Premium Greenhouse Drip Irrigation Kit

Congratulations on your purchase of a Premium Greenhouse Drip Irrigation Kit from Drip Depot!

Please take a few minutes to read through these instructions and familiarize yourself with all the parts. For assistance with part names and details, you can print or view the list of parts included in your kit from the Kit item page on our website.

Drip Depot kits are modular in design, as no two greenhouse gardens are completely alike. Should you have any questions while installing your kit please feel free to email our Customer Support team. You may want to review some of our many resources in our Education Center, found under the “Learn” tab in the menu bar on our website.

While there are several different methods for watering within a greenhouse, our Premium Greenhouse Kit is designed for larger greenhouse applications, using drippers and micro sprinkler irrigation in non overhead watering. Your Drip Depot Greenhouse Kit is designed to connect to standard garden hose or outdoor water spigot. This kit utilizes ½” (.600” ID x .700” OD) poly tubing as the mainline and includes several elbow and tee fittings allowing for a variety of installation options. Several different emitter types are included to meet the needs of varying sizes and types of containers.

Individual Button Drippers are used to water directly at the root zone of individual plants or in containers. Drippers with barbed inlet connections can be inserted directly into ½” or larger mainline tubing or inserted into the ends of ¼” micro-tubing to reach plants that are not near your main or lateral lines.

Adjustable Stream Drippers are included for larger pots or plantings. These 360° and 180° adjustable stream drippers with ¼” barb mounted on a 5.5” stake are designed to produce a gentle stream with adjustable flow rated from 0 to 19 GPH and a diameter range from 0 to 42” at 30 PSI. Each 360° and 180° adjustable stream dripper has an adjustable cap that allows for simultaneous control of the flow rate and the wetting area. Here is a video showing how these drippers are used: https://youtu.be/j7b5ERv_OJs

The 360° Adjustable Spinner on 10-32 UNF threads is ideal for any area where you want a lot of coverage. The flow rate is adjustable from 0 - 26 GPH at 20 PSI covering up to a 23’ diameter. These would work well in large greenhouse or hoop house applications. Here is a video showing how to use the Adjustable Spinner: https://youtu.be/zq8c6aJOhq4

Your kit includes items you may not need for your specific design but are included “just in case”.

Several ½” Perma-Loc fittings are included, such as tees, elbows, and end caps. This allows for many design options including running the mainline around the perimeter of the greenhouse using elbows in the corners to make tight 90 degree turns or tees can be used to run lateral lines off a header row along one side of your greenhouse.
¼” Goof Plugs are included just in case you need to plug a hole punched in the ½” mainline tubing that is no longer needed. These are also used to close the ends of the ¼” micro-tubing.
A couple of ½” Perma-Loc Couplers are included just in case you need to make a repair in your mainline tubing or join two sections of ½” poly tubing together.
Several ¼” barbed fittings are included for connecting the ¼” micro-tubing to the ½” mainline tubing.

Installing your Head Assembly - Drip Depot Kits come standard with garden hose thread components for easy connection to your outdoor spigot or garden hose. Hand tighten only, no teflon tape or pipe dope is required with hose threaded connections. The Premium Greenhouse Kit includes two complete Head Assembly sets to connect at two separate water sources for larger coverage needs.

1. Install the Hose Thread Vacuum Breaker or Backflow Preventer, included in your kit, to the outdoor spigot. Ensure this item has the rubber washer seated completely down inside the female threaded connection prior to installation. Hand tighten only, no teflon tape or pipe dope is required with hose threaded connections.

2. Next, install the Filter, included in your kit, to the vacuum breaker or backflow prevention device. Please ensure the rubber washer is seated completely down inside the female threaded connection prior to installation.

3. The Pressure Regulator is installed after the filter. Again, ensure the rubber washer is seated completely down inside the female threaded connection prior to installation. Please note the directional flow arrow on most pressure regulators for proper installation.

4. Lastly, the Female Hose Thread Tubing Adapter is installed on the outflow side of the pressure regulator. A helpful tip is to connect your tubing to the tubing adapter prior to connecting to your head assembly components. Most tubing adapters have a female swivel end for ease of installation.

5. Repeat steps for second head assembly at additional water source.

*Please note: If using a hose-end water timer, to automate your drip system, the Head Assembly must be installed after/downstream of the timer or valve. Drip irrigation products are not rated for constant pressure use. Many municipal codes require the use of anti vandalism protection (set screw) on an outdoor water spigot backflow preventer. The J10 locking screw may qualify when properly installed directly on the outdoor hose bibb. If used on an automatic water timer for your irrigation system we recommend not tightening the screw as the plastic threads can be permanently damaged if backflow device is removed.

Mainline Tubing Installation - Determine the best location for your mainline to reach from your water source and head assembly to your greenhouse. *A quick tip is to draw a simple sketch of your greenhouse to help with layout design.

a. Connect the mainline to the head assembly with the perma-loc swivel tubing adapter.

b. Using the necessary ½” perma-loc fittings, run your ½” tubing through your greenhouse so it is easily accessible to all areas needing irrigation.

c. Cut off any excess tubing. Poly tubing can be cut using standard household scissors, a stanley (razor) knife or special tubing cutters. See our selection of tubing cutters in our Punches & Cutters category.

d. Flush the line(s). Allow water to run through tubing to remove any debris that may be inside.

e. Install Perma-Loc end Caps to close the lines.

Installing Micro-tubing with Drippers

a. Punch a hole into the mainline tubing, where you want a row or run of micro tubing, using the ¼” punch tool included in the kit.

b. Attach a ¼” barbed coupler to one end of the micro-tubing and insert the barbed coupler into the hole you punched in the mainline. You should hear a snap or click once the barbed coupler is inserted correctly.

c. Unroll the ¼” micro-tubing to reach to the first plant to be watered and cut. Note: If you are watering several plants in this run, proceed with steps e - g.

d. If watering a single plant, insert the barbed inlet of a dripper into the ¼” micro-tubing; snap the dripper end of the micro-tubing into a Stabilizer Stake and push the stake into the soil near the base of the plant.

e. Insert one side of a ¼” barbed tee in the micro-tubing. Cut another short section of micro-tubing to reach from the run to near the base of the plant to be watered. Attach this section to the center point of the ¼” barbed tee. Attach the barbed inlet of a dripper to the end of this short section of micro tubing.

f. Snap the dripper end of the micro-tubing section into a Stabilizer Stake and push the stake into the soil near the base of the plant.

g. Attach the micro-tubing to the remaining barb on the tee fitting and unroll to the next plant to be watered. Continue to the last plant in this run by following directions in step d.

Installing Adjustable Stream Drippers on Stakes

a. Punch a hole into the mainline tubing, where you want to run the micro-tubing for the adjustable stream dripper, using the ¼” punch tool included in the kit.

b. Remove the small barbed coupler from the adjustable stream dripper and insert into one end of the micro-tubing.

c. Push the other end of the micro-tubing over the barbed inlet on the adjustable stream dripper stake.

d. Insert stake into the container (or near the plant(s)) to be watered.

e. Adjust the flow to meet your needs after completing kit installation.

Installing Adjustable Spinners

a. Punch a hole in the mainline tubing where you want to attach the micro-tubing for installing the adjustable spinner, using the ¼” punch tool included in your kit.

b. Insert a ¼” barbed coupler into a section of ¼” micro-tubing, then insert the other end of the coupler into the hole punched in the mainline tubing.

c. Cut the section of micro-tubing to the length needed to reach where you wish to place the 360° adjustable spinner.

d. Connect the micro-tubing to the barbed end of a Rigid Riser then snap the rigid riser into the groves on the Rigid Riser Holding Stake. Push the stake into the ground at the location you want to water.

e. Next, using just your hands (no tools needed), screw the adjustable spinner into the top of the rigid riser.

f. Finally, adjust the spinner flow to meet your watering needs.

Tips

Placing your roll of poly tubing in the sun before installation allows the tubing to warm up and become more flexible, which makes installation easier. Also, larger rolls can be stood on edge and unrolled from the outside of the coil. It is best to anchor the end of the tubing by staking or placing a heavy object on it then unroll. Another option is lay the coil on the ground and starting with the inside end, slowly pull and twist to unroll without kinking. See our Professional Tips for more helpful suggestions.
Adjustable drippers and spinners use a lot of water and can easily over-tax your system capacity. Remember the 200/200 Rule for ½” poly tubing: maximum 200’ run lengths and 200 GPH (gallons per hour) total flow; 30/30 Rule for ¼” tubing: maximum 30’ run lengths and 30 GPH total flow. See the Tubing Buying Guide for details of tubing capacity.
For more uniform coverage, when using spinners or sprinklers, it is a good idea to have some overlap of the wetted pattern.
If you live in an area where the temperatures drop down to below 37 degrees Fahrenheit you must winterize your system. See our Winterizing Instructions.