Have a great invention to help with gardening? Are you the self-reliant type that prefers Building It Yourself vs. buying it? Share and discuss your ideas and projects with other members.
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April 15, 2009 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Mid-Ohio
Posts: 847
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Watering-soaker bucket?
Is it possible to make a slow leak bucket as a substitute for a soaker hose? I'm thinking of placing a series of 5 gal buckets along my row, filling them, letting them drain slowly and then moving them on down the line the next day. I have the buckets, but not the $$ for soaker hoses.
Anybody done this? what size holes and how many in the bottom of the buckets? |
April 15, 2009 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NJ Bayshore
Posts: 3,848
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Dcarch will have blueprints in an hour !!!
~ Tom
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My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~ H. Fred Ale |
April 15, 2009 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 2,618
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tomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomato matomato tomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomato matomato tomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomato matomato |
April 15, 2009 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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My version of a soaker hose: take an old hose that has been
semi-retired for decrepitude but has somehow not made it to the landfill yet (you can check Craig's List for these, but that requires some patience), trail it around the plants, and poke a hole in it near the base of each plant with an icepick or some other little pointy tool. Cap the male end with a 50 cent hose end cap from a hardware store. Good to go. Edit: Sometimes these will roll a bit when water pressure is applied, and the holes will act like sprinklers instead of drip emitters. I just drop a couple of handfuls of mulch on it and weigh it down with a brick right there when that happens.
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-- alias Last edited by dice; April 16, 2009 at 05:21 AM. Reason: sp, addenda |
April 15, 2009 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Z8b, Texas
Posts: 657
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dcarch, draw me a picture from my thoughts!
Working Name: "Soaker Hose Contained" 1) old garden hose, snaked around plants. 2) slash/poke holes in hose, in places nearby plants. 3) thread a half gallon or gallon milk jug on the hose so you use the hole in the top, and a circular hole cut a through the bottom. Lay the jugs down on their sides. 4) cut slashes for water to leak through on the one side that touches the soil only, near the plants. So that the plants don't get water on the foliage when you don't want them too. 5) remember to show the sprinkling water coming out of the holes in hose, contained inside of the plastic milk jugs; leaking down into the soil from the slashed holes. Do you think you can manage to show me a picture of my thoughts? ~* Robin
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It's not how many seeds you sow. Nor how many plants you transplant. It's about how many of them can survive your treatment of them. |
April 16, 2009 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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See above (I edited my post to account for this problem).
I do weigh these down with bricks and scatter mulch along them. One could bury the hose with dirt, but I like to be able to lift up the mulch and see how much water is coming out of it where exactly when I turn the water on. I turn it on once after laying it out to see if it needs new holes anywhere for where the plants are in the bed this year.
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-- alias |
April 17, 2009 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: West Monroe, LA
Posts: 40
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TZ, my grandfather used drip buckets for many years until he purchased a drip irrigation system for his garden. He mainly grew Better Boys, and the buckets worked like gangbusters! He would simply sink a bucket next to a plant at planting time and fill the bucket whenever it emptied. Of course, his drip irriagation system was awesome, too. He had the luxury of a well, and could water without worrying about his water bill.
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Kerry |
April 18, 2009 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 1,818
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I use 5 gallon water bottles. I think there's 3 pinholes poked around the side and a couple in the bottom.
Why not do one now and sort of test it out to see how many holes you need?
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Barbee |
April 23, 2009 | #9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Woodstock GA
Posts: 418
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I did that for the past two years. I like it works great, plus my daughter is better at filling up the containers vs. be let loose to water the ground the plants me her the dog the wagon the wheelbarrow etc....lol
The white roofing material worked great but I threw it away as it ripped a bunch when I pulled it off....only cause I gut all of the squares in it....this year i'll mulch for weed control..... The first year i grew toms... |
April 23, 2009 | #10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Z8b, Texas
Posts: 657
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oooooooooo.......... nice pics Harley! Nice. I do that type of watering thing with one gallon water jugs and a bamboo stake stuck in the jug, right through and into the ground. I see I can/should go bigger!
Need to get more cat litter in those 5 gallon jugs! I've been using them to keep my plant nutrients in, a few of them I've been using as planters. And the clothes line idea is what I'm using this year too. Only thing different is they're strung up between these two Iron T shaped posts that someone left there from years ago. Thanks for those pics Harley!! ~* Robin
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It's not how many seeds you sow. Nor how many plants you transplant. It's about how many of them can survive your treatment of them. |
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