I don't think inserting a toothpick in it will tell you if it needs water.

I don't think there's an answer to your question. There are too many variables to come up with a watering formula. (humidity, rain, sunshine, temperature, size of hosta, how well the soil drains, etc.)

Basically, you water them when they need water. They like to stay damp, but need good drainage. Where they are native, they get monsoon type rains, but grow in rocky areas. So they like regular water, but don't like to sit in it.

bk

I was thinking more of a wood garden stake, lol!!

My biggest concern is helping my new hostas to survive competition from the birch and arborvitae roots. I am watering the entire bed.

Deb, you sound like you know what you're doing by watering the entire bed...that way everybody gets a good drink!.... if the hostas were the only ones getting watered, we know that the tree roots would suck up all that moisture before you could blink and deprive the hostas.

You could experiment by watering with soaker or drip line for 4 hours to start - then check it...if not deep enough, add more time. All of the variables Bkay mentioned make it difficult to pinpoint exactly.

Just between you and me, I keep an indoor moisture meter handy outside...it's so quick to just poke it anywhere (pot or ground...although I use the "heft test" for my pots) to get a reading. (handy for those very lazy days ;-))

Jo, like that idea...thanks!

Ken, you answered my question...how to FIND OUT! LOL I have short fingers! Right now I am using one of those recycled soaker hoses...it's what I had on hand when the hostas got planted.

Ken, I used to garden in sandy soil ... suffice to say the water bills were astronomical - now one of my daughters gardens in Sandy soil. It took a few years longer for the new flower beds to get established.

I've seen pics of how you laid out your watering system, Ken. Impressive!

common cheap soaker hose is rather useless once you try the real stuff ...

short primer ....

in clay ... the water pools wide... and takes a long time to go deep ... makes an upside down pyramid shape ... meaning..at depth ... it takes a long time to make it wide.. say a foot down ...

in sand ... its a teardrop shape ... thin at the top ... getting wider as deeper ... but here.. you can see ... if you dont have mulch... when the wet soil meets on top ... so you know.. its already met down below ... in other words.. you dont need to dig a deep hole to find out ...

all other soils are in between ...

most of the engineered products came out of Israel.. where they turned a dessert into a food making machine ...

i do not waste water... e.g. if the rows of hosta was 3 feet apart ... i didnt need to water the middle of the rows ... and since it is all applied at ground surface.. evaporation is minimal ... [i know thats not what you meant jo]

you have to consider where the plant needs water ... where the hostas roots are... and water appropriately ....

are you the OP i got cranky on a week or so back ... still feeling bad about that ...

ken

If you did I don't remember. Remember this is a bed that now has hostas, a thirty foot arborvitae, and a thirsty birch 10 feet south of it. So I need to water the entire bed evenly. I do have clay soil. In this bed 28 years of debris from the now-gone yews and birch tree has amended the soil...making it friable.

Ken, would you repost your pics of how you laid out your watering system pretty please?

i remember the scenario.. and that i made an butt of myself ...

i have no pix of soaker hose install ...

ken

i dont know what you want pix of ... so i cant even use words ... ken

Jo said she saw pics of how you laid out your watering system...thought you might still have them.

I did a lot of forum reading when I joined this forum in June of 2013... I read a lot of older posts and was always interested in Ken's posts for obvious reasons, (1500+ hostas, a conifer nut, acreage, etc.) I saw pics where he had mapped out large areas that were going to receive a watering system...step by step. He had to run spigot line(s)/access to the beds from a distance, then set up the rest of the system? It was such interesting reading! I'm sorry I can't recall more than that. Ken?

I tried googling for you but came up empty. A lot of pictures have been withdrawn in older posts, not just by Ken (I'm only guessing as I don't know) but others as well.

Yes, I have searched also...lots of pics no longer available. I do remember reading those posts...I think I even saved them pre-Houzz, but they are no longer in my saved/bookmarked posts.

Hi Deb,

I found an old thread with some intesresting info but Ken's link posted on 6/30/12 no longer works. His link posted on 7/1/12 works but it's to the sprinkleworks.com website where there are various "connectors and such" for sale as Ken has noted. Sorry that I can't be of more help, hot as hades right now here in Louisiana. Old thread with comments & link to connectors from Ken:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2003788/drip-irrigation-for-hosta-beds