best way to water ?

[ericasl]

What is the best was to water watermelon, cantalope, pumpkins?? I have a 20x20 patch and I have been out there fighting my soker hoses, trying to get it right. Well lets just say the hose is winning.. How bad is it to use a sprinkler?? Or do I need to go fight the sokers some more?

Thanks
Erica

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

We set a irrigation system using 3/4" PVC pipe and shrub bubblers. We make small hills for each of the plants and each plant/hill has a bubbler. This seems to work well.

I would not recommend using sprinklers because most curcubits are susceptible to powdery mildew especially when they don't have a chance to dry out.

Unfortunately these plants need a lot of water of produce fruits so this is always a challenge.

 

[Tutter]

I don't overhead water mine, either. And yes, soaker hose can be a pain, depending.

Good luck, I'm sure it will be worth the effort to get them the water they need, once you are eating homegrown melons....which are the very best!

 

[Beekissed]

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of trouble are you having with your soakers? I plan to utilize a soaker system if needed and I would like to know all the pros and cons of each type.

 

[ericasl]

Well my problem was trying to get water all the way down the soaker hose! Well it was my own fault I had two hoses hooked together and to get it all the way to the end of the hose I had to have the water going to fast. Flood at the start and no water at the end. So I had to just run the hoses on different lines not all hooked together. It is just going to take more time to water now I am going to have to do it in two sections, but I hope it works.

 

[Beekissed]

Has anyone here made their own drip/soaker hoses out of old garden hoses? Did they work well? I had read about doing this before but can't find the magazine in which I found it.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

They aren't as pliable as real soaker hose but work well.

We added some holes to it using a fossil pick (I'm sure any pointed object should work) and capped it.

The dogs made the first hole into the hose to begin with. I guess if we left it with them long enough we wouldn't of had to add any holes!

 

[Beekissed]

That is soooooo funny that you said that!!! The hoses to which I am referring were punctured by my pup last year!!! I thought I was the only one with an obsessed hound! Goes to show you, there is nothing new under the sun... :watering

 

[Tutter]

Even though we had a filter, ours clogged. We put in 2,500', and had to finally remove it.

The water began reducing how far out the water spread. We tried to put 3 per bed width, but it didn't help. It's the minerals in our water.

Also, we had tiny roots growing into the holes in a season.

I always liked soaker hose in the past, but for our purposes now, in the main garden, it's just not practical.

Now the hose with holes in it; I've done that, years ago, thanks also to a mouthy pup...and it worked well just for a section of kitchen garden!

 

[ams3651]

I used a srpinkler on my watermelon and pumpkin last year and had no proble. I turned them on early in the morning so they had plenty time to dry out. Dont know how many you have but back in the day I used to help my grandfather fill up gallon jugs he had set next to each plant with a nail hole in one corner.