New to tubing drop line question

[BlueberryHill]

It's printed right on it. It'll say Semi-Rigide or Rigide on there. They spell it Canadian-like, haha.

I could tell it was the wrong stuff from across the room because the color is just a bit of a different shade.

[Sugarmaker]

Good luck with your tubing system. I made a lot of mistakes the first year trying to conserve, and using my own ideas.
Second years I changed most of it back to more conventional. I had some "y's" in the drops, some drops to short and did not have a good way to tighten the system. I just took out some drops yesterday that were a little on the short side. All the new ones are now 30 inch. I used the Leader max flow for drop lines. I like the extra flexibility compared to the stiff 30P drops. I did come up with a design to allow the main lines (5/16) tight.
Regards,
Chris

[mcgeec]

How do you keep it tight? Tricks? Ideas?

Good luck with your tubing system. I made a lot of mistakes the first year trying to conserve, and using my own ideas.
Second years I changed most of it back to more conventional. I had some "y's" in the drops, some drops to short and did not have a good way to tighten the system. I just took out some drops yesterday that were a little on the short side. All the new ones are now 30 inch. I used the Leader max flow for drop lines. I like the extra flexibility compared to the stiff 30P drops. I did come up with a design to allow the main lines (5/16) tight.
Regards,
Chris

[VT_K9]

I run the complete lateral line and then go back to put the drops in. After a few I check to make sure the line is still tight and make the necessary adjustments at the end (the t's will lengthen the line by about 1/4" or so).

Mike

[Joust7.1]

Watch out that FW Webb does not give you Rigid instead of Semi-Rigid. They had a bunch mis-labeled and I got 8 rolls of Rigid a couple days ago when in fact I ordered Semi. Now I gotta go back to swap them out. Moral of the story is don't send the wife to pick up maple stuff at a non-maple place and expect to actually get what you need.

My guess is that if your wife saw this post, you won't have to worry about her picking up the wrong stuff again. BTW, what do people use rigid for? Just lats? I would think that semi-rigid is the way to go for everything. P.S. FW Webb has been great for me. They actually drive by my house twice a week and can drop anything that they have in stock. That's saying something when I live 2 hours from their closest warehouse.

[Joust7.1]

The math sounds good to me. However, my trees always end up further away than they seem or more than my initial estimate.

Thanks all.

Joust, let me think through this. I expect to do just 24 taps on tubing this year. I bought 100 because the bag had 100 in it. So if I have 25 2.5 foot long drop lines, that makes 62.5 feet of drop line. Leaving 437.5 for lateral line.

Assuming mistakes I think I will be lucky to have two 200 foot lateral lines with 12 drops each.

Thanks again.

[mcgeec]

The math sounds good to me. However, my trees always end up further away than they seem or more than my initial estimate.

I swear, my trees move each year, a little further away.

[mcgeec]

Watch out that FW Webb does not give you Rigid instead of Semi-Rigid. They had a bunch mis-labeled and I got 8 rolls of Rigid a couple days ago when in fact I ordered Semi. Now I gotta go back to swap them out. Moral of the story is don't send the wife to pick up maple stuff at a non-maple place and expect to actually get what you need.

Thanks! Just switched it myself. Made the same mistake.

Now I have 25 30 inch drops ready to go!

[maple flats]

And my trees get closer every year. I then need to tighten the lateral. Often not a problem, because of repairs. I just remove enough when repairing to get back to a tight lateral. That's where a 2 hand tool is real handy.