they are no more toxic then any other hoses.

Does anyone know if the rubber soaker or drip hoses are toxic for use in raised bed vegetable gardens?

Is your regular rubber hose toxic?

Dan

Thanks for the replies. I guess nothing to worry about then.

The fact that they are made from the rubber of recycled tires and have the disclamer "This hose should not be used for potable water, beverages, and foodstuffs" raised the question. Also I believe that material used in garden hoses is different than the rubber drip hoses, so I wanted to double-check.

Never mind, I haven't been able to find anything on the Internet that recommends against using them, so I will go ahead.

Thanks again.

Most people don't check the label on their garden hoses...good for you! We have a hose that is labeled as safe, so they are out there. I don't use drip irrigation, so I can't comment on that, sorry. Some of them are made from recycled rubber, right?

I understand your concern completely as I have a severe latex allergy and wouldn't leave a rubber hose, lying in my vegetable garden. Some not allergic to latex, might.

I have the same concern as you--just the rubber smell of the soaker hose gave me pause. This one is made of pvc--who knows the safety of any plastic, but at least this one is not made of rubber tires:
http://www.gardeners.com/flat-soaker-hose/Watering_HosesSprinklers,37-904,default,cp.html
As far as regular hoses, you can buy ones made for drinking that do not contain lead (This is the main reason for the warning on regular hoses).

There is a potential that lead can build up in water in PVC garden hoses if the hoses are left filled after use and laying in the hot sun. The way to eliminate that potential problem is to run water through the hose until all of the water that was there is replaced and as long as flow is maintained lead will not build up in the water.

sgreszcz - this doesn't answer your question but I'm just looking at it from a different angle. How big is this vegetable garden of yours? How much do you expect the irrigation system to cost? Do you actually need irrigation? In the UK I think it is doubtful whether irrigation is worth the outlay unless you are working on a commercial scale. Most years I can manage my allotment with watering cans only. The only watering needed is at planting and sowing time. Once the crops are growing they almost never need extra water. In the last 18 years or so I have got the hosepipe out in only about 5 summers. Raised beds will probably drain quicker than in ground plantings but I would still question whether you need to water as much as you think.

Hozelock has all the kit you might want. Look at the prices and start doing the sums.

This is just a thought. If you could find the right taps, 1/4 copper tubing isn't really that expensive if you look at it like an investment. Its pretty flexible too.

I avoid anything made of pvc/vinyl, unless there's no way around it. There's lots of info on the internet about the problems with it. And I'm also wondering if recycled rubber soaker hoses are safe. I don't need to water very often, since we typically get too much rain. So I'm thinking about ordering something like drip tape that I could move around, like I was going to do with soaker hose. I think (not sure though) it would be the least toxic, practical thing to do. Does anyone think this wouldn't work?

hi you have to use our non toxic hose we are a manufacturer of non toxic rubber hose you name the size i will give you the price in South African Rands.

Just because no one's talking about it on the web doesn't mean it isn't toxic. Recycled tires, PVC/vinyl and even copper (especially when heated) are all toxic. I don't want to put anything in or on my organic food garden that I wouldn't eat. I'm considering whether I could take one of our nice drinking hoses and use a hammer and nail (and my 10 year old boy) to poke holes in it…?

I don't use soaker hoses (not really practical considering the acreage of my property), but I do have a separate hose rated "drinking water safe" that I use for filling my dogs' outdoor water bucket. Sattie, your idea is interesting, except that the drinking water hoses I believe are rated as safe because they contain a liner, and poking holes through it would probably defeat the efficacy of the liner.

My method of watering gardens is pretty much limited to filling watering cans, and there I have the same problem, in that my watering cans are plastic, so who knows if they contain toxins. Because I live in an area with substantial rainfall, I water only sporadically, thus I don't worry about it much.

You bring up a valid topic, sgreszcz, one that hadn't occurred to me. Perhaps you could buy "drinking water safe" hoses with nozzles, and water manually rather than using soaker hoses? It is the only solution I can envision unfortunately.

I have the same concerns as the original poster. I know I've heard that it isn't safe to grow edible crops inside old rubber tires (used as raised beds), so why should it be safe to water edible crops with hoses made from old rubber tires?

The flat soaker hose that Veeta linked to above looks like a somewhat better bet, but a) the customer reviews say it works well only when laid in a more-or-less straight line (and I like to loop my soaker hoses around through my garden), and b) it's no longer available anyway. Too bad!

It's been only a few years since drinking-water-safe hoses of any kind have been readily available, so maybe if we keep asking for DWS soaker hoses, someone will start providing them -- though spedigrees raises an interesting question, "...drinking water hoses I believe are rated as safe because they contain a
liner, and poking holes through it would probably defeat the efficacy of
the liner." If that's true, then manufacturing them might not be a simple matter, either.

Actually, it appears that not all DWS hoses rely on liners -- a web search brought up the Water Right polyurethane garden hose, which is made from food-grade polyurethane. I have emailed them, asking whether they might consider making soaker hoses, but for now, one of their hoses might work well for Sattie and her nail.

WOW!!! That is the fastest helpful response I ever got to an email! Jeff Thomas, the president of Water Right, said this: "Your question is timely. Our soaker hose launches Jan 1, 2016!" Hooray!

PVC is the most toxic plastic. Here's why: Vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, is a known human carcinogen, according to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). source: http://www.healthychild.org/easy-steps/reduce-your-use-of-pvc-in-plastics-and-other-household-products/