Should You Leave Drip Line in the Ground Over Winter?

Mostly, yes. Permanent dripline in an orchard or vineyard stays put. Pulling it every fall would do more damage than winter will. Thin-wall drip tape on annual row crops comes out with the crop. Either way, what matters is getting the water out of the system before it freezes. The line itself is rarely what fails.

Around the North Fork Valley and out through Olathe and Delta, the question lands in a narrow window between harvest and the first hard freeze. Growers who come out without a repair list spent an afternoon in October on a handful of specific things.

What Does Winterizing a Drip System Actually Involve?

Winterizing drip means getting standing water out of everything that can't flex when it freezes. The line lying in the row is the least of it. The parts that crack sit at or above grade: filter housings, pressure regulators, ball valves, relief valves, and manifold fittings.

Those are the expensive parts. A split in a run of dripline is a coupler and ten minutes. A cracked filter body is a parts order in March, when the whole valley wants the same thing.

Work from the water source out:

• Shut the ditch or well off when your ditch company does
• Open flush valves and end caps at the low end of every lateral
• Pull filter screens and disc stacks, clean them, store them dry
• Leave ball valves part-way open so trapped water can escape
• Bring regulators, gauges, injectors, and controllers indoors

Timing follows the ditch, not the calendar. We covered when it's time to shut irrigation down for the season earlier this fall; drip runs off the same trigger.

How Do You Drain Drip Lines Before a Hard Freeze?

Open the low end and let gravity do most of the work, then push the rest out with air if the ground isn't cooperating. Most orchard and row-crop drip in the North Fork Valley sits on enough grade that opening the flush valves at the bottom of each lateral does it.

Where that falls short is flat ground and settled mainline. Pipe that's been through a few freeze-thaw cycles develops low spots that hold water however long the ends stay open. That's where a blowout earns its keep: low and slow, one zone at a time.

Flush before you drain, not after. Ditch water carries silt, algae, and organic matter, and whatever sits in the laterals in October is baked onto your line by April. Running each lateral wide open until it runs clear is the cheapest clog prevention going. Colorado State University Extension makes the same case for draining lines before freeze.

Should You Pull Drip Tape and Store It, or Leave It in the Field?

Pull it if the ground gets worked, leave it if it doesn't. That's the whole decision. Thin-wall tape on sweet corn, onions, or vegetable ground comes out ahead of tillage, because it won't survive a disk pass.

Permanent dripline in an orchard or vineyard is a different animal. Heavier wall, usually hung on a wire along the tree row, built to stay out there. Rolling it up every fall costs labor and kinks line that would otherwise run for years.

If you're pulling tape to reuse, a few things decide whether it works:

• How clean you got it, since tape stored dirty comes out plugged
• Whether it goes in dry, coiled loose, out of the sun
• Whether rodents can reach the stack
• How many seasons it has run, and how many splices it carries

For a lot of growers, reusing thin tape costs more in labor than it saves in material. Price the retrieval hours against fresh tape before you commit.

What Causes Freeze Damage to Drip Emitters?

Water left inside the emitter, not cold air around it. An emitter that drained in the fall sits through a Delta County winter without complaint. One still holding water gives ice somewhere to expand, and pressure-compensating emitters with a flexible diaphragm are the ones that don't forgive it.

The damage nobody budgets for is rodents. Voles and mice move into the grass along the tree row once snow covers it, and chewed dripline shows up as a dozen small leaks come spring. Mowing row middles tight before the snow flies takes away the cover.

Habits that cut spring repair work:

• Flush laterals clean at shutdown, not at startup
• Hang orchard dripline on the wire, not down in the grass
• Cap open line ends so dirt and critters stay out

We stock drip, micro, and filtration from Netafim, Rivulis/Jain, Irritec, Nelson, and Amiad at both counters, plus the Philmac fittings that hold it together. Bring a piece of what you're matching; a fitting in hand beats one described over the phone. See the drip and micro irrigation side of what we do.

If You've Got Drip on a Home Garden or a Few Fruit Trees

Same rules, smaller scale. Disconnect the hose-end timer, the filter, and the pressure regulator and bring all three inside. Those are what freeze and crack, and they're what people leave hooked to the spigot every year.

Open the far end of each run, let it drain, and leave it open. Tubing around fruit trees stays put. Tape in an annual bed comes up with the tomato stakes.

Common Questions

Does drip line need to be blown out like a sprinkler system?

Not usually. Drip runs at low pressure in flexible tubing that handles ice better than rigid sprinkler pipe, and most systems drain by gravity if you open the low ends. Blow out the mainline when settled ground has created low spots that hold water, and keep the air pressure regulated when you do.

Will drip tape freeze and split if I leave it in the field?

Drained tape generally rides out winter fine; tape full of water is the one that splits. The bigger risks to tape left in the field are tillage, equipment, and rodents, not cold. If the ground gets worked in the spring, pull the tape in the fall regardless of how well it's holding up.

When should I shut drip down for the season?

Follow your ditch company's shutoff date and the first hard freeze in the forecast, whichever comes first. Most North Fork and Uncompahgre growers are winding down between late September and the end of October. Once the trees are dormant and the crop is off, there's nothing left to gain by holding the system charged.

Can I reuse drip tape next season?

Sometimes, and it depends more on labor than on the tape. Tape that was flushed clean, pulled carefully, and stored dry and out of the sun can run another season. Tape that went into storage dirty or kinked will plug and split. Price the retrieval hours against fresh tape before you commit.

The Short Version

What fails over winter usually isn't the line in the ground. It's the filter, the regulator, and the valve nobody drained. Get the water out and the small parts indoors. Replacing tape, rebuilding a filter station, or putting drip on new ground? Send us your plans and we'll put together an accurate materials list.