If you have a garden in a compound or just a small section with plants or lawn, you need to find an efficient way of watering them for their fast growth. In this case, setting up a soaker hose could be the right solution. But do you know how to set up a soaker hose system?
Firstly, you need to collect all the necessary things to set up a soaker hose system. Secondly, ensure the hose is loose enough for easy placement. Connect the hose with a water source and flush it with running water. Stretch the hose, adjust the pressure to get a steady drip.
Actually, it’s a step by step process that you need to do to get a successful installation. Without further ado, let’s talk about how to set up a soaker hose system in detail.
Ways to Set up a Soaker Hose System: Top 6 Steps to Use
A soaker hose is a very good method for drip irrigation. But without knowing its proper installation process, you can’t get a fruitful outcome. Before starting the installation process, ensure you have all the following things.
Things You Need to Use a Soaker Hose System
- A soaker hose
- A Pressure regulator
- Water source
- Landscape fabric pins
- Electronic timer
If you want to set up a soaker hose, the following steps could be a great help for you.
Step 1: Collect a Good Brand of Soaker Hose
All soaker hoses are not the same, and they will differ in their length, weight, and pressure rating. With the many options out there, it is important to make sure that you choose the best soaker hose for your garden.
It’s worth spending a few bucks on good equipment. You can probably get away with using any soaker hose your local store sells, but I don’t usually see wide options in my local stores. 3/8″ diameters are commonly sold in my area locally.
If you want to run your system for a shorter time, you’ll want a 1/2″ diameter hose. In that case, you can find it in big stores.
Step 2: Connecting a Backflow Prevention Device
Keep drinking water safe by connecting a backflow prevention device. If there is a sudden drop in water pressure on your street, the Fire Department uses a fire hydrant. You can also use it to prevent backflow.
Water can flow backward from your soaker hose into your indoor pipes. This is what supplies your drinking water to prevent this from happening by connecting a backflow device to your faucet first.
Step 3: Slow the Flow
Add a pressure reducer before connecting your soaker hose to keep water under control. If your hose is still spraying, try turning your faucet down.
The pressure reducer is a super common mistake. That prevents a soaker hose from working efficiently. So keep the pressure right and reduce its flow.
You may get somewhat more even pressure from your loop system with a low-volume flow. In a little flower garden, the end-cap method works fine.
Step 4: Get Help From a Friend to Open and Stretch the Hose
Use a friend to unwind and stretch out your soaker hose in the warm sunshine. Let it sit for about half an hour, and it will be as relaxed. It can be easy to set around your plants.
Step 5: Keep It Level.
Soaker hoses work best on flat ground. They can distribute water evenly to all the plants. If you do not have flat ground and your Slope is too steep, you may use pressurized drip irrigation.
A soaker hose can help your water efficiently if you follow these steps and avoid these common mistakes.
Step 6: Use Correct Spacing
Lay your hose out in fairly straight lines and avoid wrapping the hose in loops around the plant. You do not need to encircle the roots with moisture for sandy soil.
Lay the lines 12 to 18 inches apart in clay or loam soil and space them further apart 18 to 24 inches. The spacing should be closed if the plants are new since the roots won’t be long enough to reach the wide spacing.
After you lay your soaker hose, use a mulch of wood chips or compost right on top of the soaker hose. It will hold in the water and help moisture spread throughout the soil. This step also answers your question of how far apart to set up a soaker hose system.
Read More: Can Soaker Hoses Be Left Out in the Winter
How to Avoid Common Mistakes When Setting up a Soaker Hose System?
I think you can avoid common mistakes when setting up a soaker hose system by using the following two devices.
- Use Landscape fabric pins for a soaker hose.
Place them over to the soaker hose. They will pin it flat to the ground. So you can run over it with the lawnmower.
- Use an Electronic timer for a soaker hose.
Every time it gets rain or heat, you have to remember to water every other night, every third night.
If you like me and you get forgetful or are busy, sometimes forgetting can be a problem, so that you can use these electronic timers. These electronic timers are available in any home improvement store.
Video Instruction: How to Use a Soaker Hose for Drip Irrigation
Related FAQ: How to Use a Soaker Hose Irrigation System
Question 1: Would I put the soaker line underneath the straw or above if I use a straw for mulch?
You put the soaker hose on top of your soil and then cover it with straw or other for your mulch.
Question 2: Would this still need to be necessary if I have a sprinkler system?
Sprinkler systems can help maintain, but they are designed to get water to your grass and plants, and very little thought is given to how the system will transmit water to the foundation of a home.
Therefore, using your sprinkler system is not always good, so we encourage you to use soaker hoses to irrigate your garden.
Soaker hoses are like leaky hoses that allow it to seep out on all sides directly into the soil where the roots need it. If used properly, the soaker hose does not spray.
Question 3: If I have a female connector at the end of the soaker hose, why do I need a splitter there?
You use a splitter to create a closed-loop which will allow water to enter the hose from both ends; also, only turn the water on the one-quarter hose, low pressure.
These two key points should help you get even water distribution from luck! Your entire soaker hose.
Question 4: How often should you use it? Every day? Every other day?
Depending on the condition of the soil, a soaker hose must run it daily during the dry season. But if it rains, it does not need to be run, in which case the soil dries up, and it has to be run again.
Final Verdict
Many of the issues you may experience in your garden due to uneven watering. Finally, installing a soaker hose system could be a worthy solution.
When you connect the soaker hose, you want to take them around your house as far as possible. However, these soaker hoses can only go properly up to about 150 feet.
If you want to cover more distance than this, you can connect the pipe like 100 feet, 50, or 75 feet. It is advisable to take the experts’ help if you feel it is difficult for you to set up.
