[therickmoister]

I have a veggie garden consisting of 18 raised beds 5m x 1m. 12 of these are covered with cloches. At the moment they are watered using a timer and a flat pvc soaker hoses connect to a 3/4" hose coonected to the mains. I am in the process of changing to using collected rainwater 3 IBCs. Does anyone know or have experience of a specific type of leaky hose that will work without mains pressure or a pump. Thanks in advance.

[Lius]

I have been experimenting last summer with a watering system for gravity supply from a rainwater tank.

What I have come up with which seems to be the best solution is 20mm PVC pipe with holes drilled every 150mm to match the squares in my "square foot" raised beds see attached. The holes are 1.5mm diameter angled upward 45deg from horizontal (ground). The PVC pipes are 600mm apart and joined together at each end for stability with a hose connector at one end. I get two 1.5mm holes spraying on the center of each 300mm X 300mm square and this seems to soak the entire bed nicely. The PVC pipes are sturdy and can be disconnected via the hose connectors, removed for digging and hung in the shed for the winter. (see picture below)

I didn't have much use for the system with the wet summer last year and did not have the rainwater tank as the water charges hadent started yet. I tested it on the mains water with a reducing valve on the hose set to simulate the gravity head from a tank and it worked well.

I also bought the soil humidity switch shown at the link below and a solenoid valve so that the system would water itself only when the ground got dry and shut-off when it was wet enough to save wter.

http://www.kemo-electronic.de/en/House/Garden/M173-Soil-Humidity-sensor-12-V-DC.php

maybe we will get a good summer this year and I will be able to test it out more.

[My Potatoes]

They have seep hoses in Lidl at the moment:
http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-AEB963B5-B64DD54A/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/index_29604.htm

I've no idea what they're like but I thought you might like to know.

[Lius]

That type of seep hose will only work under a bit of pressure i.e. when connected to the mains water. I tried a similar one last summer when testing and could not get anything out of it under low pressure (like a gravity rainwater takk would provide).

[tunnelsofhens10]

I agree with Lius, Useless under gravity feed. Like your own setup, might try something similar in the tunnel from an ICB. The ones MP is refering are not to bad under pressure.

[davidk]

[dormouse]

It's a bit late now but the soaker hoses from Lidl work perfectly well with an IBC tank. Mine is raised about 1 meter and creates enough bar to get a good flow. I used it all through last summer and didn't have to water my 20 x 10 tunnel at all by hand.
Both Lidl and Aldi have water timers at the moment btw, might be of interest

[Greengage]

if the supply is higher than the hose it will work.

[tunnelsofhens10]

As long as the IBC is topped up. The lower the water the lower the pressure, it did"nt work in my tunnel consistently, (24x14) I would"nt trust it enough to go on holidays. (The tap and a timer worked here) I use a hose, a pump, and water by hand from the IBC, and, I sleep very soundly at night. (When the pressure in the IBC drops, the plants at the 2nd half of the tunnel will suffer if your depending on gravity feed) Anyway, the watering,feeding, side-shooting and watching are all part of the pleasure of success. PS, I"M planting a few plants (New to me) of tomato which you pick green in October, wrap in tissue, keep in a cool place, take out as you need over the winter, place in a bowl with a ripe banana, and OLA! is supposed to taste the same as a tomato straight from the vine. It"s called Long Lasting, surprise,surprise, Will keep you informed.

[dormouse]

The pressure does drop as the water level in the tank goes down but it still works fine. I was pleasently surprised how little pressure the soaker hoses needed to work. One thing I forgot to mention that you need to do to avoid pressure dropping in part of the hose, as happened in the 2nd half of your tunnel, is that you need to have the water running in a circuit. LIdl have Y splitter connectors in at the moment. I used one of these, so I have the soaker hose leaving one connector, snaking round the tunnel and returning to the other one. Running the water in a circuit equalises the pressure all along the hose and gives even watering. Voila

[tunnelsofhens10]

Thanks Dormouse, Will try same.