J'arrose ? Guides

Guides to water wisely

Drip irrigation and soaker hoses: watering at the foot, without waste

Published on November 10, 2026

Drip irrigation and soaker hoses deliver water slowly, at the foot of plants, where the roots are. Nothing evaporates in the air, nothing runs off onto paths and the leaves stay dry. Once installed, they also water without you, with a timer.

Two systems

  • Drip irrigation: a pipe fitted with drippers, each delivering a known flow, for example 2 litres per hour. So you know exactly how much water each plant gets. The drippers are pushed in at the foot of each plant, or are already built into the pipe at regular intervals, for example every 30 cm.
  • Soaker hose (also called porous or seep hose): water seeps out along its whole length. It suits dense planting. Water spreads little sideways: the hose must run as close to the roots as possible, with 30 to 45 cm between two hoses in dense planting. Its flow is not regulated: on a slope or over a long run, some plants get more water than others. With hard water, it ends up clogging.

For a vegetable garden, choose pipes made of food-grade plastic (polyethylene, polyurethane, PVC). Avoid soaker hoses made from recycled tyre rubber, which can release contaminants into the soil.

Installing drip irrigation

On a tap, the usual set-up is:

  1. A timer, screwed onto the tap: it sets how long and how often to water.
  2. A pressure reducer: drip irrigation works at around 1.5 bar, much less than mains pressure. Without a reducer, the drippers deliver badly, or even pop off.
  3. A filter: drippers have very fine passages, which suspended particles end up clogging. Clean it regularly.
  4. The pipes, pinned to the ground with stakes, without kinks that would block the water.

Install the system in spring, before planting or just after: slipping pipes between plants that are already large, under mulch, is trickier. Then cover the pipes with mulch: the water stays in the soil instead of evaporating at the surface.

With a rainwater tank

Connecting drip irrigation to a rainwater tank takes a little calculation. Each metre of water above the pipes gives about 0.1 bar: to reach 1.5 bar, the tank would have to be 15 m higher than the garden. A tank standing on concrete blocks only gives 0.1 to 0.2 bar. Two solutions:

  • A pump (electric, solar or battery-powered), which provides the pressure needed;
  • A "gravity" drip kit, designed for very low pressure. Its flow is much lower (around 0.5 litres per hour per dripper): you need to water for longer to deliver the same amount of water.

In both cases, a filter between the tank and the pipes is essential: rainwater carries debris from the roof.

Setting up the watering

  • Work out the flow: number of drippers × flow of one dripper. Twenty drippers at 2 litres per hour give 40 litres in one hour.
  • Water early in the morning, when evaporation is lowest.
  • Less often, but for longer: one long watering every few days is better than a short one every day, so that the water goes down to the roots.
  • Check by hand: dig next to a dripper. The soil should be moist where the roots are, not soaked further down: too much water carries nutrients out of their reach.
  • Adapt to the weather: turn the timer off when it rains, or use a rain sensor.

The guide When and how to water details what each plant needs.

And during restrictions?

The national drought guide makes no exemption for drip irrigation: it counts as ordinary watering. But some decrees treat it separately. A few examples published on VigiEau:

  • Ain, flower beds and potted plants: at alert level, drip irrigation and watering at the foot of each plant have no time limit; at heightened alert and crisis, they remain allowed from 6 pm to 11 am while ordinary watering is banned.
  • Jura, flower beds at heightened alert: watering banned, except by drip irrigation from 9 pm to 9 am.
  • Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin, vegetable gardens at alert level: banned from 10 am to 6 pm, and only with a watering can or drip irrigation.
  • Vosges, Territoire de Belfort and Saône-et-Loire, at heightened alert: potted plants watered by drip irrigation are exempt from the ban.

So read the decree for your area and set the timer to the allowed hours. On your commune's page, J'arrose ? shows the text of the decree under the hours. Note: the verdict and the hours shown apply to ordinary watering; they do not take a drip irrigation exemption into account.

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