Selecting spaghetti tubing and stakes

A spaghetti tube, as the name implies, is a thin, flexible, often polyethylene tube that is thicker than lateral or drip lines.

Lateral/drip tubes are also often made of polyethylene but have a thicker wall than spaghetti tubing.

Always match your tubing size to your stake and emitter size! Need help? Our Technical Experts are here for you. Explore options here.

Spaghetti tubing is also called ¼” (one-fourth-inch) tubing, because the outside diameter (OD) is often, you guessed it, ¼”. Other common diameters are measured in millimeters (3 mm inner diameter (ID) and 5 mm OD). Always make sure your ID matches your dripper and stake.

The spaghetti tube is the link between the drip emitter and the stake. The stake is the last stop before nutrients hit the growing media. Stakes are generally simple, designed to direct nutrient solution to the media by allowing solution to cling to the stake before gently gliding down to the eagerly waiting root zone of the plant.

Consider premade assembly

Drip emitters, drippers, tubing and stakes can be purchased in premade bundles. This saves valuable time when building a system. Explore options available from Hawthorne here.

The Hawthorne Difference

Our team of technical experts can help not only with the specifics on setting up a drip irrigation system, but also with the holistic, complex interplay between irrigation and other areas of your grow, including nutrients, growing media, HVAC and lights. Our goal is to provide growers the information they need to make the right decisions for their facilities, the first time