Make Your Own Irrigation Line Hold Downs That Actually Work

irrigation hold down wire

Hold downs are those little U-shaped pieces of metal you use to keep drip irrigation lines in place.  The trouble is that the big box hardware gods have decided that those hold downs should only measure a measly three inches in length. Which means that they don’t work. Good luck trying to get your 1/2 inch drip line to stay in place with short and thin hold downs. The more light and fluffy your soil, the less likely those short hold downs will do their job. Professional irrigation suppliers (a much better source for drip supplies than big box stores, by the way) carry longer hold downs. But they still aren’t long enough for good, loose soil.

tensionwire-lg

Thankfully, it’s easy to make your own hold downs. First, head over to the chain link fencing department and get yourself a roll of tension wire. It’s a heavy and flexible, galvanized wire that comes in a roll. It’s cheap. Get out your circular saw fitted with a metal blade or your bolt cutters and you’re now equipped to make as many hold downs in whatever custom size you want. I usually make a bunch in varying lengths to accommodate different soil types: everything from our raised beds to the hard packed clay soil we built an adobe oven out of.

Someone should turn this idea into a business. It would be the most boring, but useful, Kickstarter project yet.

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9 Comments

  1. I bought a spool of vinyl-coated clothesline wire years ago. Been using the leftovers for this sort of work ever since. Of course, clothes hangers work in a pinch too!

  2. I need to make some of these. We have pulled up lots of rusty, disintegrating holds as we pull up the landscape cloth, but it seems there were no holds for the irrigation itself. And since we’ve added lots of good compost, manure and mulch on top of the hard ground where the landscape cloth used to be, wimpy 3″ holds won’t do anything!

  3. I’ve been searching for something inexpensive to use to hold down my weed blocking fabric – such a great idea! paying $5 for 10 breaks my frugal little heart.

  4. I bought about two dozen landscape pins that were at least six inches long to hold down 3/4 inch hoses. They worked until someone “helped me” by yanking the hoses up and sending the pins flying. Does anyone know why only people who have no idea what they are doing like to “help”?

  5. I collected coat hangers from people and laundromats/dry cleaning places(for free) and then used wire cutters cut them into 2 segments.

    • Wilton,
      I used clothes hangers from my house and did the same thing until my hands became too injured and old. Then, I switched to using store bought ones. Clothes hanger wire works very well.

  6. I just use the metal frames from yard signs for political campaigns. (the kind where a pocket-shaped sign slips over a three-sided frame of heavy gauge metal wire) Free, and it’s saving something that most folks would toss into the landfill. Same procedure you’ve outlined above.

    I also use these frames (whole, uncut) to make various fences and plant support structures throughout the garden.

  7. I also use landscape pins many places. Or good tent anchors. Cheap tent anchors bend, but good ones do the job. Both the pins and anchors are re-usable

  8. Pingback: Make Irrigation Line Hold Downs With Coat Hangers | Root Simple

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