Soaker Hoses

Weather: More days when the afternoon temperature hit 97. Some plants showed signs of giving up. This was these shrubs third summer; they made it through last year’s heat and this past winters dry cold, but still weren’t strong enough. They’re like small children: if they had hard times when they’re young, they’re less resilient when conditions get bad.

Last useful rain: 6/16. Week’s low: 46 degrees F. Week’s high: 97 degrees F in the shade.

What’s blooming in the area: Hybrid roses, yellow potentilla, desert willow, trumpet creeper, bird of paradise, fern bush, silver lace vine, daylilies, lilies, red hot poker, red-tipped yuccas, Spanish broom, Russian sage, bouncing Bess, hollyhocks, datura, sweet pea, hollyhocks, yellow yarrow, cultivated sunflowers, coreopsis

What’s blooming in my yard: Miniature roses, buddleia, Maltese cross, golden spur columbine, coral beards tongue, large-flowered soapwort, Johnson Blue geranium, catmints, lady bells, sidalcea, winecup mallow, blue flax, tomatillo, pink evening primroses, white-flowered spurge, sea lavender, dark purple larkspur, white yarrow, chocolate flowers, blanket flower

What’s blooming outside the walls and fences: Tamarix, purple mat flower, stick leaf, white tufted evening primroses, velvetweed, bindweed, silver leaf nightshade, greenleaf five eyes, leather leaf globemallow, scurf pea, alfalfa, white sweet clover, tumble mustard, Queen Anne’s lace, Hopi tea, fleabane, common and native dandelions, goat’s beard, plain’s paper flower, golden hairy asters, Tahoka daisy

Bedding plants: Pansies, violas; local petunias

Tasks: One person cut his hay. I spent most of week in the house hiding from the heat and bad air. I only went out to water.

Animal sightings: Rabbit, hummingbirds, other small brown birds, brown toad, geckos, sidewalk ants, cabbage butterfly, bumble and small bees, hornets, other small flying insects, grasshoppers; heard crickets

Weekly update: One’s ability to grow anything in this part of the country is entirely dependent on others. If you’re not in the path of the ditch, that means you’re captive to poor manufacturing processes.

When I first moved here there were no big boxes, and no Amazon. If the local hardware or dime stores (and we still had TG&Y) didn’t carry something or sold out in spring and didn’t restock, you did without. I remember I could only find one of those two-way soaker-sprayer hoses one year, and never again.

What I did buy were some black soaker hoses made from recycled tires. They worked well, but when I needed to buy more the next year they had cheapened the manufacturing process. They either broke or had large holes. And, of course, the 5/8" hoses sold out and only 1/2" were left most of the time.

Then I discovered something odd. They worked fine in the spring, and failed in the summer. Last year, I cut one apart to see if lime or other debris had built up inside, but couldn’t find anything.

Then I considered the color of the hoses. A friend had warned me he had killed a rose when the water coming out of his garden hose was hot from sitting in the sun. I finally decided the water evaporated inside the hoses when the temperatures rose in June, as they did every year.

A few years later I found some soaker hoses made from fabric in a big box, and ordered more from Amazon. The big box only carried 25' lengths and I needed 50'. Again, the first ones worked well. Then, instead of one seam with small stitches on one side, the manufacturers changed to seams on each side with large stitches. Instead of the water filling the length of hose, and then seeping out through the fabric, it came out though the stitch holes.

I could still live with that, so long as I made sure my plants were aligned to the holes. But the next year, they used cheaper fittings that leaked as soon as they were installed. The hoses became worthless, and the only thing available locally was the black soakers that also didn’t work.

Last summer, after the ground squirrel destroyed so many of the hoses that had worked, I went looking for ideas on Amazon. This time I was able to buy the soaker/sprayers. But again, there were problems. A 50' foot hose wouldn’t deliver water, so I had to install two 25' hoses and a 25' feeder to the second.

Two brands were available on Amazon. There were a lot of complaints about the one having large holes at each end that sent the water high into the air and delivered nothing between. I bought brand B, and had the same problem. In addition, the inner diameter was larger than that in brand A, so the water simply didn’t build up enough pressure to spray with my water pressure.

I’m stuck with brand A, and have to replace a few when I buy them because of bad holes. I’ve discovered they also develop holes if the hose is bent at all. I know there are places where you can lay a hose flat in a straight line, but not in my yard.

Now it’s June. One never really knows if a hose works until the solstice. I have no idea if the material they used can withstand the dry heat we’re having, or if it will grow rigid and fail. Brand A seems to be putting out less than it was, but I finding the problem is sometimes plants have grown tall near it and divert the water so it no longer reaches where it did. When I find a hole, I just hope because it’s too late in the year to replace the ones under plants.

Notes on photographs:
1. Double pink hollyhock (Alcea rosea), 30 June 2018. I only planted singled ones. They perpetuate themselves by going to seed.

2. Big hole at the end of a soaker/spray hose, 8 April 2018. Both holes should be like the one on the right.

3. Recycled tire soaker hose, 12 June 2016. Water no longer is making it through the hose.
4. Failed connector on fabric soaker hose, 12 June 2016.
5. Comparison of two soaker/spray hoses, 15 April 2018. The top one is working better for me.