Question: What can you tell me about the sweating pipes that are sold to be buried in the ground? They’re supposed to water uniformly, with absolutely no evaporation or runoff. I think they’re made of old, ground-up rubber tires.

Answer: Be careful. There are several pitfalls. First, how can the watering be uniform over the entire area when the lines are 18 or 24 inches apart? It only stands to reason that some areas will be soaked, while others are still waiting. You’ll also be crowding all of the oxygen out of the soil as you saturate the ground, plus you’ll have no way of leaching out excess mineral salts. These hoses would be great if they could be laid on top of the ground, but they’re apparently not stable in all the Texas sunlight.