Your soaker hose water output will fall between 30 and 50 gallons per hour for a 100-foot hose at normal home pressure. Your exact number depends on water pressure, hose length, and hose age. Testing your own setup takes about 10 minutes. It gives you a much better number than any broad guess.
I measured my own hose output last summer with a simple bucket test. I placed a flat container under a 3-foot section of my soaker hose and ran the water for 10 minutes. The container caught about a half gallon. I multiplied that by six to get an hourly estimate, then scaled it for the full 50-foot length. My hose was putting out roughly 40 gallons per hour at the pressure I use. This gave me a real number to work with instead of guessing at run times.
Several factors change your soaker hose gallons per hour. A study in Scientific Reports found that output drops as hose length grows. Friction steals pressure along the run. Water pressure has an even bigger effect. Opening the faucet wider can double your flow rate. But it also creates uneven watering with the near end soaked and the far end dry. Hose age matters too. New hoses flow faster than old ones with mineral buildup in their pores.
Rather than chasing exact gallons-per-hour numbers, UGA Extension offers a more practical test. Run your soaker hose for 30 minutes and then push a screwdriver or finger into the soil nearby. The ground should be moist to a depth of about 2 inches (5 cm). If it's wet deeper than that, you're overwatering. If the moisture hasn't reached 2 inches, run the hose longer next time. This soil check tells you more about your soaker hose flow rate than a bucket test. It accounts for your soil type too.
Here's the method I recommend for dialing in your watering schedule. Place a tuna can or rain gauge next to your soaker hose and run it until you collect about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water. Note how long that takes. Most gardens need about 1 inch of water per week, so divide that across two or three watering sessions. This approach removes all the guesswork and gives your plants exactly what they need.
Your soil type changes how long you need to run the hose. Sandy soil drains fast and needs more frequent watering in shorter bursts. Clay soil holds water longer but absorbs it slower. I run my hose for 45 minutes on sandy beds and only 25 minutes on clay beds to get similar moisture depth in both spots.
Start with shorter run times and bump them up bit by bit. It's much easier to add more water than to fix problems from overdoing it. Soggy soil kills roots faster than dry soil does. A soaker hose running too long turns your garden bed into a swamp. That invites root rot and fungal disease.
Read the full article: Soaker Hose Guide for Every Garden
