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I know some of you use drip lines. How many of you HH use drip lines?? How many of you use something else and like it?? I'm getting ready to build a water system and need advise. I have a 3600 sq foot garden. I am growing 6 plants in 600 sq feet each and another in 300 sq feet. I am also growing a 300 sq foot veggie garden with some stuff in it. What water system seems to work the best??

Thanks everyone!

Martin

2/5/2010 12:16:04 PM

Ohio

http://www.starrfarms.net/sprinklerguide.htm

2/5/2010 1:16:09 PM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Going to be doing that this year, aka Brooks' link to Thad Starr's ... and some pointers from Tom Privitera too!

2/5/2010 2:30:35 PM

Ohio

Yea, I really like that set up he has, I changed mine after I seen his.

Martin, all the parts you need for that set up can be found at

http://www.extremepumpkinstore.com/

and the parts arnt expensive is the good part. Once you get it set up you will have that watering system for many years.(I take mine apart then store it for the winter).

But well worth the money and well worth the time you save instead of hand watering, especially when you can be doing other things in the patch.

Only thing you might have a little more money tied into that kind of system is the PVC pipe it self, but its still not going to cost you a fortune.

2/5/2010 4:40:03 PM

Thanks for the info Brook. how much snow you got in Ohio??We got around 3 feet of it here. How does eveyone else water there plants??

Martin

2/6/2010 6:38:34 PM

Rhode Island

warm water early by hand when plant is still small.( being carefull not to get the plants new leaves wet or they could burn from the suns reflection)

hand held hose with fine spray when plant is between 25 and 100 sq ft.

overhead sprinklers as needed from 100 sq ft on up to pollination and frut set time.

from fruit set on out we continue to hand water from well water and/or water from three water tanks which we use for biological and fertalizing soil drenches.

we water mid mornings and/or early afternoon as needed so the plants have a chance to dry off before evening.

we do not water the main vines of our plants at any time during the season unless mother nature provides it.

in 2010 we will also be watering less around the base of plants as well ( to hopefully prevent the foaming stump issues )

i have tried soaker hoses in the past and they do work well. same with misters ,etc.
i have found however that sometimes less is more. i concentrate on seeds, soil,insect and disease prevention,plant maintainence and training, pushing the pumpkins growth,etc, and do the watering (as needed ) by hand/

2/7/2010 10:08:27 AM

Thanks pap!!

2/7/2010 11:03:37 AM

Quebec

pap- how do you protect new growth from sun

2/7/2010 11:45:36 AM

Preston CT

over head watering here

2/9/2010 2:08:08 PM

Cameron

We watered overhead for most of the season, with a garden hose & a hand-held firehose type nozzle. It takes just a few minutes a plant. A light rain-like spray so we don't damage the leaves. Always done in the early morning. We avoid watering directly on the stump & keep back @ 2' from it. The plants are always dried off by the afternoon. Most water we use is rainwater, followed by well water or creek water, depending on it's availability. Rain water is prefered though.

Jane & Phil

2/10/2010 9:40:16 AM

France

I used only drip Lines to bring water and fertilizers to each plant. So leaves are never wetted and soil is not compacted at all like sprinklers do. The other good advantage is less weed growing. However , the whole system ( connectors, big tube, filter etc...) is more expensive than sprinklers and need more time to set up.

2/10/2010 6:34:22 PM

Fresno, CA

What type of soaker hose or drip line is best. There are hoses that are porous all over, hoses that have regularly spaced holes, hoses that have emitters built in and drip lines where emitters have to be inserted. I'm not sure which would be best.
-j-

3/22/2010 10:34:54 PM