Dripline

Dripline is inline-emitter tubing: the emitter sits inside the pipe at a fixed spacing, so one lateral waters a whole row of field-grown stock, a container row or an in-ground greenhouse bed without a stake or spaghetti tube at every plant. The range runs from 5 mil single-season tubing to 60 mil heavy-wall line that stays in a block for years.

The decision that matters most is whether the emitters need to be pressure-compensating. That comes down to run length, elevation change across the zone, and how close the last plant's flow has to be to the first. Settle that, then pick wall thickness for the seasons it has to last, and spacing and flow for the crop.

PC or non-PC, thin wall or heavy wall?

Two questions sort most of this page: how many seasons the line must last, and whether the far end needs the same flow as the valve end.

Wall thickness is the seasons question. Thin-wall dripline of 5 to 15 mil, such as Rivulis D900 and D1000, suits single-season crops pulled at season's end; Irritec P1 spans seasonal and multi-season use. Heavy-wall line at 35 to 60 mil, where Netafim DripNet PC Heavywall and Aries Heavywall, Toro BlueLine PC, Rivulis Hydro PC / PCND, Rain Bird GritX PC Heavywall and Irritec Apex PC and D7 sit, is for tree rows, multi-season beds and line hung on wire or buried.

PC is the uniformity question. A non-PC emitter puts out more water at higher pressure, so on a long lateral or a sloping block the first plants get more than the last. PC emitters hold flow nearly constant across their rated window; Toro publishes a CV under 3% for BlueLine PC and Irritec under 5% for Apex PC. Short, level laterals in a greenhouse bay or flat container row can run non-PC line such as Netafim Aries Heavywall, Toro BlueLine Classic, Irritec D7 or Jain Turbo Excel / Plus.

For buried line, Rain Bird GritX SDI and XFS Subsurface Dripline carry Copper Shield against root intrusion; Netafim UniRam, Rivulis D5000 PC and AmnonDrip PC / CNL / AS are listed for SDI too. Where laterals on a slope drain after every cycle, see the check-valve versions, GritX DSV and XFS-CV Subsurface Dripline.

What pressure and filtration does dripline need?

Read the pressure window first; it varies widely. Rivulis D900 and D1000 thin-wall top out at 14.5 to 17 psi. Jain Turbo Excel / Plus and J-Turbo Line Super are rated at 14 psi. Heavy-wall PC lines such as Netafim DripNet PC Heavywall, Toro BlueLine PC, Rain Bird GritX PC Heavywall and Irritec Apex PC accept windows of roughly 7 to 60 psi. Put a thin-wall product on a submain set for the heavy-wall line and it fails on the first cycle.

PC only works above its minimum. Rivulis Hydro PC begins regulating at 14.5 psi on 16 mm and 10.6 psi on 17 mm and larger; Irritec Multibar F needs 7 to 12 psi. Below that, a PC emitter behaves like a plain one. Every zone needs a pressure regulator matched to the line, not to the pump.

Filtration is not optional. Emitter passages are small, and disc or screen filtration ahead of every zone is standard practice; Irritec specifies 120 mesh for Apex PC. Pond, creek or recycled water carries grit and algae, so choose the line for it. Rain Bird's GritX family is built for water with grit in it, Netafim UniRam is self-flushing and listed for poor water quality, Aries Heavywall uses the TurbuNext labyrinth for harsh water, and Rivulis D2000 and Toro Neptune Flat Emitter Dripline are built to resist clogging. Size the filter to zone flow, which is emitter flow times emitter count, and check that total against the pump.

What goes wrong, and how do the lines differ?

The failures we hear about are rarely the product. Thin-wall line put on heavy-wall pressure. A PC line with no regulator, when the zone never reached the emitter's minimum. A pond filter sized for the pump rather than the emitters. Two emitter spacings or flow rates on the same valve, so no run time suits both. Unprotected line buried under tree rows and lost to root intrusion. And drip tape bought where multi-season dripline was wanted, on cost per foot.

The manufacturers approach these differently. Netafim is the range growers standardize on when uniformity matters more than up-front cost, with DripNet PC Heavywall, UniRam and Aries Heavywall covering PC, self-flushing and non-PC. Rivulis grades its D-series by wall thickness from D900 to D5000 PC, adds Hydro PCND for pulse irrigation, and carries NaanDanJain's AmnonDrip. Toro pairs BlueLine PC with BlueLine Classic, plus Neptune for rocky, abrasive soils. Jain's Turbo Excel / Plus and J-Turbo Line Super are rated at 14 psi; J-Turbo Line Super suits loop systems and short greenhouse laterals. Rain Bird's agricultural dripline is PC only: GritX for water with grit in it, XFD for on-surface work, and XFS and XFS-CV for subsurface with root protection and check valves. Irritec runs from P1 thin-wall to Apex PC, with an optional white skin for greenhouse use, and its fittings help where brands meet on one block.

Send us crop, spacing, run length, elevation and water source, and ask which line fits. Request a quote.