Soaker Hose Decision Making

In this brief tutorial, we will go over the differences between your dripline choices. Please also see our tutorial for small to medium gardens and the components needed: Drip Irrigation Systems For Vegetable Gardens.

The recommended spacing within a bed is 1' between each drip emitter tubing run. This is totally up to you though. You could go closer or further apart based on your gardening needs.

Small Garden Beds

For smaller garden beds, we often use the micro 1/4" Drip Emitter tubing. This is a great option because the rolls aren't too big and they are very easy to work with. The downside is the 6" version only has a maximum branch (run) length of 19' and the 12" has a max of 33'. You can use many different runs of this product in the same zone but the max run length of a single run is a bit limiting for some projects. Both of these products have an output of .5GPH but they are not pressure compensated so if you have slopes then the emitters will not all output the same. 

Medium Garden Beds

For medium gardens, we start to look at Netafim's techline tubing. This tubing can be used in long max branch lengths which is a big upside. They are available in larger rolls and the 12mm smaller version has 6" spacing and .26GPH (not very high) so you can use a lot of it in a zone. Whereas the bigger 17mm version has 12" spacing and a higher .9 GPH output. Both of these options are pressure compensated so the emitters will output uniformly on a slope. 

Decision Making

As for figuring out which product would work best for you, we'd recommend figuring out whether you prefer a 6" or a 12" spacing first and then look at the length of the beds you are using the product in. If they exceed the max run length of the 1/4" micro DET Tubing then you'd have to go with the techline product. The Techline is the superior product because of it being pressure compensated but the DET Tubing is still an excellent product and is the best seller for creating garden beds.

Alternatives

1) If none of the emitter spacings work for you then you can create your own drip tubing by using solid poly tubing and inserting emitters yourself into the tubing at your own preferred spacing. 

2) Drip tape. This is a "seasonal product" which is great for long row crops and for gardens that are being harvested because the tape will be taken out of the garden and replaced with new tape after harvesting. A lot of homeowners still opt to use it but it has a short lifespan because of its thin walls. 

If you have any questions or need further recommendations, please contact us at info@irrigationdirect.ca.

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