drip system heads for hanging baskets

Over the past years i've had hanging baskets that would either come and go within a short to medium time. This year I focused on two baskets as all the others didn't make it a few weeks... I'm watering once a day with I think 3gph head as a spray for 30 minutes across the entire line (also waters a few other things like my bamboo and tomatoes.)

the two remaining baskets have survived since May - they are somewhat lush/full compared to past basekts - they do get a little brown but seem to recover. Right now they are on their way out... I keep seeing these beautiful lush baskets in the cities like issaquah, wa or lynden, wa where they are 4 foot tall of lushness.

What can I do to grow and maintain that? We have room for ~8 on the front and rear porch to be reasonable. Both areas get a partial days worth of full sun. I imagine just as much as any city street I see these beautiful baskets on.

Is my 3gph too much or too little? Should I not be watering directly to the soil or should I be spraying with a drip system from the outside (as if it's raining on it)?

I hope you get an answer to this one!

I water, and trim, and pray -- just about everything short of sacrificing a chicken or some such thing -- and still my baskets decline way too early. All over Shelton I see huge baskets overflowing with flowers in full sun and high enough in the air that I KNOW they aren't getting watered every day. They seem to last for ever.

Good luck, and I'll be watching this thread like a hawk!

MZWEAZELLE,
NOT in the county, you hafta come into the town for your chicken thingy, :P lol

BROKENGEIGER;
Well, first you create a town, tax the residents to death, then hire five guys to do the job of one, and let them loose on the town, and pay them 25.00/hr to water, put up, and take down the plants.

Here, they have a big 4x4 with a 200 gal tank on it, and a power pump and a 15 foot shepard staff kinda thing that they drive around under the plant, crank up the pump, and water away.

I've had very good luck using the little sprays that each have volume controls (both Walmart and Toziers carried them). I set them very low so the sprays stay in the pot, then water until the water starts to drip out the bottom of the pot. Unfortunately, that didn't save my Marinka fuchsia hanging basket. That week of killer heat fried the poor thing, all the leaves fell off. They're sprouting back but it sure looks pitiful with just stalks and flowers!

Those Lush Lynden baskets are huge alright. I know the guy who grows them. Besides being well cared for after they are hung they were planted in very good soil and watered with fertilizer and just plain professonaly planted and grown to the time of sale . The pot is large 16 or 17 inches hence more dirt to hold the moisture and room for the roots to keep growing.

My own baskets are in baskets he gave me plastic with a water retaing botton they are 12 inch and extra deep. He refuses to plant into those cedar boxes that people have used for years so do I now because those things only hold half the dirt the deep 12s hold. I water every day rain or shine with a drip spray system held about four inches above the dirt stuck in the center of the basket and between the foliage. Watering takes about 15 minutes and continues untill the water is running out the bottom at a good rate. This allows the water to move to the edges so it is saturated. I fertilize with an EZ Grow fertilizer injector every time I water the injector mixes a dilute water soluble fertilizer. The unit is cheap I have two one was 89 bucks the other 59. My baskets have never looked so good and none of the forty some odd are looking tired. Best thing I did was buy the injector thanks Dave lol what do you say to a pro that tells you what to do besides thanks.

Wow talk about a thread killer you got me my basket success is my active immagination lol. Ernie