How to Build a Surface Irrigation System

Providing a guilt-free way to work less, a drip surface irrigation system conserves water while saving you time on gardening chores. Delivering water directly to roots, drip irrigation reduces weed growth and leaf diseases. Most home drip irrigation systems require a hose bib, an outdoor faucet with a threaded spout for attaching a garden hose. Plants receive water from emitters attached to emitter tubing, which has regularly-spaced holes and attaches to mainline tubing. The mainline tubing attaches to the hose bib through devices that filter, control pressure and prevent water from backing up into household water. Covering mainline tubing with mulch protects it from sunlight and increase its lifespan.

Bucket
Hose bib
Emitters
1/2 inch polyethylene mainline tubing
Emitter tubing
End cap
Tubing adapter
Filter
Pressure regulator
Backflow prevention device
Mulch

Instructions

- 1
  Stand a bucket under your hose bib and turn the faucet all the way on. Time how long it takes to fill. Divide the gallons in the bucket by the seconds it took to fill, then multiply by 3,600. The answer tells you the gallons per hour available from your municipal water supply. For your drip irrigation to deliver water properly, the total gallons per hour released through the emitters should should not exceed this figure.
- 2
  Place emitter devices next to plants according to their water needs. For example, on clay soil, one perennial plant requires two 0.5 gph emitters next to its base. Shrubs 1 to 5 feet tall and sapling trees require two 1 gph emitters, and shrubs taller than 5 feet require three 1 gph emitters. Each of these emitters should be placed 1 foot from the plant base. Place four 4 gph emitters 2 feet from the base of trees 15 to 25 feet tall.
- 3
  Lay emitter tubing next to closely-spaced plants, such as ground cover plants and bulbs, and join emitters and emitter tubing to mainline tubing so that it all forms one system. Seal the end of the mainline tubing with an end cap.
- 4
  Join the beginning of the mainline tubing -- nearest the hose bib -- to an adapter, then attach the adapter to your irrigation system filter. Connect the filter to a pressure regulator; then join the pressure regulator to a backflow prevention device. Screw the backflow prevention device to your hose bib.
- 5
  Test your surface irrigation system by turning on the hose bib. Walk around your system and check that water is flowing from each emitter.
- 6
  Cover the mainline tubing with a 2-inch layer of bulky mulch, such as wood chips or shredded pine bark.

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