badmojo
Active Member
Hi all, im sure this idea is not a new one but one that has worked well for me. where i have been growing has been hell to get water to on those dry days and weeks, so what i came up with was a soaker system using soaker hoses and a couple of 55gal drums. Take your CLEAN drums and drill a hole large enough to install a spigot that will fit a water hose (these can be got at most any hardware store, Lowes, Home Depot, etc)
Run your soaker hose that can also be picked at the same place as the spigot along the area that you are wanting watered. i choose to bury mine about 4 inches under the earth so that nothing really stands out as well as it helps save water due to evaporation if left out in the open on hot days. at the end of the soaker hose you want to cap that off, and i also left the very end OUT of the ground that way i can take te cap off and "blow out" the line from time to time so that nothing gets clogged. The drums themselves i can be concealed several ways with paint, or natural camouflage. As far as getting water into the drums,..that will depend on how far away from water you are growing. the area i chose was about 200 yards from from a steam, so i used more water hose and a pump ( hand cranked or battery powered) to pump water from the stream to the drums.
I don't leave the drums spigot turned on at all times since there is no need. My set up takes about 12hrs to drain the drums down to a refillable level and using the pump only about 30 minutes to fill back up ( i use the battery powered pump
). I didnt lay the soaker in a straight line but rather a circle leading somewhat back to the drum itself. Hope this might help someone as much as it did me 
If someone were industrious they could add a compost tea to the barrel(s) and see how that worked as well. stay safe !!
P.S. been trying to come up with a way to collect rain water for this but have not came up with anything that is not so noticeable that someone might see and want to investigate, so if you have any ideas let me know
Run your soaker hose that can also be picked at the same place as the spigot along the area that you are wanting watered. i choose to bury mine about 4 inches under the earth so that nothing really stands out as well as it helps save water due to evaporation if left out in the open on hot days. at the end of the soaker hose you want to cap that off, and i also left the very end OUT of the ground that way i can take te cap off and "blow out" the line from time to time so that nothing gets clogged. The drums themselves i can be concealed several ways with paint, or natural camouflage. As far as getting water into the drums,..that will depend on how far away from water you are growing. the area i chose was about 200 yards from from a steam, so i used more water hose and a pump ( hand cranked or battery powered) to pump water from the stream to the drums.
I don't leave the drums spigot turned on at all times since there is no need. My set up takes about 12hrs to drain the drums down to a refillable level and using the pump only about 30 minutes to fill back up ( i use the battery powered pump
). I didnt lay the soaker in a straight line but rather a circle leading somewhat back to the drum itself. Hope this might help someone as much as it did me If someone were industrious they could add a compost tea to the barrel(s) and see how that worked as well. stay safe !!
P.S. been trying to come up with a way to collect rain water for this but have not came up with anything that is not so noticeable that someone might see and want to investigate, so if you have any ideas let me know
