Moonhowl said:Hi Rick.
Could it be the soil expanding and contracting, rather than the tape?
http://www.irrigationtutorials...
...
Very interesting article, but I would have thought that soil "in the ground" could only expand "up and down", not sideways. Maybe a raised bed COULD expand sideways by pushing its walls outward.
Moonhowl said: ...
I do know that drip tubing exposed to garden sun/heat will contract when ground temperature water runs through the hot tubing...as much a 1 foot per 100 feet of tubing.
http://www.clemson.edu/extensi...
... .
Wow, that sounds like the problem! What do they DO about that?
I see the Clemsen article refers to "drip tubing" but not "drip tape". It would not surprise me to see the same stretch-shrink in both.
But how to solve the problem?
Is it enough to lay it out and staple ONE end down, then let the other end move when it shrinks and live with that? Maybe running the cold water will remove the objectionable problem, that the tape bends and drips sideways when hot (and empty?)
I'm just wondering, since I only have very short runs and use
dripline that looks like 1/4" tubing with with nodules every 6-12", not drip
tape. I don't care if it drips up, down or sideways, it all gets into the soil. I've even thought of slipping a 4" length of cotton fabric under some of the emitters, to spread the water around before it sinks into the soil.
