Best Drip Irrigation System for Patio Pots: Three Kits That Water a Container Garden on a Timer

Why pots need drip

A pot holds a little soil in the sun and dries out every day, sometimes twice, and a patio of twenty pots is a daily hour with a can that stops the moment the household goes away for a weekend. A drip line with an emitter in each pot and a timer at the tap waters them every morning whether anyone is home, puts the water in the soil rather than on the leaves and uses a fraction of what a can does. The three kits here cover a complete kit with timer, a small pro kit and a large one.

This guide is built from the published specifications of each kit and from recurring owner feedback. We have not run these kits ourselves.

How the three compare

Raindrip R560DP: everything including the timer

The Raindrip kit is designed for containers and hanging baskets and includes the timer that the other kits leave out, plus quarter-inch tubing, fittings and drippers for up to twenty pots. Installation is three steps: connect the timer and tubing to the tap, lay the tubing behind the pots and push a dripper into each. It expands with standard quarter-inch parts. The drippers are not pressure compensating, so pots on the same level get similar water and a pot up a step gets a little less.

Rain Bird Pottedkit: pro parts for a few pots

Three big pots on a balcony or by a front door are watered by the Rain Bird Pottedkit, 16 professional-grade pieces with a full-circle emitter for each pot that connects to a tap or hose in minutes. Rain Bird claims up to 70 percent water savings over hand watering, kits join for more pots and every part is standard, so a broken fitting is replaced from a hardware store. A timer is bought separately.

MIXC 230 ft: the big container garden

A patio with thirty pots, a herb wall and a couple of beds outgrows a container kit, and the MIXC 230-foot kit brings half-inch mainline for the long runs, quarter-inch branch tubing to each pot and three kinds of adjustable emitter, from microdroplets to small sprays, on quick-connect fittings. It takes an afternoon to lay out and no timer is included; add one at the tap.

Setting up pot drip

Fit a filter and a 25 PSI regulator at the tap, then the timer. Run the mainline behind the pots and bring quarter-inch tubing over each rim to an emitter staked in the soil; two emitters for pots over 12 inches. Run the system and watch each pot until water appears at the drainage hole, then set the timer for that duration every morning, twice a day in a heat wave. Flush the lines in fall and bring the timer in.

Which one should you buy

Buy the Raindrip R560DP for a complete kit with timer for up to twenty pots. Buy the Rain Bird Pottedkit for a few big pots with pro parts. Buy the MIXC 230-foot kit for a large patio of containers.