Less water and healthier plants: Here's how to know if drip irrigation is a fit for your garden, plus how to set it up.
A Guide to Setting Up a Drip Irrigation System for Your Garden
Updated on Nov. 27, 2024
Last spring, my mom set up her garden with drip irrigation. Even though she has a sizable yard filled with vegetables, flowers and native bushes, it only took a couple of days to get the system up and running. Now, after a full growing season, the results are impressive. She also saved a lot of water and no longer has to hand-water the plants that had previously been out of reach of the spray sprinklers.
“Drip irrigation is all about precision and efficiency, making sure plants stay happy without flooding them,” says Manny Barra, community garden coordinator for the City of Oakland and a master gardener at TeachMe.To. “It’s a win for anyone wanting a greener garden and a smaller water bill. You’ll get healthier plants, less weeding, and more time for yourself.”
If you’ve been curious about drip irrigation or are considering installing a system, here’s what you need to know.
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What Is Drip Irrigation & How Does It Work?
A drip irrigation system is a series of tubes that snake around your garden, delivering water straight to the roots of your plants. They are generally considered efficient and are often automated.
“Think of it as a slow IV drip for your garden: efficient, targeted and ideal for veggies that need consistent soil moisture to thrive,” says Valeria Nyman, Chief Product Officer at taim.io, a platform that teaches people how to grow vegetables at home. “The water is usually pushed through the tubes by a slight water pressure, often reduced by a regulator, ensuring no water is wasted on foliage or paths.”
Benefits of Drip Irrigation Systems
The most obvious benefit of drip irrigation systems is that they save water, to the tune of 30 to 70%, over conventional watering systems, depending on the climate. Since they deliver water directly to the roots, it prevents waste from wind and evaporation. They also:
- Save time since the systems are often automated
- Are adaptable to various garden layouts, including raised beds and row gardens
- Prevent runoff and erosion
- Allow for customizable watering amounts to each plant, reducing plant stress
- Help prevent weeds since the paths stay dry
- Are relatively simple to set up and maintain
- Tend to foster healthier plants since the leaves don’t get soaked, and therefore diseases and fungus are less likely.
How to Build a DIY Drip Irrigation System in Your Garden
Plan your layout
Draw a rough map of your garden, highlighting each area and row you want to irrigate, like vegetable beds, raised beds and individual plants like bushes.
Gather your materials
Basically, you’ll need a main hose (aka, the supply line), plus smaller tubing, emitters, connectors and a pressure regulator to slow the water flow. For tools, you’ll need scissors or tubing cutters and measuring tape, plus a hole punch if you choose to use a drip line without emitters.
Katie Russo, content operations manager at Bootstrap Farmer, suggests this list:
- Backflow preventer with ¾-inch hose thread.
- Swivel adapter with a built-in screen, which is crucial for filtering out debris.
- A female swivel adapter with a washer is needed for a leak-free connection.
- Main dripline adapter, a ¾-inch male thread to transition from threaded connectors to the main tubing.
- Y-splitter with shut-off controls to run multiple lines from the same source (make sure it has shut-off valves so you can control each line independently).
- ½-Inch supply line tubing, which is the main tubing that runs along your garden beds, usually sold in rolls. Look for durable polyethylene tubing marked for irrigation.
- Barbed shut-off valves, which attach to the tubing to let you stop water flow in specific lines.
- ½-inch elbow and tee connectors to make turns and branch off the main line as needed.
- Poly dripline tubing, which is thinner and runs along each garden bed. Make sure it’s compatible with the size of your main tubing.
- Emitters (aka drippers), which control water flow at each plant. Look for 1-gallon-per-hour (GPH) emitters or adjustable drippers.
- Figure-8 end caps (or closures), which fold over the tubing to seal off the ends.
- Stakes or anchors used to secure lines in place.
To simplify the process, you can start with a drip irrigation kit, a raised bed irrigation kit and a timer.
Prepare the water source
For optimal performance, use a clean water source with 12-50 PSI. Russo says it’s vital to attach a backflow preventer directly to your outdoor spigot to keep your drinking water safe and a screen to filter out debris before it enters the system.
Lay the main line
Starting at the spigot, run your 1/2 in. tubing main lines along the perimeter of your bed or along each row you want to water, using stakes every few feet to hold it down. “Think of these as the arteries, and the 1/4-in. tubing will be the branches to the individual plants,” says Nyman.
Russo also recommends cutting a 12-inch piece of 1/2-in. supply line tubing to connect the adapter to a barbed shut-off valve so you can turn the system off as needed. Then, attach another 12-inch piece of tubing to the other side of the shut-off valve, leading to an elbow connector to the main line.
Lay out drip row lines
Run the 1/4-in. tubing to each plant or bed using tee connectors at the main line. For row plantings like lettuce, consider a soaker hose along the row, says Nyman.
Cut each piece of tubing based on your specific row length. For simplicity, Russo recommends using drip tubing with built-in emitters, which are available in varied spacing options, like 6, 12, or 18 inches. “This tubing eliminates the need to manually add individual emitters, making installation faster and ensuring consistent water distribution,” she says.
Add the Emitters and End Caps
If you choose standard poly tubing without emitters, you’ll need to manually install emitters near each plant along the tubing. Russo recommends one-gallon-per-hour (GPH) emitters or adjustable ones. “For best results, space emitters every 12 inches for closely spaced crops and adjust spacing for larger plants or higher water needs,” she says.
Seal the ends of each line with figure-8 end caps by folding over the tubing and sliding it through the figure-8 to prevent water from leaking out.
Test and Tweak
Turn on the water and check for leaks. Check each emitter for consistent water flow and adjust anything that’s too fast or slow. You may need to add more emitters or adjust the size of emitters. “This is where you make it just right for each plant’s needs,” says Barra.
Bury or Stake the Tubing
“Keep it neat!” Says Barra. “You can bury the lines a few inches down to hide them or leave them on the surface and secure them with stakes. Voilà ! You’re all set up for the perfect drip.”
FAQ
How long should a drip irrigation system run?
It depends on your soil, climate, plant water needs and emitter output. It can vary widely from 10 minutes to eight hours, says Scott Seargeant, owner of Seargeant Landscape & Arboriculture.
However, new plants usually do well with 10 to 20 minutes a day, and established plants do well with 30 to 60 minutes, two to three times per week. “Sandy soil needs shorter, more frequent sessions; clay needs longer, infrequent watering, says Nyman.
The idea is to soak them deeply without overdoing it. “For an eco-friendly setup, consider using a moisture sensor to turn it off when the soil doesn’t need more water,” says Barra.
How do you turn off a drip irrigation system?
Turn it off at the spigot or at the timer. “Many gardeners use an automated timer, which is a lifesaver, especially in dry regions,” says Nyman.
Can you connect drip irrigation to a sprinkler system?
Yes, but you’ll need to install a pressure regulator and filter to keep it from getting clogged. If you do, keep the zones separate. “Many irrigation controllers also support both sprinkler and drip zones, making it easy to manage both systems on a single timer,” says Russo.
Are there any cons to a drip irrigation system?
Yes. “Installation can be tedious and time-consuming,” says Seargeant.
Other cons include:
- Easily damaged by dogs, people, tools and rodents
- Shorter life span than spray/sprinkler systems (expect six to 10 years)
- More maintenance than traditional systems since tubing clogs over time, especially with hard water
- Not ideal for covering large grassy areas
- Extra winter prep is required in areas with freezing winters
- Initial setup can be more expensive than traditional sprinklers, especially for larger gardens
“Drip systems need checking more often to see if they are working properly,” says Seargeant. “It can also be hard to determine if some of the emitters are clogged until a plant starts to die.” Seargeant also cautions not to run affluent water trough a drip system unless you have a high-quality filter.
What maintenance do drip irrigation systems need?
Every few weeks, check for clogged or cracked emitters and clean them out if needed. “You may also need to check connections and tighten anything that’s come loose,” says Barra. “A quick regular check-up can make sure it keeps working like a dream all season long.”
Russo recommends using self-draining emitters to reduce clogging, and occasionally flushing the lines and cleaning the filters, especially at the start and end of each season. “In colder climates, you’ll want to fully drain the system before winter to prevent freezing damage,” she says.
About the Experts
- Katie Russo is content operations manager at Bootstrap Farmer, a leading greenhouse and gardening supply company. A proponent of sustainable farming, she used to work as a full-time greenhouse grower and now manages a native tree farm with her husband.
- Manny Barra is the community garden coordinator for the City of Oakland and a master gardener at TeachMe.To. He is passionate about sustainable gardening, soil health, aquaponics and community food systems.
- Valeria Nyman is Chief Product Officer at taim.io, a platform that teaches people how to grow vegetables at home. She has spent her life digging, planting and experimenting with gardens of all sizes, and uses drip irrigation in her own home garden.
- Scott Seargeant is owner of Seargeant Landscape & Arboriculture, a full-service landscape installation company. He is also an award-winning international consulting arborist, writer, photographer and author of “Allergy Free Living,” a book about plants.
