How to Build a Drip Irrigation System
First, I am going to cover several other options for watering your garden.
Bucket Method
The simplest of all watering methods is this:
A bucket of sun-warmed water, with a cup or pitcher to pour. This is the method I use until I turn on my irrigation system. In his book, Mel Bartholemew suggests using a cup, and watering one cup per plant. That is a little too much tedious dipping for me, so I’ve upgraded to a pitcher. He recommends “sun-warmed” water because it gives the soil and plants a little heat boost, which is nice during cooler weather.
The advantages of this system–it’s cheap, and anyone can do it! It also keeps you in your garden on a regular basis, tending those plants. You are more likely to notice early signs of damage or disease. The disadvantage is, when it gets hot you have to water every day, and I get tired of sweating it out just to give my plants a drink. Also, you have to find a friend to come water if you go on vacation.
Hose Method
Another option is to water your garden with a hose. Again, this is inexpensive and easy for all, but like the bucket method, you have to be around to do it. Some plants don’t do well with a lot of water applied to the leaves. You are more likely to have problems with mold and fungus. Also, it’s hard to ensure a very even watering. Also, some plants require deep watering, which is difficult to achieve with a hose.
Combination Method
In between spraying with a hose and having an automated drip system there are lots of options.
- Soaker hose
- System of PVC and spray nozzles that hooks up to the hose
- System of drip irrigation that hooks up to the hose
- Timer connected to the hose to automate watering
- Automated irrigation using spray nozzles
All of these share some of the advantages and disadvantages described above.
Automated Drip Irrigation System
If you can, using an automated drip irrigation system is ideal. You can adjust the amount of water for each type of plant, it only needs to be managed a few times per season, and it allows you to go on vacation and know your garden is being watered on schedule! The ONLY disadvantage is that it does not make you visit your garden so often, so you might miss early signs of disease or distress among your plants.
Building your own irrigation system is not for everyone, but it’s not as hard as you might think! All you really need is determination and a good plumbing/irrigation supply store. I love my local BJ Plumbing–they are experienced, helpful, and they carry quality parts. While you can buy irrigation supplies at a discount home improvement store, I don’t recommend it. The quality of some of the products is not as good, and the advice is hit and miss.
The first part in your irrigation system is a valve dedicated to your garden. If you don’t have a separate valve, you’ll have to use one of the methods described above. This is because you cannot put a low-pressure drip system on the same line as a high-pressure sprinkler system.
Here’s what a valve looks like:
You can see I have four valves in this box. The middle right valve is for my gardens on the west side of my house. The next part is the pressure reducer. Here is one of those:
This particular part includes a filter in it–if not, you’ll need both a pressure reducer and a filter. Every spring you’ll want to clean out the filter. To connect from the valve to the pressure reducer, I suggest you get some advice and parts from the plumbing supply. It’s a little complicated to explain it (though easy to do) and depending on your equipment you will need different supplies.
Now we get into pipe. There are three kids of pipe I use in my irrigation system:
Funny pipe is really strong and thick, and it would be used somewhere before the pressure reducer, depending on how you built your irrigation system. You may not use it at all.
Drip pipe is the same diameter, but it is much thinner. Finally you can see the small drip pipe with emitters built in.
Other parts:
So, after the pressure reducer you put the drip pipe, to a drip pipe connector. They can be elbows, or tee’s like this:
Then, you create a network of pipe to cover the garden. I’ve done two versions of this. With the first, I ran drip pipe across the top of the bed, and then down the sides, and finished with a figure-8.
In between the drip pipe I used small pipe with built in emitters, connected with small connectors. I used the punch to poke a hole in the drip pipe, then popped in the connector. It helps to wear gloves when putting all of this together. Just a little easier on the hands! It looks like this:
Here is a picture of the finished product:
If you look closely you can see my valve box, then pressure reducer, drip pipe, t-connector, drip pipe down the sides ending in figure-8, small drip with built in emitters running between. You don’t see the bottom left connector–it is also a tee that uses drip pipe to connect to the next garden.
I found with this setup it was hard to get all the small drip pipe even, and they don’t like to stay where they are. It also felt like the corners and edges by the large drip pipe were not watered evenly and predictably.
So, this year I “upgraded” to this system. I didn’t use any small drip pipe (which saved $), but ran 3 drip pipes, one down the center, and the other two centered between that pipe and the sides of the boxes. At the bottom I connected them with elbows, so it’s a closed loop. I punched holes, and popped in my drip emitters:
You can choose different flow for the emitters–how many gallons per hour. By choosing different emitters, you can provide for the different water needs of each plant. It’s not easy, but it is possible to remove these and switch them around.
The final product:
I love this system because it’s rigid and stays in place fairly well. If I do need to anchor it, a few key spots is all it takes. I haven’t tested it (I just built it!) so I don’t know how well and evenly it waters. I’m hopeful, though!
If you have built an irrigation system for your garden, I’d love to hear about it! Describe what you use, and the relative advantages and disadvantages.
Happy Gardening!
What a great rundown on all the irrigation options out there. I’ve been using a hose / bucket combo but I’m considering a different method. Thanks for this post.
Do you have an opinion on soaker hoses?
I don’t like soaker hoses, but I think that’s because I use Mel’s Mix. With the mix, I don’t think soaker hoses water very evenly and predictably. To really get good coverage you’d need so many, and by the time you spend your money on more than one soaker hose, you could have built another more effective watering system.
How long do you leave your drip irrigation system on for each watering? Also, how often do you water? Do you use 1 gallon/hour emitters or something else? Thanks!
My emitters are 2 gallon, but I’m not sure what my small drip pipe with emitters puts out. What I suggest to do is a test–turn on your valve (either manually, or with your timer) and let it run until you think it’s watered enough. Keep track of how much time that takes.
I water mine the same as my yard, which probably has disadvantages. That is about every 5 days in the spring, and then every 2-3 days in the heat of summer. I might over-water, but since I use Mel’s mix I don’t worry so much. It drains really well (at least compared to my 100% clay soil).
I use a drip irrigation system without a dedicated sprinkler valve. I have a hose bib nearby and found (at my local home improvement store) a single timer. I can set it for a certain amount of minutes every day, every other day, or every third day. While it isn’t perfect, and I often water by hand, I also like to go out of town a lot!
I installed my drip system about a month ago. I use a 360 degree shrubbler emitter, which is adjustable. I bought an electric timer that hooks up between the hose and the drip line regulator. It was about $30 from Home Depot. It is ideal because I can adjust the different emitters to deliver the right amount of water to each plant. I water for about 4-5 minutes in the morning and evening (because of the California heat). I talked to a few people who specialize in container gardining and they said that I want to water until the water is flowing out of the bottom of my containers. With Mel’s mix, you really do not have to worry about overwatering during the warmer summer months. I hope this helps.
We have rain barrels- do you know if you can use these with this system or is there not enough pressure??
I don’t think this would provide enough pressure. Sorry!
You should check out some drip kits for your garden online. I buy all my fertilizers and supplies right on the internet.
Sorry for the barrage, but I have a lot of question.
I’m curious about an update on your second (newer) design. How has it been working out for you? I like the idea – but I’m wondering if there are any changes you had to make (or would make if something didn’t work out as expected).
Are the flag emitters working out OK for your application? I saw Brian’s comment above about the 360 emitter and was wondering if you had any thoughts or opinions about that kind of setup.
Thanks!
Cameron
Cameron–I have not been as happy with the flag emitters. In fairness, I placed them about 12″ apart, where my built-in emitters are 6″ apart. This year I will add more emitters on the drip pipe–so they are every 6″. I will probably add a few lines of pipe with built-in emitters so that there is water every 6″.
It is a useful information about drip irrigation. I am a farmer and we have very large fields, before drip
irrigation system was found it was a nightmare to irrigate all those fields because where i live is a place
that does not rain so much. Now we use drip irrigation, saving so many water and it is a lot easier to irrigate
the field with that. I am trying to read everything about drip irrigation and i recommend every farmer to use that
technique, so i am grateful for everyone who gives information about it. I also found a very good guide about drip
irrigation and it may be useful too for those who want to learn more information about that;
http://agricultureguide.org/
Hi,
First of all thanks a lot for the website which is full of very useful info. This is the firts time I do my vegetable gardening and bought Mel’s book.
I’m interested in the drip watering system. But I have few questions:
* Fisrt what is the cost of your system for each bed?
* Then where could I buy my supply. I checked Home depot surprisingly they have have this. I checked amazon but it hard to tell what system is good (bad comments or no comments at all sometimes).
*Would you have the perfect shopping list for 4 raised beds by any chance
*How long does it take (roughly) to create your perfect watering system?
Thanks again for your help and I will keep browsing your great website.
Ludivine
Hi
I found this website: http://www.irrigationdirect.com It seems that all the customers are really happy about their products and services. The prices seem reasonnable. I will try them. They even have tutorials.
Ludivine–I generally do not recommend going to Home Depot for irrigation supplies, unless all you are getting is PVC pipes and elbows. I prefer a good sprinkler supply store. If you live in an area where irrigation is common, you’ll find these all over the place once you start looking. My experience is that the parts are higher quality and the service is so much better than Home Depot or Lowes.
Hi, Emily,
I love your site.
So how does your “closed loop circle using drip line” work for you? What is the latest on choice of emitters. I use Mel’s mix in 4 foot square boxes. I really am interested in a drip system. I have 11 boxes.
Rick in Mesa, AZ.
The closed loop thing works just fine. In the end, I’m not such a fan of the emitters. They certainly are easier to install, but I prefer the drip pipe with built in emitters. I will probably try to replicate the effect by adding emitters so they are spaced ever 6″, like the pipe is.
My favorite product to use in my garden bed is the 1/4 tubing with the emitters built in. I find it is really easy to use and in my bed where the plants aren’t in rows I can just loop it and circle it all over the bed. In the past I have used soaker hoses, but they seem to clog frequently and have an uneven watering pattern.
Hi, i love this article, thank you for the info! We have three square foot garden beds thanks to your help
How about an irrigation and grid system combined?
They have them at http://squarefootgardensupply.com
My SFGarden made it through several drought periods this year. It looks great and does an awesome job!
So the comment by SF Gardener is a link to a site selling garden boxes and grid/irrigation systems. But, I let it through because I think it’s pretty cool. –Emily