Which drip hose do I need?

We hear this question several times a week, so we thought: 'maybe it's useful if we put the answer on our website, that saves us a lot of time!'. We like things 'nice and easy' and that's why we have drip hoses ourselves, because it's 'nice and easy'!

General

Drip hose is an ideal way to provide plants, shrubs, and trees with water. The controlled release reduces 'water stress' (periods between wet and dry) and ensures that enough oxygen remains present for the roots to develop well and keep diseases (including fungi) at bay.

Drip hose is made of thin-walled PE, and 'emitters' (the actual drippers) are pressed into it during production. The hose is more flexible than thick-walled PE, but stiffer than a garden hose, so a sharp bend must be made with a fitting to prevent the hose from kinking.

Drip hose is easy to cut with scissors, and the connectors we provide can all be assembled without any tools.

The drippers

Drip hose is available with different types of 'drippers' (emitters), and all those drippers solve a specific problem.

NC (normally compensated)
These drippers compensate for 'normal' pressure variations in a hose and ensure that even distribution occurs over the entire length of the hose (up to x strand length). These emitters have a given 'flow' at x pressure. If you apply more pressure, you get more water from each dripper while maintaining even distribution across the entire hose.

PC (pressure compensated)
Pressure-compensated drippers correct large pressure differences in a hose. Suppose you have 100 meters of hose and the left side is 10 meters higher than the right side; in addition to the 'normal' pressure of your pump/water line, you also have a water column of 10 meters high pressing on the drippers on the right side, which creates a very distorted pressure image. PC drippers solve this problem.

PC-AS-ND (pressure compensated - anti-siphon - no drain)
These drippers are found in professional hoses and only open (release water) when a minimum pressure is achieved and close again when the system falls below that pressure. This is great for pulse irrigation, excellent for underground use (because the hose does not drain and therefore does not suck in dirt), but the disadvantage is that water always remains inside and the drippers MUST face upwards. There is a stripe on this type of hose so you can be sure the drippers are positioned correctly, which isn't as aesthetically pleasing for above-ground use in a decorative garden. For professional or underground use, these are the best drippers.

Maximum strand length

Every water hose/pipe deals with 'back pressure'. In other words, the hose/pipe provides resistance (pressure drop). This resistance increases with a smaller diameter, greater distance, or if we want to transport more water through the hose/pipe.

With drip hose, those last two things are interconnected because if we take a longer hose, there are more drippers in it and we must transport more water through the hose! As you could read in the section about drippers, all drippers compensate for the pressure difference (some more extremely than others), but there is a limit to that, and we call that limit the 'maximum strand length'.

Serious manufacturers publish tables where a percentage of 'uniform distribution' is specified at a certain length and pressure, because 'maximum strand length' is not a fixed number. It is a dynamic number, and there is also room for consideration (do I find 80% even distribution acceptable?). This topic is also standardized by the EU and summarized in NEN ISO 9261:2004. All our hoses comply with this standard.

That being said: as a consumer, I wouldn't stare blindly at that for my garden. Of course, you shouldn't exaggerate and connect 400 meters of hose if it says the maximum strand length is +/- 100 meters, but 100 or 120 meters won't cause major problems. All our drip hoses (for consumers) have a maximum strand length of +/- 100 meters. The differences between NC and PC are negligible for consumers.

What is the best drip hose? TL;DR

- Do you have a very Dutch flat garden? NC drip hose! Works perfectly for your situation and is also the cheapest!
- Do you live on a hill? Garden on a dike? Commercial cultivation? PC drip hose.
- Does it need to be underground? High-quality commercial cultivation? PC-AS-ND drip hose.

All our drip hoses comply with NEN ISO 9261:2004.
All our drip hoses are made of high-quality and clean PE.
The manufacturer of our drip hose is happy to take the whole thing back for recycling at the end of the hose's life.

If you have any questions after reading the above, we would of course love to hear them!