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 Post subject: Drip vs Sprinkler
PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:00 am 
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Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:17 am
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Location: Canyon Lake,TEXAS
What is best way to water garden if your not supposed to use drip irrigation?


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 Post subject: Re: Drip vs Sprinkler
PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:11 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:09 pm
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Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS
It's not that you're "not supposed" to use drip irrigation - it's that drip irrigation needs more attention than people realize. You shouldn't just lay it out and run it on a timer and ignore it.

Lay it out in such a way that it doesn't let water pool in places where the it isn't needed and misses other spots leaving them too dry. I use soaker hoses on raised beds by creating a small shallow trench around and between the plants in the raised bed. But in the gap between the raised beds the soaker hoses drips onto the path and allows weeds and grass to grow faster in the path. To make it most efficient I should run it through raised beds in a continuous way so water doesn't pool where it isn't needed. Drip irrigation has many of the same problems as soaker hoses.

Whatever method you choose to get the water there, do it wisely. If you can, water deeply and infrequently (turf, for example). If the vegetable garden needs more water more often, schedule it so the water does the most good - water before dawn so it has time to soak into the ground before the sun hits and starts to dry out the beds.

There is no one right answer, it's mostly that putting out soaker hoses or drip irrigation and ignoring them is the wrong answer. Does that help? Customize your watering to your situation.

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 Post subject: Re: Drip vs Sprinkler
PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:49 am 
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Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:08 pm
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Location: Canyon Lake, Texas
Thanks for quick response! I used soaker hoses last spring and had good results except at times rows got too wet and between rows were a problem. This fall I have covered my garden plot w/ about 3 inches of mulch ( Mulch is free at the county here ) Plan on clearing path for rows and leaving the mulch between the rows. Was going to use drip irrigation instead of soaker hoses for more control. For the fall I am just going to hand water each morning. I am in central Texas and it has been super hot & no rain. I use a cover over tomatoes to cut the heat and it seems to work. Does all this seem like a overkill, or am I on the right track? (Have Compost pile for rows and Dirt Doctor Juice)


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 Post subject: Re: Drip vs Sprinkler
PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:35 am 
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Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:09 pm
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Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS
It sounds like you're doing fine - and if you have the time to hand water, that's excellent for keeping the garden at the right level of moisture. There are lots of resourceful tricks you can try to keep the soaker hoses from drenching areas that don't need so much moisture (I use stacks of bricks in my garden to anchor hoses, to prop up hoses, to hold sprinklers in place, etc. I fish them at every spring when I dig out the grass and start over again.)

We got rain today in North Texas - maybe some is headed your way.

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