does a soaker hose need water pressure to work?
 

will it still seep out if there is only gravity pressure from a water tank?

i played with a rain gathering system this past summer and about the end of oct. i opened the drains so it wouldn't collect water. i was afraid of something freezing and bursting.

right after i got a couple of trees and wished i had kept the water for a bit longer. i'm considering hooking a soaker hose to the outlet and wrapping the hose around the tree trunks to help keep them watered.

i don't know anything about soaker hoses. would the gravity of the water in the tank be enough to made the hose work as it should? thanks.

I would recommend using an existing garden hose, but adding a 10'-15' piece of remnant hose to the end of it. They usually sell for two to three dollars. Knot or kink the opposite end and punch several nail holes in the remnant. You have just made a soaker hose at 1/4 the cost of the original.

soaker hose
 

Had to punch small holes in soaker hose from a 5 ft. high rainbarrel.

Soaker hoses don't let out a lot of water even under pressure, so I would think the less pressure you have, the less soaking you will be doing.

I don't know how high your barrel is, but for every foot you go up, you gain .433 lbs of pressure.

ok thanks. sounds like a soaker won't do me any good. my tanks are sitting at ground level though i mean to set them on bricks. they still won't be that high though. i'll probaly hit the thrift stores for some used hose and cobble up something.

You could get a faucet timer and use a hose with a smaller orifice to do automatic flood watering..