For the past several years I have sworn by drip irrigation… still do. I’ve always used drip tube. Last year I installed drip tape in the organic vegetable garden. Now I’m ready to give my verdict… drip tape vs drip tube. Which is better and why?
MENTIONED/RELATED VIDEO
Drip Irrigation (drip tube) Step By Step: https://youtu.be/zRHNntRPpvE
Installing Drip Tape in the Vegetable Garden: https://youtu.be/DbAWVx5Zn7k
OTHER PRODUCTS I USE AND LOVE: https://www.nextlevelgardening.tv/products-i-love
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44 Comments
Drip tape or drip tubes – depends on what vegs/herbs you are growing – and which vegs are water hogs (lettuces, melons, squash, zucchini, etc). The 8-inch drips would be used for less-watering needs of crops, while the 6-inch drips would be used for high-watering vegs. Also they should NOT be surface drips, but subsurface drips. Why water the surface that the sun dries out, or the wind evaporates the water – when putting the water down at the root's depth – saves all of the water and irrigation needs. Design your beds for drip tubes and drip tapes according to your veg needs. Design your beds according to the low-water and high-water needs of those vegs in those designated tube or tape beds. Both are viable options – when properly used with the properly planted vegs/herbs.
I put in drip tub in my last garden and I couldn't find all the fittings, for me was a night mare and mainly because my husband and my son don't have the patience to fiddle with it and I can't do it.. ❤🤗
Now versus soaker hose
Would this work for containers, like grow bags?
irrigation pipe (and presumably tubing/tape) has a larger ID than standard pipe. that's most likely why you had the issue with the connectors/Ts
Check out Lazy Dog Farm. Travis had side shoot tubing in his raised beds. He grows incredible veggies!
I use both in my garden as they were not designed to one fits all. For me it depends on the plant spacing needs. If i am doing plants like peas, I use 4" dip tape, if for plants with greater spacing, drip tube. Tape is can be used for for areas she you need bends, you just have to plan for it or use the proper parts to allow for a change in course of path. About 70% of my garden is Tape and the remainder Tube. I'm a fan of the tape.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Don't forget the filter! Generally you can just measure your pressure to make sure it's within spec. Usually it is. The filter is more important for a problem free installation. If you're installing droppers put in-line so that the ¼" distribution tubes are at low pressure. For irrigation contractors that's a must since your clients will be without a system until you can make repairs.
I'm a retired landscaper and used Drip since day one when you had to order the parts from Israel. I don't think you needed better coverage. Wicking to where plants take it up should be adequate. Not sure if your comparison is based on ¼" Drip Tubing. If so you need to tie it into half inch feeders because the flow drops off gradually. You need to test!
I haven't used Drip Tape much because it doesn't seem as rugged. The only thing I can say is that squirrels will be a problem with any system. Bury and mark your lines or you may end up doing constant maintenance and after all one of the goals is to minimize maintenance time and parts.
soaker hose! loljk
I saw a video from 'Hoss Tools' when he planted his watermelon patch. He buried the drip tape directly under the seedlings, in several long rows. He also added his liquid fertilizer through the drip tape. It was very interesting. There are 2 videos where he talks about it. "Grow the best watermelons ever" " How Many Watermelons Do You Need To Plant?" I hope this helps.
Brian Drip Works and Drip Depot both sell stainless steel crimping clamps in 1/2"tube ,3/4"tube, and 1" oval. They are 1/10 the price of hose clamps. The only drawback is they are permanent.
You will need a crimping tool a one time purchase. They are super easy and quick to install. I just switched to tube this year I like it much better than tape. The only drawback is your tube should not be longer that 30' per run per manufactures recommendations.
We have used both. Hands down tape is my preference. But you have to buy professional quality to avoid leakage. We like 4” for most garden beds and 12” for things like potatoes, tomatoes, brassica etc but use what you have. DripWorks is where we shop
I hate drip tape. You'll find if you have a large garden, that the tape gets nicked and you have a fountain going. Like you said, you have to be careful to get the same brand, my tape doesn't go over the fittings like your's did. I have to push and tease it over the fitting. The tube is a joy, round and round the trees and everywhere else I want it. You really have to work at damaging it. Tube for me! (I too, have a large spool of tape)
I haven't used the tape. It was interesting to see. I have used the tube and it could be the brand I used but it literally breaks all the time. Which drives me crazy. Last year I gave up and started watering by hand because I was using as much time fixing the tube as I would be standing there with my hose. I watched your other video and I think I'll try the tube again this year. 🤞
I use drip tape and get it all from Drip Depot.
We decided to go the drip tube route and will be installing it this weekend.
Can't use either….we have irrigation water with all kinds of junk in it! And can't put a water pump with screen because we live in town!
Hey, handsome. I was hoping we would see the lovely Emily make an appearance again.
I think both have their place – for long straight beds, (like those I see in other youtube channels – 20-40 feet long sometimes) drip tape is probably the way to go. For someone like me with a small suburban lot, I need the round tubing that I can wind around my various plants, or in my small raised beds where I only need 2-3 feet and I already have the brown 1/4" tubing on hand for that..
I've used both drip tape and dripline tubing for several years. Each has it's niche and I still use both. My lines are all supplied by 1/2" mainline. I first used dripline with .5gph emitters on 6" spacing in both the garden raised beds and around the deck shrub plantings. We have brutal mid-summer's and even shrubs need constant irrigation where I live. The dripline worked just fine but I added some more beds and was at the limit of my water supply if I watered all the garden beds at the same time (240gph total). So I switched the garden beds to drip tape, 15mil P1 with emitters 6" spacing at .25gph per emitter. This let me water more beds and gave me more control as it doubled the time I needed to water so I could find tune it (I use a flow meter to confirm how much is being pushed out). Drip line was on the surface and drip tape is burried. The tape seems to be working better for us. I added a Ez-Flo and can push liquid fertilizers and micro out to the root zones as I plant right on the tape. Just my take, but I think both have their place. Both my drip line and tape came from Drip Depot. Tape is Irritec P1, and the tubing was the 1/4" that they sell (no brand given?). I also like the mainline connection pieces with on/off valves for the tape better than the 1/4" valves. I would advise folks to stick with name brand products and not the China kit of the day for drip irrigation.
I always, always, always find your videos informative and beneficial. Thanks Brian.
I use both. I use compression fittings for my 1/2" line. The drip tape comes in different GPH. I use both .46 and .25. I find it cheaper to replace lines with tube. My 1/4" tube would clog and my watering was wonky mid season. Don't forget the reducer. Drip tape needs to go down to 15psi or lower.
I'm jealous of your view! The mountains in the back are beautiful
I invested a lot of money in drip tape for my 10 raised beds when I bought my current home 5 yrs ago at the advice of a local YouTuber. It was the biggest waste of money and water. The water didn’t spread, it just went down to the bottom of my 1’, 1.5’, and 2.5’ high beds and created a soggy mess around the beds. I replace them ALL with drip line and have been growing tons of food since. Drip tape is designed for farms/in-ground gardens.
I saw another video you did on the homestead channel about drip systems and you talked about how you redid the drip system in a planter box you have because you were losing water pressure in the drip tubing by the time the water got to the end of the tube. . You put 1/2" tubing all around the inside perimeter of the box and then you put short lengths of drip tube across the the width of the planter box and connected it to the tube on both sides. I hope I explain that clearly; here's the link to the video https://youtu.be/i2zEeaEsOWg. I was thinking I might do that with my 12 ft. long raised vegetable beds this year. Is there a reason why I shouldn't do this that I'm not thinking of? Is there a reason (besides cost) that you don't do this in your own beds?
I am new to gardening/growing and I haven't purchased a watering system YET. What is your opinion on a soaker hose?? They seem to be a lot cheaper than a drip hose or drip tape system. As of right now I don't have a lot of garden space. Just 2 raised beds inside a greenhouse. Any advice is appreciated, thank you!
I did drip tape for three years and spent a lot of time fixing leaks. Last year changed to drip tube, it was harder to put down but I only had a couple of leaks. So I give a thumbs up to tube.
My biggest (and undoubtedly, silliest) issue with drip tube is that my dogs find it irresistibly chewable! So I have to check the perimeter of our yard, periodically, in search of geysers!
I plan to switch to drip tape for the dog-accessible part of the yard.
I did experment with drip tape in my garden beds last year. I experienced many strange hiccups (mostly due to User Error). In the end, I just shut off that valve completely. (I had more important priorities to deal with).
My friends helped me re-jigger the system, so hopefully, I'll actually grow something to harvest!
Those little metal clamps are called jubilee clips in UK
If you haven't done it yet, what about staggering the emitters/holes? Also, there is a way to use soaker hoses attached to the black irrigation tubing. I just don't remember how I did it, but I used it in my previous raised beds where I used to live. I'll have to figure that out again!
Yep, tiny size of components of my irrigation system are the bane of my existence!
Tomorrow will 2 weeks since I stopped watering my tom plants in the solo cups. They seem to have dried out and so I will water again tomorrow morning. The jalapeno plants seem to love the mix I used, so will see if repotting the Tom plants to a mix higher in coco-cuir (2 to 1) and more perlite did the trick. They will either thrive again or will drown.
I look forward to more on the drip v tube subject. I think I'm leaning tube and will have to make my purchase soon.
Will you list out for us all the points you like about drip tape and all the points you don't like about it, please? I am looking into irrigation systems now. A friend of mine loves drip tape, but from what I've been learning I'm actually leaning towards the drip tubing, personally. But please remember, everyone will have different needs. Some the drip tube will be better and some the drip tape will be better. It's personal preference too! Don't feel bad if you end up not liking the drip tape so much. Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Trevor at Lazy Dog Farms almost exclusively uses drip tape. However, what I have seen him do is trench, lay the tape in the trench, cover it and then plant on top of the tape allowing his plants to get water at the root level.
I thought driptube was slang for YouTube drip tape salesmen
From watching lots of YouTube videos it seems that drip tape works better for long in ground rows
A topic I needed covered! Thanks 🙏🏼
also, I have not been able to find the drip tubing, had to add an emitter to the tube every six inces
Excellent advise👏🏾So it sounds like I need to do some research as what drip system I need to invest in since I will have a combination of fabric grow bags, vertical grow-stalks and raised beds😊
I have been watching your videos all winter. I'm in Connecticut and have had to take pits and pieces from your information, which I love by the way. I'm going to go with the drip hose watering system this year. And I've watched two of your videos on it. In one you mentioned you learned to use the return flow rather then just running the 1/4 " hose and capping them off. I get that, what I don't get is how do you run it to the next bed? Can that return run to the next bed with a T or do I have to have another start over with another line from my main faucet? How do I water more than one bed at a time? What am I not understanding? Any help would be much appreciated.
Never used tape but a friend who works for the Ag Dept said it deteriorates quickly.
I'm fairly new to gardening and I used 6 inch drip tape attached to 5/8 line. I was told to bury it 4 inches into the soil… but you didn't.
1- is 5/8" line too small?
2- should I dig up my line? I will be mulching.
I'm in central CA and we had some unexpected cold weather so I just got my plants into ground. I'm over head watering because I don't think the shallow roots of new plants will reach the water under 4 inches of soil. Right?
Thanks for your great tips!!!
It seems like such a hassle to install that I just keep hand watering. I only have one spigot in the back yard too, so I just get tired thinking about it. I wish it was all set up but it also gets very cold here in the winter. Also, I never organize my garden the same way annually. 1000 square foot garden.
Could you do a tutorial on growing alyssum? I have trouble with it and yours looks gorgeous. Love this and all vids from you!