How Deep Should Drip Irrigation Lines Be Buried?

How Deep Should Drip Irrigation Lines Be Buried

For a simple, home garden, your drip irrigation line poly tubing should not be buried more than 12". That means if you bury it 6" deep that is okay - it will depend on the plants.

There is no reason to be digging down more than a foot deep to bury a simple drip irrigation tubing. Poly tubing should not be buried more than 12" deep, and if you do decide to bury it, you should protect it with PVC.

For drip tape, up to 6" will do, and you can even go with 3 to 4" at that. If you need anything deeper than that, you'll want to call a professional. If you plan on growing shallow-rooted crops, you only need to bury your drip irrigation system a few inches deep.

Why You Should Bury Your Drip Irrigation Tubing

There are many reasons why you should bury your drip irrigation tubing:

• Hot Weather: If you live in hotter climates, and your drip tubing sits in the sun all day, it can become brittle over time. Most drip irrigation tubing is rated for UV these days but even still, it can the hot sun rays came become problematic for your irrigation tubing over time.
• Improved water conservation: Burying drip tape can conserve water. You will use 40% less water burying the drip tape than leaving it on top of the soil. Leaving drip line above ground will increase the amount of water that evaporates. You need to bury drip line to increase the flow of water to the plant's root zone.
• Reduced movement: When you bury your drip tape, it's not going to move around. It won't be affected by wind or people walking over it. It will stay right in place where it needs to be to deliver water to your plants.
• Less Chance or Rodent Damage: If you keep your drip irrigation tubing above ground, there is a good chance that a rodent is going to chew it. If you bury the drip tape, this becomes much less of a problem (it is still possible just reduced)
• Hard soil: Harden soil, also known as soil crusting, is when it rains out the soil starts to 'crust' over. Gardeners know this makes it much harder to cultivate the soil. If you leave your drip tape above ground, you can expect to have your drip tape crusted over as well after a heavy rain.
• Direct fertilization: Just like watering, if you run your drip tape underground, you'll be able to get fertilizer directly to the plant's root zone through direct injection of the fertilizer. You can feed the plants through the drip tape underground.
• Cultivation: When you bury the drip tape, the cultivation of your garden is going to be much easier. You won't need to work around the drip tape because it will be below the plants underground. So if you don't want to move the drip tape every time you cultivate the weeds in your garden, consider burying it.
• Aesthetics: This one is least important in a garden, but the overall aesthetic of the garden looks better when the lines are buried. This really applies to bigger gardens with complex lines of drip irrigation tubing and not so much a small backyard garden - but it is something to consider.

Why You Shouldn't Bury Your Drip Irrigation System

Burying your drip irrigation systems can be a pain. There are a couple reasons why you shouldn't bury your drip irrigation tubes:

• Not worth it for small gardeners: If you only have a few small garden beds, it might not be worth it to bury all your lines. There is no reason to dig your soil just to bury one or two lines that will need to be winterized at the end of the season.
• Tubing collapse: If you don't pressurize the line before you bury it, you can guarantee that line is going to collapse under the soil. This is why you should bury your tubing in PVC pipe if you plan on going under 3" of soil. Why? Because if it collapses, you will have to dig it up to troubleshoot.
• Less control: If you bury your drip irrigation system over 6" deep and you have a problem such as a leak, or a kinked line, you are going to need to dig up the line to fix it (in some cases). For someone who isn't a professional, that can be a nightmare.
• Clogging: This goes in line with the above but if you bury your drip irrigation tube wrong, and it clogs, you are going to need to unclog it. That can be difficult to diagnose while it's 6" underground. You can avoid this (for the most part) by burying your drip irrigation tubes the correct way with the drip emitters facing up.

Should You Bury Lawn Irrigation Systems?

Yes, you should bury your lawn irrigation systems. For that, you should consider a professional.

Most people care about the aesthetics of their lawns (hence the reason they mow it, fertilize it, clean off the leaves) so we can't imagine you would want your lawn irrigation system on top of the grass.

Conclusion

Drip irrigation works by delivering water right to the plant roots. Low pressure irrigation is a great way to save water, money and time out in the garden. Burying your drip lines may be worth it for some but could be a hassle for other, more novice gardeners.

We recommend if you are planning a complex drip irrigation system, then call a professional but if you are a simple hobby gardener with one or two garden beds, try a season or so above ground and see how you fare.

Burying Drip Irrigation Lines FAQs

Before you go...

So that's it for my guide on how deep to bury your best drip irrigation systems.

But it isn't the only thing you need to know about when it comes to drip irrigation. You should know what it is and how it works before you even consider digging a trench.

Be sure to check out some of our other guides so you can build the biggest and baddest garden around.