New Vegetable Garden Installation

15 years ago

So I was thinking about install some drip irrigation for my vegetables in a raised bed garden and a container garden. The raised bed is 16'x14' and in another location I have about 30 5 gal. buckets arranged in two rows.

The question I have is what would, in your opinion work the best for my application, be the easiest to maintain and have the longest longevity, soaker hose, T-tape, or dripline?

I was thinking to go with the dripline with inline emmiters spaced at 12" and put down in the raised bed every foot, thus needing about 250' of line. Would this be the correct spacing both in terms of emitter spacing and line spacing? If using for my containers is it possible to use goof plugs to fill some of the emitter holes, thus creating emitters, say, only 24"? Can you bury dripline? Would it be better to wrap the emitters in landscape fabric so they don't get plugged. Even laying on top of the soil I have read that they get clogged anyway and it is a pain to maintain, anyone have experience with this?

It seems that T-tape has a higher GPH flow that the dripline, is this the case? I have seen one that has 8" spacing and says at 10 PSI distributes 40 GPH per 100' vs e.g. 0.5 GPH for dripline. I am thinking that the 8" spacing and that volume would be too much but would I just leave the water on for a shorter time? What is a proper GPH rate for a vegetable garden, yes depends of what vegetables, but in general? The T-tape says to bury it for better longevity, is this and the resultant watering a benefit over dripline?

The soaker hose seems to be more expensive in the little research I have done, is this the case? Would cheap hardware store soaker hose work. It seems like it may not be as even watering as dripline and probably would not work for containers.

Or would just some 1/4" tubing that I drill some holes in work just as well?

Thanks for any info, I'm brand new to these things.

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Comments (5)

lehua49
15 years ago
TFTS,

You answer your own questions. There are past threads that discuss this topic very well and cover answers to all your questions and comments. I would go with 3/4" pvc pipe with 1/16" hole drilled for each pot. The closer hole will get more water being closer to the pressure source. If you have a 1% slope away from your water source you will get more even flow. You can measure each pots flow rate by putting a cup underneath the opening and give all the cup filling the same time and then measure the depths in the cups. Slighter enlarge the openings that give less flow until they all are even cup fill depths. This is the simplest system for cost, maintenance and long term performance. Paint the pipe any light color to protect the pvc pipe from the sun. Simple. JMHO. Aloha
Reach_For_The_Sun
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the info, very interesting.

If I answered my own questions why am I still confused over the whole issue? Anyway, I will try again to do some more research.

I really like the GardenWeb Forums and am new to them so this might be out there but I don't yet know where it is but perhaps for questions that are common and have already been answered well the forums could have such topics as Sticky's like other forums do. Just a thought.
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lehua49
15 years ago
RFTS,

Use the search window for FAQs and other subjects. Loads of info from past threads. Aloha
tn_gardening
15 years ago
I'm dizzy reading your OP, but here goes:
The dripline is an easy way to do it.

If you find your plants needing more water, simply run the system more frequently or for longer periods of time.

And of course, you already know that the drip emitter method will give you more flexibility and customization (not all plants need the same amount of water). They require more setup time, though.

As far as the containers go. I definitely think the drip emitters are the way to go because the soaker hoses and t-tape all emit water all along their lengths. Most folks use 0.5 and 1.0 gal/hour (I prefer the 1 gal per hour because the pores are larger and hopefully this means they won't clog as often as the 0.5 gal/hour emitters).
Reach_For_The_Sun
Original Author
15 years ago
Dizzy thinking about it too.

Thank you for your thoughts.

I guess now I need to make some decisions about zones and timers etc.