Truly the best use for an old hose! Great repurpose.

flaflwrgrl said:Truly the best use for an old hose! Great repurpose.

Mine is a 75 ft hose, more or less as it had been repaired and had a section missing. We drilled 1/4 inch holes at about 1 ft intervals. With good water pressure, it leaks pretty well for most of it's length. I think that 1/8 inch holes spaced closer would have been a little better.

Thanks, Ann and Jean.

Hi Mary! Actuallly, there were times during the drought this summer when I wished the holes were a bit bigger. It takes a loooong time to get the ground soaked when it's so dry.

When I told DH about this idea, he was happy to hear it. During the summer we have a do-it-yourself watering system which consists of soaker hoses, that sometimes spring leaks and aren't too effective. This always happens just as you are about to get into the car for a month's trip and you see a "fountain" of water spraying up! We also have some "drippers" by plants. The critters like to chew on these, so watering becomes a hassle. Water is so expensive here that we really want to water those plants/shrubs that would die otherwise in the 100 degree weather we experience in the summer.

I'm well acquainted with the frustration of seeing yet another fountain shoot up from soaker hoses. Hope my idea works for you and hubby, Jean. If you currently have a regular hose with a leak, be sure to assess the leak to make sure it's not already a fountain.

Will do, Larry. This summer has really been frustrating with the drought. Don't know how many of our azaleas were lost, but will wait until spring before pulling any of them out.

I can relate to that, Jean. I lost 15 columnar buckthorns, a cherry tree, and a plum tree. We had the worst drought in all my 56 years of gardening.

I hope your azaleas will surprise you and all come back to life in spring.

Me too, Larry. There were lots of trees that didn't make it her this year. July is usually the worst month here, but so was June, August and September. We still need rain and lots of it.

I guess this is something like what we call 'drip irrigation'? Am I right?

I love this idea Larry! The best thing is, this idea leaves no worries about keeping those flat soakers actually right side up!

Thanks a bunch!

Bought the Sears Craftsman hose, about 15 years ago, still working no leaks...and when they leak, you take them back for another hose, only had to do that once.

Many thanks for your comments, Dana and RJ!

Thanks for a very good idea!

You're very welcome, Caroline!

I cut up some of my old hoses into short lengths, like 15-20 feet. That calls for a lot of "hose repair" kits, and they vary widely in quality.

Then I attach those short lengths to some 3/4" and 1/2" "irrigation mainline" that I've run around my yard, using Tee fittings and also Y-shaped hose fittings with two valves each. Those can be plastic, pot metal or brass, from $2.50 to $10 each.



3/4" black PVC mainline
1/2" black PVC branch
short length of cut-up garden hose.
compression Tee fitting, black plastic
brass 2-valve "Y"
EZ-LOC 1/'2" hose thread fitting
hose-end-repair kit

Then I put a hand-sprayer on each short length of hose. That lets me spot-hand-water anyplace, with only a few steps to get to the nearest hose length.

Now I NEVER have to drag a hose ANYWHERE, and I have irrigation mainline wherever I want to add a sprayer, spinner, "Shrubbler" or dripline.

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