1/4' soaker tubing for vegtable garden

14 years ago

I had a sprinkler system put in last fall. I had them put in an extra "zone" (1/2" tube) and planned to attach a soaker hose and use it to water a vegetable garden. They gave me a 1/2" soaker tube with holes every 12 inches or so. I found this tube useless as it was not flexible enough and the watering was too spotty. In the past I have used a weeping type soaker hooked up to the garden hose and it worked great.

So, I would like to attach about a 50 ft length of the weeping type soaker to my irrigation line. I have found a source for 1/4" weeping soaker. My question is can I hook up this 1/4" soaker to my 1/2" feed tube and snake it through my vegetable garden? Will I have adequate pressure over the length? Also, is there a 1/2" weeping type soaker out there I could use to deliver more water? If so, would I have pressure concerns with the larger diameter?

Any information or advise would be very helpful.

Comments (4)

Michael
14 years ago
nict: I have found the weeping type hoses to deliver a lot more water at the upstream end than the downstream end. This condition may be even worse in a 1/4" tube. Also, the longer the tube from it's attachment point to the terminal end the worse the uniformity. Fifty feet would be pushing it. sometimes I'll make a loop where the tubing follows the plants you want watered and then the comes back along the same path until the low flowing end meets the beginning end. The total flow for the area is more uniform and you will have to adjust your irrigation time down to account for the increased flow. Yes, it takes twice as much tubing.

I do all of my irrigation with drip tape. If it is the same stuff you were talking about, drip tape doesn't bend very well and was never meant to. It does deliver water extremely uniformly though. Many tapes will deliver the same amount along entire lengths exceeding 1000 ft..

Drip tapes can be turned 90 degrees with elbows made for drip tubing but I gather you are talking more about a meandering sort of path in a 50 length. The weeping tubes work well for those meandering paths if you can tolerate the lack of uniformity. I buried 1/2" weeping tubes in my raspberry beds but the tubes are only 12' long, that short length lessens the uniformity problem.
dottyinduncan
14 years ago
Can you post a picture, or a link to drip tape please?
Related Professionals
Carson Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Garden City Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Athens Landscape Contractors · Cincinnati Landscape Contractors · Commack Landscape Contractors · Corona Landscape Contractors · Middleton Landscape Contractors · North Chicago Landscape Contractors · Rochester Landscape Contractors · Roseville Landscape Contractors · Salmon Creek Landscape Contractors · Wallingford Landscape Contractors · Raytown Landscape Contractors · Dana Point Solar Energy Systems · Irvington Solar Energy Systems
Michael
14 years ago
Certainly: here is one supplier I've never used. The supplier I use has no web site for ordering or pictures if you can believe that. Unfortunately, I don't remember their name and am not near the box with that information. some outfits sell garden kits for folks like you and me that include header pipe, fittings, an in-line screen (very important) and a pressure regulator. the rest of what they sell is usually for commercial farms with things like rolls of drip tape that are thousands of feet long. I usually can buy a roll from my supplier that is only 1000' and that will last about 3 years.

If you search for "drip tape" you should find other suppliers. Hope this gives you a good start. If you want a close up pic of some tape and the connectors I could take those for you if needed.

Michael

Here is a link that might be useful: drip tape supplier
grdmas
14 years ago
netafim