http://www.greenhousegrower.co...

Apopka Florida is the indoor foliage capital of the world. Most greenhouses have automatic watering systems. But every day a human grower goes around with the water hose. Commercial grade hoses have more rubber and less vinyl. Since I use my own garden hose at home in the yard almost every day, we invested in a couple good (expensive) ones. I smile everytime I pick it up.

A hint from the growers who use a hose all day:
To pull the hose behind you, put your right hand in front with the spray end, and your other hand around to your back at belt-level grabbing the hose dragging behind and walk forward. This beats the old tugging-at- your-side method. It should feel like the hose is moving around as part of your body.

If spraying chemicals the commercial growers step backwards as they walk down the row to avoid exposure as much as possible. Surprising to know that commercial chemicals are usually not as toxic as the ones sold at the retail stores. The regulators assume that homeowners won't be exposed to chemicals all-day every-day. Certain exotic chemicals require a pesticide license to purchase and use.

In reference to paragraph two John, I do that with my hose everyday! It stays right where I want it to.

Great information, John. Thanks!

I just bought a new hose that is "green" and better for the environment.

It kinks.

Should have spent the same amount of money and purchased a non-kinking one. ~Jan

I wonder what the "talking points" were to support the claim to a hose being "green"? Just wondering. I tend to be a little green myself.

Hmm, all my hoses are green...although I did have a yellow one once.

Nessie is green. Inspired by this tip I snuck up on Nessie while she was snoozing in the sun yesterday and wrestled her into the recycling bin My new hose is black and she is still rolly from the store so I can't make her into 8s yet. She didn't kink though when I used her. I have called her 'Adder'

Glad to know I'm not the only one with hose issues! After using a neighbor's hose reel that uses water pressure to roll in the hose automatically, I invested in one for my front yard. This is the first year my hose has actually been put away properly after every time I water. It really works!

Unfortunately, I've only seen those gizmos for maybe 100' of hose. My backyard takes almost 200' of hose to reach to the back, so I'm still hand-rolling it up into its bin... well, every once in a while anyway. Mostly it stays in a heap or strung out along the patio where I have to water pots every day.

I too was not thrilled with the estimate for an automated watering system... though if we had the money I'd do it in a flash!

"Nessie" and "Adder"
Oh, wow, hand-rolling a 200 ft. hose sounds like a day-long project! That thing that uses water pressure to roll it up is something I never heard of...that would come in handy for alot of people.

Kelly's right. You guys who are hand-winding those hoses are living in the dark ages

Meet my handy dandy sink station, with self winding hose reel. I have 125' on hose on it, and it works like a charm. And the sink is pretty handy, too!



Karen

Ooo, very cool! Where'd you find that?

Santa brought it (that would be the year I sent Santa the direct link for it on Amazon ) It's probably the best thing I ever got from Santa. I don't see it on amazon now, but here
http://www.no-crank.com/siteFi...

Karen

ooooooooooo.

Oh Karen, way Fancier than mine! Mine is just a plain looking kinda narrow box, got it at lowes. Yours looks like it would be nice for my back yard though... will have to look and see if it's rated for longer reaches!

According to the link I posted, it will handle 150' of 5/8" hose. I have 125' on mine and it works fine.

Karen

Here is how we wrap our hoses. Hank (dh) made these with a little shelf to hold the sprayers. We have 6 of these spaced anywhere from 40 to 90 feet apart. The real blessing though, is the water source. We dug a pond about 900 feet to the left of this pedestal and ran water line to each hydrant. We did this during a severe drought where our water table was down 48 inches. It was terrible.

Cool, Vic!

And that's your brand new curb ya'll just put in, too! Looks Great!

Shoe