Another idea that might work…attach drilled lengths of garden hose to the pipes with zip ties and pressurize those with water instead. (Best of all worlds, and it might be easier to implement if you want to use arches.) 
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That’s a good idea. If the rubberiness (is that a word?) of the hose doesn’t close up the holes, I could zig-zag them all over the roof area, making some areas wetter and others drier.
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Honestly, while I like this idea, I don’t think it’s workable. In the summer especially, your greenhouse will be extremely hot and extremely humid - to the point where you might be trying to clear it out. I think you’d be better off, if you’re worried about humidity, to put in a simple humidifier - or get fancy and put in some fountains.
Additionally, if you’re dead set on having the drips, just run watering hoses alongside your PVC - but definitely don’t drill in all those holes since you’ll weaken the structural integrity (not to mention if you live in an area where it ever freezes, you’ll need to worry about removing water).
I’ve been doing a ton of research on putting together a small to medium sized greenhouse for our use here in Ontario. I think I’ve settled on using the starplate system - I want it to be secure, but I also want the ability to dismantle it if necessary. Eventually I want to build a big geodesic dome, haha.
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From my experience building kid-washers out of PVC, any non-flooding level of water flow isn’t going to mess with the structure much to speak of because the holes will be tiny. But. You’re going to have a heck of a time calibrating drip rate against hole size and water pressure, and getting the holes on top to not be starved while the holes near the bottom put out too much, and getting the water to spray out instead of just dripping down the pipe… So I vote with the people who say independent irrigation tubes that can be played with separately from the main structure. (And also the drainage.)
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I’ve been looking into all kinds of designs. I don’t have the right location for a greenhouse yet, so this is all research. I like the geodesic dome. I think it’s the strongest of all of the designs, especially if you get a good amount of wind and snow, which I also do.
I really like that starplate design. I think I’d put a triangle in the middle of the structural triangles, at least on the sides (personal preference).
All good points. Thank you for the input.
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yeah one thing that I really like about the starplate system is that you only need a single length of board, so it doesn’t take much time to put up.
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