This is the third article in the Assemble Your Drip Irrigation series. See the first article to learn how to assemble the drip irrigation parts at the faucet and the second article on connecting tubing.

By now, you have all the tubing in place and it's time to add the drippers and sprayers.

You can add drippers anywhere along the length of the 1/2" mainline tubing (T2100) by making a hole using a hole punch such as a TL2 or TL3.

Push the large barbed end of the dripper into the hole until you feel a click as the barb seats itself. If you install the dripper backwards, no water will flow out.

You can also add a dripper to the end of 1/4" Tubing (T3100) as shown to the right.

You can add 1/8" (T4100) or 1/4" tubing to the outlet of the dripper to direct the water right to the base of each plant. The catalog description of each type dripper includes information on the right size tubing for extensions. Or you can purchase our D8 Whip Extension that comes pre-assembled with dripper, 24" length of tubing and angle stake. See photo below.

The open end of any 1/8" or 1/4" tubing should be held above the soil by a stake to avoid getting dirt into the tubing. The stake also keeps the end of the drip irrigation tubing securely in place at the base of the plant.

The 1/2" mainline tubing and the drippers can be buried or covered if there is an 1/8" or 1/4" tubing extension attached to each dripper.

The disadvantage to burial is that there is a greater chance of dirt entering the dripper or the tubing and eventually causing blockage. We recommend to avoid burying drippers if possible and simply cover them with mulch.

An exception may be where the dripper would be hit by a mower such as near a tree. Instead of actually burying a mainline and the drippers in soil, you can cover the drip irrigation system parts with mulch which is much cleaner than soil.

Drippers are best to serve individual plants such as shrubs or widely spaced vegetables or flowers. For closely planted flowers or rows of vegetables, dripline works well. Dripline is 1/2" tubing with drippers built in at a fixed spacing such as every 12" or 18".

Each built-in dripper on dripline delivers a set amount of water flow such as one-half gallon per hour. The built-in drippers are close enough so that the water flows out to create a continuous wet area for the length of the dripline. Use barbed or compression fittings to connect the dripline to the 1/2" Tubing mainline. Use Figure 8 end stops (OE7) at the end of each run of dripline.

Some large agri-farms bury dripline but we recommend that drip irrigation systems for residential use should be kept on top of the soil surface to reduce the chance of dirt or mud flowing back into the built-in dripper openings at shut down and to make troubleshooting and repair easier. If you wish to cover the drip irrigation systems, use mulch rather than soil. The mulch will shade the dripline and help reduce evaporation from the soil surface.

Sprayers are very easy to add to your circuit. Use a length of 1/4" tubing (T3100) and a 1/4" Coupler (FB10) to connect the sprayer to the 1/2" tubing mainline.

Sprayers use a great deal more water volume than drippers or dripline. For that reason, they should be on a separate drip irrigation circuit so that they do not affect the flow of water to the drippers on the circuit.

We often set up a temporary set of two to four sprayers on a 12' length of 1/2" tubing that connects to a garden hose. This short drip irrigation assembly can be moved to any part of the garden, especially good for keeping new seed beds damp until germination. Read more...

Another idea... If you position one sprayer at your compost bin to keep the compost damp, the compost process will be accelerated.