| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| HTA ID | HTA-0651 |
| Title | Henry's Garden — Watering Wisdom |
| Era | KRON-TV (San Francisco, ~2005–2013) |
| Station | KRON-TV Channel 4 |
| Program | Henry's Garden (KRON segment) |
| Role | Host |
| Segment Type | Henry's Garden |
| Duration | ~05:23 |
| Source File | Watering.txt |
| Record Version | V1 (Transcript Only) |
Henry and Buzz discuss proper watering techniques: drip irrigation, timing, and conservation.
Speaker 1 00:00 Friends, I'm going to show you why drip irrigation is the answer to your gardening problems. Speaker 1 00:06 No, it's not. Speaker 1 00:08 And Kimmy and Buzz are going to explain why I'm totally wrong about this. Speaker 1 00:11 Again, again. Speaker 1 00:13 Okay, but will you both admit that drip irrigation is a wonderful convenience in many circumstances? Speaker 2 00:19 In many circumstances, for all of all. Speaker 1 00:21 That's the only question, yes or no. Speaker 1 00:24 Not in all. Speaker 1 00:25 Not in all. I agree with you. Speaker 1 00:27 Okay, but let's first of all talk about why drip irrigation works well under certain circumstances. Speaker 1 00:32 Let us for example take the spot where Kimmy's foot was just trampling. Speaker 1 00:36 Let's suppose you have a relatively small garden. You have a couple of plants that you would like to Speaker 1 00:41 water and you don't want to have to go out there every day and hand water. Speaker 1 00:43 So you can buy a little you can buy a kit like this. Speaker 1 00:46 I'm not showing the front of it because they're not our sponsors and they won't sponsor us. Speaker 1 00:49 So I'm not going to show you where their name is. Speaker 1 00:51 But anyway, you get this kit and you get all this stuff and basically what it does is you can hook it Speaker 1 00:56 Right to your spigot or you can put a timer on it like this and then this little Speaker 1 01:03 hose comes here and you can it even comes with these little things so you can nail it in to make it nice and neat and Speaker 1 01:08 Then it comes. Thank you Kimmy, and then you can get these little connectors like this Speaker 1 01:14 No, these are not emitters. These are connectors. Oh those I'm sorry Speaker 1 01:17 Then you go to this and it's got these little things holding it in the ground and these are emitters Speaker 1 01:22 Okay, and basically you stick them right at Speaker 1 01:25 the base of each plant like that and then you turn on the water like that Speaker 1 01:31 Henry and notice no and notice that what you're going to get is a very very slow Speaker 1 01:36 Drip now buzz is going to tell you why people make mistakes when they do this go ahead buzz Speaker 3 01:42 Well all emitters are not created equal right need to know what the Speaker 3 01:46 Distribution rate is on the emitter that you have because remember drip irrigation is calibrated in gallons per hour Speaker 3 01:52 So this is a very slow process. Speaker 3 01:54 Wait a minute, wait a minute. Speaker 3 01:55 Traditional irrigation is calibrated in gallons per minute. Speaker 3 01:58 So when you turn on drip or your sprinklers for 10 minutes, Speaker 3 02:01 there's a big difference on the amount of water that you put out. Speaker 1 02:03 So the point is that this is a very small amount. Speaker 1 02:06 And the idea is it's going to last for a long time. Speaker 1 02:09 But that's the idea. Speaker 1 02:10 And so it will spread very nicely. Speaker 2 02:11 Henry, put this back where you had that originally. Speaker 2 02:16 Roots only grow where the soil is moist. Speaker 2 02:19 They don't grow in dry soil. Speaker 2 02:21 So if you've got this little drip going right here, Speaker 2 02:26 that's the only place you're going to have roots growing. Speaker 1 02:29 And now let me explain why Kimmy is somewhat incorrect on this. Speaker 2 02:32 Why is that? Speaker 1 02:33 Really incorrect. Speaker 1 02:34 Because what happens is the dry soil soaks up moisture around it Speaker 1 02:39 so that although, unless this were literally sand, Speaker 1 02:42 it is spreading so that you see how wet it is here? Speaker 1 02:45 It's already wet. Speaker 1 02:46 Even though the emitters there, this is already damp. Speaker 2 02:48 Oh, you're high. That is not the case. Speaker 2 02:51 I am not high. Speaker 2 02:52 Anyway. Speaker 3 02:52 You're correct. Speaker 3 02:53 You are correct because the water tends to go out like this underneath the soil. Speaker 3 02:56 The problem is as the plants get larger, they tend to outgrow the area where the water is Speaker 3 03:01 being distributed. Speaker 3 03:02 Anyway. Speaker 3 03:02 So that's another issue. Speaker 1 03:03 So drip irrigation can make good sense in sort of limited environments or I've already Speaker 1 03:09 got a significant drip irrigation system and what I use here, we just pulled it out for Speaker 1 03:12 this purpose, but what I have is these little emitters all along the hose here so I don't Speaker 1 03:17 have to put in individual emitters. Speaker 1 03:19 And each one of these puts out about a gallon an hour. Speaker 1 03:22 So I can let it run for half hour, 45 minutes. Speaker 2 03:24 Any time somebody is here weeding or planting or whatever, that all gets disturbed, Henry. Speaker 2 03:30 What I like is an emitter with a broader spectrum. Speaker 1 03:35 For example, thank you very much. Speaker 2 03:39 This is what I use. Speaker 1 03:41 This is an instrument of destruction. Speaker 1 03:43 Look at that thing. Speaker 2 03:43 It's not at all. Speaker 2 03:44 And if you turn that on me, Buzz and I, Buzz is going to attack. Speaker 2 03:46 No, I'm not the one trying to turn it off. Speaker 2 03:48 - Yeah, all right. Speaker 1 03:48 - Hang on a minute, guys. Speaker 2 03:49 - Okay, what this is, it's just a spike sprinkler. Speaker 2 03:51 It works just like a lawn sprinkler. Speaker 2 03:54 Thank you, Henry. Speaker 2 03:54 You are a menace. Speaker 2 03:55 - No, no, let it go, let it go. Speaker 2 03:57 - So this covers a large area. Speaker 2 04:00 It's putting out gallons per minute Speaker 2 04:02 as opposed to gallons per hour. Speaker 2 04:05 And it's covering a larger area. Speaker 2 04:07 I'm sure that all the roots are getting water. Speaker 2 04:10 That's what I'm sure of. Speaker 2 04:11 I'm gonna get weeds between because I'm putting water. Speaker 1 04:15 - That's a good thing about drip irrigation. Speaker 1 04:16 don't get weeds because it's just delivered to one spot. Then why are there so many weeds in your Speaker 2 04:21 containers? Ha! Okay, speaking of containers. This is a whole different mindset when we're talking Speaker 3 04:26 about containers because here we're not looking at gallons for whatever. We're looking to sit there Speaker 3 04:30 and put enough volume of water in this particular container to fill it up just like you do with a Speaker 3 04:35 regular hose. You sit there and stay with each container till it fills to the top and then you Speaker 3 04:40 move on. Well the problem with drip irrigation is that you have to sit there and adjust the Speaker 3 04:46 emitters for the containers. You have big containers and little containers. So this particular Speaker 3 04:52 one may need a higher volume emitter so that it fills it up at the same rate that it's filling Speaker 1 04:57 up this one. So this is two gallons per hour. So this is simple because you just pull this Speaker 2 05:02 off. There's no correct answer. You have specific purposes to use drip. You've got specific purposes Speaker 2 05:10 to use broadcast water. Speaker 2 05:12 Kimmy, admit it. Speaker 1 05:13 What do you like best? Speaker 2 05:14 I like to hold a hose. Speaker 3 05:16 Yeah, because watering is a nurturing type of experience. Speaker 4 05:20 And that's the answer, ladies and gentlemen. Speaker 4 05:23 Do whatever feels good.