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Old April 15, 2009   #1
TZ-OH6
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Default 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?
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Old April 15, 2009   #2
Tomstrees
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Dcarch will have blueprints in an hour !!!

~ Tom
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Old April 15, 2009   #3
dcarch
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomstrees View Post
Dcarch will have blueprints in an hour !!!

~ Tom
Hahaha----
lookie here:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...773#post127773

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Old April 15, 2009   #4
dice
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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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Last edited by dice; April 16, 2009 at 05:21 AM. Reason: sp, addenda
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Old April 15, 2009   #5
Polar_Lace
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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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Old April 16, 2009   #6
dice
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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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Old April 17, 2009   #7
kerry.heafner
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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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Old April 18, 2009   #8
Barbee
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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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Old April 23, 2009   #9
harleysilo
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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...

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Old April 23, 2009   #10
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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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