How to Set up a Drip Irrigation System

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Drip irrigation is an easy, effective way of giving your plants water when and where they need it--at their root zone. Drip watering prevents wasted water in areas that don’t need it, and by denying water, you can prevent habitats for weeds to flourish. When you use this method, the water from soaker hoses or emitters slowly drips around the base of plants and provides the optimum amount of water, with little or no wasteful runoff. All you have to do is turn on the hose that connects your drip system to a faucet and let it run for an hour or so when needed.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Garden clippers
1/2-inch black hose that you cut into the correct lengths and punch holes in for emitters and other parts, such as emitters.
Emitters, which are small plastic pieces you plug into the black hose. They disperse water at a determined number of gallons per hour.
A hole punch, specially made for piercing the black hose used in drip irrigation.
End cap(s) or “goof plugs”
Optional--drip watering kit

Step1

Determine where your drip system needs to be.

Step2

Measure and cut your black hose to fit the area.

Step3

Place the black hose in the center of the bed where it will exist.

Step4

Using your hole punch, make holes for emitters where each plant you want to water will be.

Step5

Insert emitters into the holes you have punched in the black hose.

Step6

Place an end cap at the end of the black plastic hose.

Step7

Connect the system to a water source.

Step8

Run your drip system for about one hour every other day, or as required.

Tips & Warnings

For your first drip system, consider buying a kit that includes all the pieces you’ll need to set up a small, basic system. Kits are a good introduction to drip watering and include all the directions you will need to get started and easily create your first system.
Slow, even watering directly to the root zone will:
Save water--up to 70 percent less water than conventional sprinklers.
Reduce plant stress--resulting in earlier production, up to 49 percent faster growth, healthier and more beautiful plants and up to 84% greater yields.
Reduce weed growth--you only water the plants, not the weeds.
Reduce water evaporation by as much as 70 percent.
Prevent water run-off and soil erosion.
Reduce thatch in your lawn, which results from shallow, infrequent watering.
If you only have one water faucet in your yard, no problem! You can buy plastic or metal “Y” connectors to automatically turn your faucet into two faucets, each of which can have a separate hose attached to it. Simple switches turn each side off and on. You can get fancy with these and add more than one connector to your faucet if you like.
There’s an even easier way to apply many of the benefits of drip irrigation. A simple solution to all of the hoses, emitters, connectors and such is to simply use soaker hoses.
You might consider investing in a timer so you never have to remember to turn on the faucet. But don’t forget to turn off your timer when it has rained a lot! Too much water is one of the main causes of plant death, and can be just as bad for a plant as not enough water.Keywords