Rick, here's a drip system using various types of fittings, emitters, distribution manifolds (some adjustable), inline drippers, pot drippers, adjustable drippers, inline shutoff valves, and both 1/4" & 1/2" tubing with non-clog pre-installed emitters (6" & 12" spacing.) It also has a fertilizer injector and 3 zones. It's a very challenging garden to do because of various heights, paths, raised beds, containers, many different types of plants & plants' needs, a driveway, etc. It has tomatoes, peppers, corn, watermelons, perennials, garlic, onions, peas, brugmansia, strawberries, raspberries, giant pumpkins, etc. I agree corn should be planted in blocks of at least 4 rows rather than a single row. You can put your corn rows next to each other and fill in the path with plants too, or plant more than 1 "row" wide per row, or even many "hills" per row. The corn in the pic has 1/4" dripline with 1/2gph pre-installed drippers every 6" (1gph per foot.) Rows are branched off of a distribution head that has dime adjustments for each of the outlets to shut off any line at any time. (Yes, you use a dime to turn a screw in/out to control flow of each outlet.) The pumpkins have 1/2" dripline with pre-installed 1gph drippers every foot. The same line zigzags through the strawberries and watermelons. The driveway container peppers and tomatoes use similar 1/4" line with the pre-installed drippers positioned over the containers. Many lines have shutoff valves to turn the line off when not needed. The beds have distribution heads with plain lines going to each plant on the rightmost bed, and the output is changed by changing an emitter in a distribution head; adjustable emitters were manually inserted into 1/2" lines on the bottom bed, and the black fabric beds have 1/4" lines with pre-installed 1/2gph drippers run off a distribution head with shutoff knobs for each line built into the head. I liked the 1/4" line with pre-installed drippers so much I converted many of the larger lines. Cherry tomatoes in containers near the middle have pot drippers that connect to a 1/2" main line via 1/4" lines w/shutoffs. The triangular cages near the bottom have inline pot drippers. The black fabric pepper bed uses 1/4" tubing with emitters pre-installed every 12 inches. The garlic bed uses three 1/4" lines with pre-installed drippers every 6" and shutoff valves for each line. I've probably skipped a lot of things (1/2 drums get adjustable drippers, perennials along fence 1/4" line with preinstalled drippers, etc.) The fertilizer injector (the cheap model) cannot be under pressure constantly (faucet on but valves closed) so a "master" valve gets inserted before it. Anytime one of the 3 valves open, the master valve opens first, so there's no pressure on the injector and water only flows to it when a valve is turned on. This way, you can use one $39-$59 fert injector system for the whole system (versus the need for a pressurized fertilizer injector system at $200+) and the fert only goes to the open valve. My point is, while this is a really complicated system, (even partially intensive/square foot gardening principles in some places) it shows the flexibility of drip. There are limitations on 1/4" line lengths too, (I think somewhere between 20-30ft) but you break those limitations by simply adding a ditribution head or punching a hole in a 1/2" line with a $1 tool and connecting additional 1/4" lines off it to get around the length limit. I guess you'd have to decide if you want to take the easiest way out (Tape) or do it right the first time with extra options available, plus future changes possible (Drip.) If you pull a diseased or dead plant, will you be watering an empty spot? Do your plants have different watering requirements and can you make changes? Can you branch off and add a new spot easily? If a line plugs, will it still provide for the rest of the plants in the row? Can you bury the line? Is it repairable or can a section be bypassed or shut off, individually or completely? These are some questions you'll have to ask yourself, only you will know what your needs and limits are. Hope this helps. Mark Here is a link that might be useful:

If you decide to use PVC, please bear in mind the different classes and schedules of PVC pipe. When I installed my own irrigation system, the very helpful (and very rare) irrigation expert at Home Depot said to use 1" all around the system, and I did. I've had a few pressure problems in the zones that are the greatest distance from the meter/backflow. Later on I got a Texas irrigator license, and I do a few repairs and upgrades. Here's the deal: the Home Depots in my area carry only schedule 40 PVC. Virtually all of the installations that I've run into are Class 200 pipe, which has a thinner wall and a greater interior diameter, allowing less PSI loss and lower water velocity (which is good) at a given gallons-per-minute flow. At least by Texas law (and the state velocity/friction loss charts), 13 GPM at 1" schedule 40 PVC is not allowable in a design, while 1" class 200 pipe is fine. I'll bet this varies by state. Keeping the velocity low puts less stress on the valves and heads, resulting in fewer failures over the long term. In my area, class 200 is available only at irrigation distributors. I prefer Irritrol controllers (Rain Dial, etc.) because they are well made and very easy to program and reprogram. Regarding Funny Pipe and other brands of thick poly swing pipe, consider using a swing joint for each head, especially if the heads will be in high-traffic areas, like along a sidewalk or curb. You can buy these ready-made. I make my own (for repairs) with two 1/2" male thread to barb elbows, and two 1/2" male to female elbows, and a length of Funny Pipe. A little silicone spray helps start the barbed fittings into the poly. This combination allows a full range of movement. I leave the threaded connections fairly loose and flexible to allow for adjustments while covering the hole, and to maintain some degree of flex when the head is stepped or driven on. There is probably a lot of friction loss through these four elbows and the the poly pipe. I've never seen friction loss charts on these parts, but I know that they work very well. Hope this helps.

i have drip irrigation .... its the irrigator type system offered by john deere landscape .... much more than 30 bucks for sure .. i have pure sand.. and i love drip irrigation ... i tried 'mixing' hosta and conifers ... it did NOT work ... the idea with hosta is to try to drown them .... conifers.. deep watering with drying in between ... your plan should be dependent on the stock ... do NOT mix diverse stock .. it will make your life easier all around ... i used the cheapo soaker hose long ago .. it became very problematic .... if you bury it.. you never know if it is working ... nor is it engineered for a certain flow rate ... obviously it is the easiest.. and cheapest ... you also wont know if it is putting out water at both ends at the same rate .... no one will be able to tell you how long nor how often you will need to run the system ... on your soil ... you will have to keep a shovel handy .. and run the system for a few hours .... and dig a hole and check out the pattern of water in the soil ... run it more.. and dig another hole ... etc ... other than that.. its all up in the air ... never forget .. the less you pay ... the less control you have over the system ... you cant buy a yugo .. and complain it doesn't run like a mercedes ... the other issue .. are you on a well .. and do you need a filter to remove sand from you water supply??? good luck ken

tulsacityfarmer, I start out with about 44lbs. of pressure. The pressure will drop with each hole you have in your pvc system. The most pipe I could run ( feeding thru a 5/8 hose) was about 150 ft. The more slope you have the less pvc pipe you can run. ( I like running about 80 to 100 feet at a time) At the old house I ran a 3/4" line from the well to the garden which gave me much more flow, and I could run more more feet of irrigation tubes. My system is glued together. I started out using my system about 7 or 8 years ago and it is not all the same because I experimented as I started using it. I started out with high pressure and just using the tubes in areas where disease was a problem, I also tried using 40 and 50 foot tubes with holes drilled from 8 to 15 inches apart. I moved into the house I live in now about 4 years ago and my garden is much small now because I have very hard tight soil, plus now I have to buy my water. I think you will find that with about 45 lbs of line pressure you can feed approx 300 1/16 dia holes, at that time you have dropped to well under one pound of pressure. If your lines are not some what level you wont be getting satisfactory flow in all areas. You can increase the flow by using ball valves with larger opening in your feed line. I have tried running the tubes above and below the mulch and I think I like above the mulch better because if I have the holes in the side or top of the tube I can see if I have a hole plugged and the mulch breaks down faster if it stays damp. I know this is a lot more than you ask for, but I get carried away some times. I think you will fine that all our systems are a little different, but all get the job done. The largest problem you will face is too much slope on your tubes. In some cases I have driven stakes along the row and ties the tubes to it to make them more level. Otherwise you will have a 1/2 inch high stream at one end of the tube and a 6 inch high stream at the other. Larry