Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeReal
... A wider area of watering from the spray and how the soil absorbs them would be tremendously better than having several single point drip emitters. ...
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That's correct, especially when applying water on top of mulch, using topical fertilizers, etc.
I have found that the newer 5/8 soaker hose (recycled tire rubber variety) emits quite a bit of water, spraying an area 10 or more inches each side of the hose --
when you remove the flow control disk and connect the hose in a loop. The hose is sold under both the Fiskar brand name and under the store name at Ace Hardware.
Warning: if you splice together multiple sections, use only the built-in hose couplings. If you try (chagrin) to splice using hose repair parts, the
inserted fitting will increase pressure upstream and hence most of your water will be emitted in that section.
For cooling down banana plants and others tropical fruit trees, I have seen growers successfully run 1/4 inch tubing up the tree / pseudostem and place multiple foggers in situ. Of course, the water supply line needs to be out of the sun so that you are not giving them a hot shower!
Here's some photos of 5/8 inch irrigation I use in a home orchard mini-course. The first is a row of beans in the fall, the second a new grape vine in the fall, and the last two show detail of the hose parts.
