This kit is the water line for an open field block rather than a house. It arrives as 16 mm polyethylene drip tape with pressure compensating emitters, together with the row connectors, end caps and screen filter needed to run it, so a block is laid out from one order instead of from a list of parts. The tape is UV stabilised for field use and is bought in rolls, which is what makes it practical on a farm that lays the line once a season and lifts it at the end. Emitter spacing, flow rate and roll length are set on the order.
Overhead watering puts water on the field. Drip puts it at the plant, and the difference is what the grower pays for: less water lifted, less weed between the rows, and a root zone that stays where it was set rather than drying between passes. This kit is the line itself, supplied with the parts that hold a run together.
The order covers 16 mm polyethylene drip tape with pressure compensating emitters, row connectors, end caps and a screen filter. A screen filter is in the set because drip tape is the part of an irrigation system that punishes dirty water first: an emitter is a small opening, and the debris that would pass through a sprinkler blocks a drip line outright.
Bulk orders are supplied on 1000 m reels in cartons, which suits a grower laying a block rather than a bed, and the tape is bought by the roll rather than by the length. Kits of this type sit with the rest of the irrigation system range on this site.
The emitters in this tape are pressure compensating, which means each one delivers the same flow whether it sits at the head of the run or at the far end. On a long row that is the difference between a crop that finishes together and a row where the far end is always behind. The rated flow is 2 litres per hour per plant.
Clogging is the failure mode to design around. Water carrying silt, iron or algae will block a drip emitter long before it blocks a sprinkler nozzle, which is why the screen filter is fitted at the head of the run and cleaned on a short cycle rather than at the end of the season. Where the source is a borehole or a canal, filtration is the part of the system worth spending on.
The tape wall is 0.2 mm and the emitter spacing is 30 cm on the standard build, with wall thickness and spacing both set on the order. Wall thickness is what decides how the tape behaves under field conditions: a thinner wall costs less per metre and is easier to lay, and a heavier wall holds its shape when the line is lifted and rolled at the end of the season.
The tape is UV stabilised for about three seasons of field use. That figure assumes the line is lifted and stored between crops rather than left out in sun through the fallow period, which is the practice the service life is written around.
The table below is the standard build. Emitter spacing, flow rate and roll length are set to the block and to the crop.
| Function | Drip irrigation |
| Tape diameter | 16 mm |
| Tape material | LDPE, UV stabilised |
| Wall thickness | 0.2 mm |
| Emitter type | Pressure compensating, built in |
| Emitter spacing | 30 cm or set on the order |
| Flow rate | 2 L/h per plant |
| Kit contents | 100 m tape, row connectors, end caps, screen filter |
| Bulk packing | 1000 m reels in cartons |
| Field service life | About three seasons, lifted and stored between crops |
| Application | Open field and nursery irrigation |
| Customisation | Emitter spacing, flow rate and roll length set on the order |
The head works go in first: the source, the screen filter and the connector that turns the supply into the row lines. Tape is then laid along the rows and cut to length, with the end caps folded over and the row connectors joining the tape to the sub main. Runs are kept to the length the emitter flow can hold, because a run that is too long gives the far end less water than the head.
Maintenance is filtration and flushing. The screen filter is cleaned on a short cycle during the season, and the tape is flushed at the end of a run by opening the far ends, which pushes out the silt and root fragments that have collected at the emitters. At the end of the crop the tape is lifted, rolled and stored out of sun, which is what the service life assumes. Where the same block is watered under cover rather than in the open, the arrangement is described in the automatic drip tape irrigation system page.
Drip tape is used on open field vegetable blocks, on row crops where the water has to be placed at the plant, and on nursery beds where the crop is raised on a schedule. It suits growers moving off overhead watering to reduce the water lifted and the weed between rows, operations on a borehole or a canal where filtration is already a habit, and projects that lay the line each season and lift it afterwards. A block of the same arrangement watered under cover is described in the irrigation page.
Standards and guidance for irrigation equipment and installations are published by NEN. Farm input and commodity market reporting for growers is published by Agriwatch.
16 mm LDPE drip tape with built in pressure compensating emitters, row connectors, end caps and a screen filter. The standard set ships 100 m of tape, and bulk orders are supplied on 1000 m reels in cartons.
Because it decides how the tape behaves in the field. A thinner wall costs less per metre and lays easily, and a heavier wall holds its shape when the line is lifted and rolled at the end of the season instead of kinking and splitting.
The tape is UV stabilised for about three seasons of field use, assuming it is lifted and stored out of sun between crops. The filter, connectors and end caps are consumables and are replaced as they wear.
We provide a 10 year structural warranty and a 5 year anti-corrosion warranty on the galvanized steelwork used in the supporting structures. Details are set out in the contract for each project.
Send your block dimensions, the crop you plan to run and the emitter spacing you intend to use. We reply with a layout drawing and a full quotation.
