaced online and have been said offline, but do you think 15 minutes is okay or too short to water your garden with a soaker hose? Let’s find out as you read along.

What is Soaker Hose?

Soaker hoses are types of hoses with a rough-like surface that is used for transporting water. They are mostly constructed from tires, hence the look.

Soaker hoses, no doubt, are arguably the most important asset in a garden. Benefits of using a soaker hose, especially in the garden are many. The hose have tiny pores along the length that seep water slowly into the soil. This makes the soil to be evenly wet, but not waterlogged. It delivers water directly to the root, and no water is lost by evaporation.

How Long Should You Water Your Garden With Soaker Hose?

Watering your garden with a soaker hose depends on the type of soil and type of plant. A person who waters his plant on sandy soil for 15 minutes cannot advise another to water his on clay soil for the same amount of time. Clay soil and sandy soils have different water retention capacity.

One method you can use to measure the amount of water your garden needs to be watered is the depth moisture method. This method means testing the depth of water in the soil to determine the accurate amount of water needed. You can test the depth by simply watering the soil and digging a spade of soil out to see how deep the water has soaked the soil. A depth of 8 – 12 inches is what most gardeners desire, depending on the soil type.

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For example, if you sprayed water for 15 minutes and the water hasn’t soaked the soil, it mean you need to run more water. In that case, you need to increase the timing to 20 or 25 minutes.

How to Lay Down Your Soaker Hose in the Garden

When plants don’t receive water frequently, they develop strong roots, and if plants receive frequent water, the plant becomes shallow-rooted. There needs to be a balance and this is where soaker hoses come in.

Soaker hoses are porous, which allow water seep through the hose to the garden. This prevents wastage of water, excessive evaporation, and provide water from the plants. You should note that soaker hoses work best on a level ground. They distribute water evenly against sloped lands.

Depending on the plant and type of soil, setting up soaker hoses require spacing and planning. The following are steps you need to lay down the soaker hose to water plants.

What You Need

Soaker hose
Mulch
Garden trowel
Pressure regulator

Steps

Once you have your soaker hose, remove the end cap. Connect the hose to the faucet and run water for a few minutes. This is to flush out any dirt or debris that may have accumulated inside the hose.
Unhook the hose from the water faucet and replace the end cap.
If the crops and flowers are planted in a straight line, stretch the hose straight to lay the hose in the row. If the crops are not planted in straight lines, wriggle the hose in and out of the plant as you pass each plant. The hose should never be more than 100 feet. If it exceeds the required length, cut and connect to another water source.
If the plant have a shallow root, the hose should be positioned about 2 inches or less apart from the step.
Plants in sandy soil require more spacing than plants in clay soil. Soaker hoses should be 12 – 18 inches apart in sandy soil and between 18 – 24 inches in clay soil. Also, annual crops, regardless of soil types should have 12 – 18 inches spacing.
Hook the soaker hose to the water source. You can connect the hose directly to the faucet or connect to the faucet through a garden hose. Newer models of faucets come with backflow preventer to prevent dirty water from flowing back into the clean water. In case you are still using the old model, you must buy and connect to a backflow preventer.
Turn on the water and adjust the pressure until the water drips steadily. Soaker hose should maintain a constant working pressure of 10 – 12 PSI if you wish to connect to a pressure regulator.
Let the water run for 30 – 40 minutes. Dig a spot in the garden to determine the depth of soaking. This is where you use the garden trowel. Make sure the water covers about half the plant’s area. If the water hasn’t gotten to the depth, then you have to increase the timing and run more water.
You can run water into the garden once or twice a week for the amount of time you recorded during “step 8”. If you ran water for 45 minutes once, you can divide the timing into two to water the plants weekly.
Since soaker hoses are laid on the floor, you should cover with mulches. This is to avoid evaporation and avoid deterioration due to prolonged exposure to sunlight. However, the ends should remain exposed.

Note that if you don’t want to manually water your garden, you can set a timer to control the flow, which means at a certain period, the timer will be responsible for water flow. The danger of this method is you can have leaky faucets and you may be unaware because of the dependence on the timer.

Conclusion

There is no clearly defined length of time you need to allocate to watering your garden. It depends on a variety of factors. A person shouldn’t influence you on the length of time you need to water your garden with a soaker hose. Instead, carry out a test and determine how long you will spend watering your garden. Length of time you need to spend is important so that water can be delivered to the root of the crop directly. This will enhance the growth of your plants, as well as preserve the plant from getting root rot.