Planning drip irrigation for homeowners is quite simple. It takes as long to read about it as it does to do it. And the work of putting together the components is so easy that it's a fun way to spend an afternoon.

If you are a beginner at drip irrigation, start simple. Plan one circuit that serves just a few plants. We offer Starter Kits that have everything you need to setup a basic drip irrigation circuit. It's so easy to add more tubing and drippers to serve more plants later. You never have to worry about getting it right the first time.

You can reuse components over and over, so that there is little waste if you change your plans. We even supply Goof plugs (OE8) that you can use to plug holes that are no longer being used.

What is drip irrigation?

Drip irrigation is made up of tubing and drippers. The tubing distributes water from an outdoor faucet to various parts of the yard. The drippers are small automatic valves installed on the tubing. The drippers deliver water to each plant.

Tubing is laid out across the yard to connect flower beds, trees, shrubs, vegetable beds, etc. One length of tubing can serve many plants and is known as a circuit.

Even if you wish to start small, here is an overview of how any yard can be planned into circuits.

Circuits

Flowers, trees and shrubs are often planted together in beds. Let's group the beds together into a circuit. A circuit will be a group of beds and trees that are reasonably close to one another and can be served by the same drip irrigation mainline tubing.

Most homes have at least two outdoor faucets. You can set up a drip irrigation circuit at either faucet. Many homes eventually have two circuits. One for the front yard and one for the back yard.

Driveways

Many homes have a paved driveway that is a barrier to a drip irrigation circuit. It is usually too much work to burrow a tunnel under a hard-surface driveway for your mainline tubing, so let's assume that your two drip circuits will be on either side of the driveway.

If your driveway is gravel, it is easy to bury the mainline tubing and the driveway will not be a barrier.

Normally, sidewalks and walkways are not a barrier to a drip circuit. Dig a hole on either side of the sidewalk, slide a garden hose into a 3 foot length of plastic or metal tubing and let the hydraulic force of water from the hose cut a hole through the soil under the walk. Cover the end of the 1/2" tubing you will install to keep dirt out and push the tubing under the sidewalk and fill all holes after.

Combine

Drippers can be either individual drippers or a length of dripline with built-in drippers (DL4100). The important factor is that the total flow from all drippers in a circuit should not exceed the flow rate of your water supply. (See tutorial on Testing your Water Volume)

If you have flower beds, shrubs and a few trees in a front yard, you can often combine all the plants into one circuit with up to 180 drippers rated at one gallon per hour flow rate for a total of 180 gallons per hour if you have that much water available. (Most residential properties have 280 to 360 gallons per hour available at each outdoor faucet)

The maximum rate of flow in any one circuit should be no more than 180 gallons per hour, due to friction losses in 1/2" Tubing. And any single length of 1/2" Tubing mainline (or 1/2" Dripline) should not exceed 200 feet in one circuit owing to the friction losses of 1/2" tubing.

Are there exceptions to these guidelines? Yes. Contact us for more information.

Example

If you have 1/2" tubing and you have installed one gallon per hour drippers every 18" , you could have up to 270 feet total length in one circuit, which is 180 gallons per hour (maximum flow times 1.5 (the spacing in feet)). But any single tubing length of that circuit should be limited to 200 feet, owing to friction losses in the tubing. In other words, you could have three lengths of tubing with drippers 90 feet long in one circuit or one length 200 feet long and another 70 feet long, or any other combination of branch lengths, as long as all the branches of the circuit do not exceed 270 feet length in total.

Remember that it is a simple task to hide the mainline tubing by burying it where it crosses lawn. (See tutorial on How to Bury Tubing)

Multiple Circuits

Do you have a lot of plants and trees? No problem. You can have as many circuits as you need. Each circuit will turn on at a different time of day so that it will not compete with the other circuits for water pressure. You can also set up more than one circuit at each faucet. But we are getting way ahead of ourselves. (See the How-To article on Adding a Second Circuit)

Sprayers

Exceptions to the rule are sprayers and misters. They use 15 to 20 times as much water as a typical dripper. For that reason, they are normally assigned to their own circuit. That way they do not "rob" water pressure from drippers. If you have a drip circuit that only has drippers, one or two sprayers at the end of the circuit may work fine but the true test is to compare the rate of flow from the drippers with and without the added sprayers. If the rate of flow stays the same, the sprayers are not robbing water flow and pressure from the drippers, and you can combine drippers and sprayers in the same circuit.

Sketch

Make a rough sketch of your yard noting the location of the outdoor faucets and any paved driveway. Draw a line connecting a faucet with the nearby flower beds, shrubs, trees and vegetable garden. Keep the line as short as possible and still in touch with each bed and tree. Measure the circuit on the lawn and use the Drip Wizard to help calculate the lengths of tubing and number of parts. Keep the first circuit short and simple. You can always add on later.

We have starter kits available in our online drip irrigation store that include all the parts needed for a simple first-time circuit. Once you have installed your first drip circuit, you will see how easy it is. Your second circuit will be a snap.

Next in the Planning series is Planning Your Drip Irrigation #2 - the Drippers