How to get fertilizer in a soaker hose?

[Gary350]

I am going to bury a soaker hose in the potato row about May. I can screw the water hose to the soaker hose to water potato plants every 3 days. But how do I get fertilizer in the soaker hose once a week???

I have a soap bottle that attaches to the pressure washer then hose attaches to soap bottle. Soap mixes with water and sprays out. I want to attach a bottle of fertilizer between 2 hoses once a week???

I have been doing word searches for an hour all I find are 100s of spray bottles that attach to a garden hose.

Maybe if I know the correct name, correct word search, maybe I can buy what I need if it exists???

[pepperhead212]

Get one of those water filters - the soluble fertilizers can get put inside the filter, and it will slowly dissolve, as the water goes through.

[imafan26]

If this is a drip system soaker there are filters you attach to the hose to filter water but can also be used to add fertilizer. The way I used to do it before was to use a siphon mixer. You do have to make sure you have an anti siphon valve above the siphon mixer. One of the main reasons they went out of use was because of the problem of contamination of the main water line if you did not have an antisiphon valve above it. The problem I had with using the drip filter was that it uses a special fertilizer stick which is hard to find. I usually mixed a concentrated water soluble fertilizer like miracle grow in a bucket and used the siphon mixer with that. I ends up being more dilute, but it does not clog my emitters that way. You should flush the lines with plain water after using the siphon mixer to make sure all of the fertilizer residue gets flushed or it can clog the lines.

https://www.amazon.com/Hozon-Siphon-Mix ... B015X6H3MS

[Gary350]

If this is a drip system soaker there are filters you attach to the hose to filter water but can also be used to add fertilizer. The way I used to do it before was to use a siphon mixer. You do have to make sure you have an anti siphon valve above the siphon mixer. One of the main reasons they went out of use was because of the problem of contamination of the main water line if you did not have an antisiphon valve above it. The problem I had with using the drip filter was that it uses a special fertilizer stick which is hard to find. I usually mixed a concentrated water soluble fertilizer like miracle grow in a bucket and used the siphon mixer with that. I ends up being more dilute, but it does not clog my emitters that way. You should flush the lines with plain water after using the siphon mixer to make sure all of the fertilizer residue gets flushed or it can clog the lines.

https://www.amazon.com/Hozon-Siphon-Mix ... B015X6H3MS

Here is a drawing of what I am thinking about doing. I turn water faucet at the house on for 4 minutes then turn it off. Water will go through the fertilizer container into the potato bed. I have an old water hose I can drill small holes in 8" apart so water comes out at each potato plant. Soaker hose will be under 8" of soil. 70 lbs of water pressure puts out about 5 gallons of water per minute. Water twice a week and fertilizer once a week.

You have given me an idea. RO water filter systems have a cartridge filter case with standard pipe threads, I need to buy 2 water hose adaptors. I can put about 1/2 cup of fertilizer in the filter case then turn on the water hose for about 4 minutes.

[applestar]

I’m a bit puzzled. Not that I have been able to grow potatoes well in the past, but my impression is that potatoes don’t need a whole lot of fertilizing beyond slowly releasing organic or solid fertilizer. I just learned it’s important to prep the bed well about a month before planting and flower buds signal last time to side dress, then you shouldn’t supplement once they bloom…..

So if you bury solid fertilizer under the bed, and side dress the path on either side once shoots emerge and start to grow, then let the fertilizer dissolve over time as they are watered, you might not need to add (too) fast acting liquid fertilizer?

(All of the ideas for using liquid fertilizer/adding fertilizer) with soaker hose are useful though)

[Gary350]

I’m a bit puzzled. Not that I have been able to grow potatoes well in the past, but my impression is that potatoes don’t need a whole lot of fertilizing beyond slowly releasing organic or solid fertilizer. I just learned it’s important to prep the bed well about a month before planting and flower buds signal last time to side dress, then you shouldn’t supplement once they bloom…..

So if you bury solid fertilizer under the bed, and side dress the path on either side once shoots emerge and start to grow, then let the fertilizer dissolve over time as they are watered, you might not need to add (too) fast acting liquid fertilizer?

(All of the ideas for using liquid fertilizer/adding fertilizer) with soaker hose are useful though)

About 1 lb of 6-12-12 fertilizer per 30 ft row works good before plants blossom. I use 5-20-20 fertilizer after plants blossom. If you give potato plants too much nitrogen you get very large plants with very few potatoes. Best fertilizer is low N and high P & K. I learned this mistake on my own, I only see a few YouTube videos that say to use very low nitrogen fertilizer on potato plants. There are a lot of YouTube videos that say potatoes need a lot of P & K but no details about how much. When I water my potato row water only soaks in about 1/2" deep in hot summer weather soil is too hard. June to Sept my garden is dry as desert with about 1" of rain per month. I don't have the patients to do slow 3 hour water on potato row, a quick 10 minute water is worthless on my potato plants water never soaks in deep where the roots are. My potato plants seldom have blossoms because my plants never have enough water. YouTube videos explain that potato plants will only have blossoms if they have plenty of water. No blossoms on potato plants there will be very few potatoes if any. When my soil dries out in hot summer 98°f temperatures soil is very hard & dry all summer. Organic material makes my soil softer but hot weather makes soil much dryer. I have to study YouTube videos very close most people never tell their, geographical location, weather conditions, last frost, first frost, rain conditions, soil conditions, date seed potatoes were planted, how many eyes seed potatoes have, and 95% of the people on YouTube that have a good crop of potatoes are growing RED potatoes. There are several people now claiming they get excellent crop of potatoes growing them in 8 gallon & 10 gallon pots of potting soil. There is a man from UK that has about 50 potato videos he grows mostly Red potatoes but he did 1 video with red & white potatoes that shows Red out produces white 4 to 1. I already knew red out produces white 4 to 1 but did not know other people get 4 to 1 also. I watched a 100 videos it is a puzzle to figure out what will work for me in dry TN desert. The UK man that made 50 videos, 1 video says fertilize 1 time every week all summer. Another video says, plants need a lot of P & K after plants blossom. Last summer 2022 I grew potatoes in a wooden box of potting soil they did very well. Summer 2021 I grew potatoes in a metal barrel of hard TN soil potato crop was not good. Years ago my best potato crop was always potatoes grown in a stack of car tires, I never knew why that worked, I never kept notes. I tried to buy 20 pots from Nursery Supply.com but $300 is too expensive. I have a new idea, grow potatoes in 4mil black plastic $16 for a 50 ft roll 25 ft wide. I bought 0-20-20 fertilizer at Farmers Co-op last week onions & potatoes both like this. I also have some 6-12-12 fertilizer.