The only one I like at all is the 1/4" poly laser drilled tubing. For your trees you could run and poly tube, probably 1/2 in. and take the soaker tubing off that at each tree. it does give out water a little inconsistently , leaks a little, but for trees nothing to worry about..or you could use a double barb to fix it cheap. So far all I get is little spray ...it's bothersome with the row crops at times but not with a tree. It still water evenly and thoroughly overall

I am using about 3 wraps around my mediium sized orange trees, about 8' feet diameter, and it is very effective.

Soaker hoses, bane of my existence as we have not yet rehabbed the old non-functioning irrigation on a large old property in a hot dry area. I like the Gilmour fabric hoses, they have held up pretty well to being dragged around to various trees and areas on our property. They don't develop splits/leaks much, at least compared to the foam soaker hoses, and the packaging on the ones I have says lifetime guarantee so maybe you should contact Gilmour or talk to the retailer you bought them from. The ubiquitous foam hoses don't hold up well if you move them around or leave them in the sun, but I have some old ones installed around citrus under mulch and it works out okay, some leakage but tolerable since it's under the mulch. I also tried a bright green lightweight soaker hose where you can recrimp the end to shorten the length, Armstrong brand maybe, and could see it working out if installed once into raised beds and never moved again, and pressure kept very low in it, but it split terribly the other day when I set it up in an herb garden area and first turned it on. I'd had it around the garden for about a year but had never used it. So I don't recommend that kind. I'll have to look into the laser drilled tubing that Rustico mentioned.

Rustico- could you tell us more about the poly laser drilled tubing? What is the brand name, is it stiff plastic, what it looks like and where to get it?
Thanks, Min

There is a link below min3. Not the brand I bought, I probably got mine from Dripworks. I think many hardware stores have it .

I bought a 1000 foot roll. I don't go too long with it . That didn't work well but for short rows of crops or wrapping around trees it works very well. Spreads water a little better than the drip emitter type which in my sandy soil tend to make a very small area of saturation in the top 6"....not always what is wanted. The soaker imitates a flood a little bit better and that's what you want with some plants.

For large vegetable gardens, especially long rows, where you want to pick up and move irrigation for tilling, low pressure T-tape and "lay flat" are the way way to go... Fixed beds where everything is shovel and fork the 1/4 drip and 1/4 soakers are o.k. easier to repair or modify a little bit for a different crop in small areas.

Here is a link that might be useful: 1/4

Thank you for the info rustico. Much appreciated. Min

Your'e welcome,Min,
One thing , when I use the 1/4 soaker the results are much better if both ends are plugged into the mainline...The tubing shows a direction for water flow so this ignores that but it works great for soaking a tree or small bed.

On the blackberry rows, I run the 1/2" poly and tap in both ends of 15' -20" sections of the 1/4" down the entire length it waters pretty evenly that way.

Thanks a second time- great info and i'm sure others are learning too. Min

Thanks, that's kind of you to say...I have bought a lot of stuff I don't use or that went in the trash because it's not good for anything.

I think we all do that- we can't always know what will work until we buy it and use it. I do my best to pass on what I can, hoping someone will find a use for garden stuf that I didn't think of, but in the case of blown-out soaker hoses I don't even try.
Min

Do you have a Harbor Freight nearby?

They sell mostly horrible, almost unusable, junk tools but a very few of their items are wonderful and generally very inexpensive. LOTS of junk and a few gems.

Their soaker hoses are one of the gems. They have a 25' round one and a 50' flat one. The flow rates are way different so best not to mix them in the same run.

I don't have my irrigation system done except in front yard so am using about 13 of their soaker hoses. Three years in SoCal sun and still work fine. That is 4 times the life and half the price for the junk from Home Dopey and Blowes.

Next year they may have a completely different supplier and they may be junk. The 50' ones I bought say "One Stop Gardens 3/4" soaker hose" and they were still in my local store as of a few months ago.

Thanks Greg,
This is very helpful and I will go today. I am hopeless when there is talk about building systems and about components and stuff. I really needed a brand name because otherwise I am clueless.