Drip Tape

What drip tape is

Drip tape is a thin plastic membrane (typically 16mm or 19mm wide) with laser-perforated or stamped emitters at close spacing — commonly 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 or 40cm. It's manufactured to be used for one season and then discarded or rolled out for the next crop's fresh tape. That single-season nature is both its advantage (lower cost per metre, especially at the dense spacings) and its constraint (you buy it every season).

It plays the same role as drip lines — carrying water to the crop and releasing it at each emitter — with a lighter, cheaper body. The full component picture is in the drip irrigation guide.

The specification

Where drip tape is the right tool

• Dense row crops: onions and garlic at 10–15cm in-row spacing want emitters that close — tape's home turf. Getting 10cm emitters on durable multi-season pipe is possible but costs more per metre.
• Short-cycle vegetables: leafy greens, short-cycle cabbage or kale beds where the crop is out in 6–10 weeks and the line won't earn multi-season cost back this year.
• Intensive beds and raised beds where the whole bed is one planting and tape runs the bed length.
• Greenhouse media beds and bag rows for seasonal crops (production greenhouses often use durable lines for long cycles — tape for the seasonal ones).

And the flip side — where lines win: long-cycle crops (tomatoes, capsicum, orchards) where one purchase serves several seasons, and any setup where storage and reuse between seasons is practical. The full comparison does the arithmetic.

Choosing the spacing

Same rule as all drip: emitter spacing at or below the plant in-row spacing, usually half to three-quarters of it.

• Onions at 10–15cm → 10–15cm tape, two to three lines per bed
• Leafy greens at 20–30cm → 20cm tape, one or two lines per bed
• Tomatoes at 40–80cm → 20–30cm tape works for a single season; durable lines are the usual choice for long cycles

The crop pages list the spacing per crop — this page is the equipment side of the decision.

Handling and installation

• Tape is thin — store it coiled in shade (UV degrades it before it's even planted) and unroll it without dragging it over stones.
• It punctures more easily than durable lines: keep it clear of debris, animals and foot traffic, and run it along a smoothed bed surface.
• Cap the ends and flush regularly, exactly like lines — the orifices are just as small and clog just the same way. Filtration is non-negotiable: see filtration.
• End-of-season: cut the ends, roll it up out of the light if reusing for a second short crop, or retire it — next season starts with fresh tape.

Cost logic

Tape costs less per metre than multi-season lines — often a third to a half — so the choice is really about cost per season. One season of tape can be cheaper than one season of lines; three seasons of lines usually beats three seasons of tape, and it leaves you with equipment that still works. The cost guide shows where tape and lines land in the total system price; your crop cycle is the deciding variable.