How to Use Drip Tape to Water Your Garden

How to Use Drip Tape to Water Your Garden

Drip irrigation is an efficient way to water your garden. The slow drip delivers water directly to the roots, reducing water waste and improving crop growth. It’s also an excellent choice for sloped ground, avoiding the evaporation that can occur with surface water runoff. Drip tape can be found in home and commercial gardens, and it’s a great option for containerized vegetables and trees, and for growing plants in raised beds.

This week on the show, Travis explains how to install and use drip tape in your garden. He also discusses the difference between drip tape and soaker hose.

Drip tape is a collapsible polyethylene tubing that lays flat when not in use and becomes pressurized when it is supplied with water. It has emitters, which are holes in the tube where water flows out. These are evenly spaced every 12 inches along the tape. Most types of drip tape have a water output of 0.4 gallons per minute per 100 feet of the tape.

There are different sizes of drip tape available, but the typical diameter is 1/4 inch. It is often referred to as “T-tape” or just plain “drip.” In addition to a roll of drip tape, you will need a garden hose or water spigot and a pressure regulator.

Most gardeners don’t know exactly how much drip tape they will need until they measure their garden rows and count their perennials, vegetables, and containers. This is a good time to order the amount you need and keep a few extras on hand for any mistakes or repairs that will undoubtedly happen throughout the season. A few other necessary supplies include landscape staples to pin the tape down, scissors, and a hole punch to make emitter holes in the mainline tubing (also called a header).

Like most irrigation products, drip tape requires either gravity or water pressure for proper operation. The best way to achieve this is to have the water reservoir uphill from your garden, or provide a pressure regulator at the inlet of the mainline tubing. If your water pressure is too high, the drip tape will swell and leak.

While the initial cost of drip tape is higher than traditional sprinklers, it can pay for itself by reducing water use and eliminating costly evaporation. Additionally, there are no messy surface water runoffs or puddles that can harbor disease-causing pathogens.

Drip tape can also save you a lot of time and energy by allowing you to water your vegetable garden more efficiently, saving you from having to water it by hand. This will allow you to spend more time enjoying the summer and fewer minutes tending your garden.

Drip tape can be left out during the winter if it is properly drained and buried, but commercial vegetable producers replace theirs each year to ensure the system is functioning correctly. This allows them to quickly spot any problems that could have occurred from pest intrusion or physical damage.