You won't increase the chances of diseases, which can happen if the leaves get wet. The biggest thing you have to remember is to turn off the water. But leaving the soaker on for eight hours would be enough for most plants.
Start running your soaker hose about 30 minutes twice a week. After a watering day, check your soil to see if the moisture has penetrated several inches, then adjust accordingly. When you find the magic number for your conditions, use a timer to water the same number of minutes every time.
If you forget to disconnect your hose before temperatures begin to drop, your hose can freeze, and suddenly you have ice in the spigot and pipes inside your home. Left unattended, the frozen water can continue to expand until it bursts the supply pipe leading to the spigot itself.
Soaker Hose Disadvantages
A soaker hose may degrade over a shorter period of time (4 years). The unregulated water release of a soaker hose is not as efficient (roughly 4lph per metre). Run in lengths up to 20-30 metres.
You should water your tomato plants thoroughly after planting and then about two times a week. In dry spells, water them more often. Drip or soaker hoses are best, and you can see I put them in my vegetable beds in the photo below.
TOMATO WATERING TIPS
Water in the morning to the keep the soil moist through the heat of the day. Always water at the base of the plant — watering from above invites disease. Check tomatoes growing in pots often since they dry out quickly. Be consistent — fluctuations in water supply lead to cracking and blossom end ...
Always test the soaker hose system before you finalize the yard's appearance. Don't outright bury the hose in the soil. Cover it with mulch so the water can still seep through with ease. Coil the hose around certain plants, such as bushes, so you're able to saturate enough soil for successful root absorption.
You won't increase the chances of diseases, which can happen if the leaves get wet. The biggest thing you have to remember is to turn off the water. But leaving the soaker on for eight hours would be enough for most plants.
Drip emitter tubing stands out for its resistance to clogging. It's engineered to reduce the likelihood of dirt and debris build-up, unlike soaker hoses which are more prone to clogging.
Vinyl hoses aren't as durable as rubber hoses. A rubber garden hose requires the most upfront investment. They're tougher, more flexible and heavier than vinyl hoses. Overall, rubber hoses are more durable.
Garden hoses can burst due to high water pressure, improper storage, kinks and twists, material degradation, external damage, freezing conditions, and poor repairs.
If you forget to disconnect hoses during the winter, the water that remains within it will freeze and almost definitely cause the lining to crack. It gets worse if you have a control nozzle on your hose and freezing occurs.
Soaker hoses enable you to get water to your plants where they need it most…at the root. They save time (no moving around sprinklers or hand watering) and they save money by reducing water loss via evaporation.
Flow rate of the 1/2" soaker hose is approximately 54 gal/hr per 100' of hose at 10 psi, or approximately 224 GPH per 100' of hose at 25 psi. For ideal performance, it is recommended that you use a 22-25 psi regulator.
Can soaker hoses be left out over the winter? The answer is most definitely yes, but consider a different scenario.
The major problem with soaker hoses is that they're composed of reconstituted rubber and will degrade over time, especially if exposed to sunlight. Expect them to fall apart in a year and a half to two years, at most. An old soaker hose will exhibit small water fountains all along its length.
Turn on the soaker hose. Allow it to run for 20 minutes. Turn it off. Wait 10 minutes.
Both are good choices to water your garden and which is best can come down to the size and type of area you are looking to water. Sprinklers are better for larger areas, while soaker hoses are great for targeting the foot of plants in flower beds and vegetable gardens.
Mornings and evenings are excellent times to water gardens when using a drip irrigation system or soaker hose. Watering in the evening isn't a problem as these methods don't wet plant foliage.
Soaker hose: Another option is to use a porous soaker hose, which will allow water to slowly ooze out of its entire length. Lay the hose on the soil around the tree. Turn the water on just enough so you see beads of water on the surface of the hose. Let it go for an hour or more.
Similar to a soaker hose is drip tape, a more lightweight product that works for row crops and raised beds. Easy and inexpensive – Simply attach to a garden spigot. Useful for small gardens – good alternative when drip is not a possibility.
The Soaker Hose creates a fine mist that's released from small holes along its body, whereas the Weeper hose allows water to seep directly into soil as it drips, or weeps, directly out of its body and downwards towards the surface.