Irrigation should only be done in the over night hours. Starting at 12:00 midnight through mid-morning, this way the lawn has time to dry before evening.

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1) Upon spring start-up, water 5 to 30 minutes per zone every other day. Depending on sun or shaded areas.

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2) As the season grows warmer, increase zone run times accordingly.

• For zones in full sun, 35 to 60 minutes per zone depending

  on soil composition.

• For zones in shady areas, 5 to 15 minutes per zone.

• For zones in wet, poorly drained areas, it may be

  necessary to water only once a week. Twice a week, at the most.

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3) Watering needs change throughout the season and some tweaking may be needed. Remember it’s an automatic irrigation system, it will only do what it is programmed to do. Most older sprinkler clocks don’t take weather into account, though there are some new ones out on the market that do.

 

4) A rain sensor is a must for all irrigation systems. This will stop the irrigation cycle from coming on after and during rainfall, so you don’t over water the lawn.

 

5) It is wise to turn on the system manually every couple of weeks to see if the system is working properly. When the system comes on automatically and there is a broken head or pipe, the water will continue to run without you knowing there is a problem to fix.

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Watering is the most TRICKY part of Lawn Care
5 THINGS TO HELP YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT YOUR WATERING NEEDS

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1) The more you water your lawn, the faster you leach out your fertilizer applications. By watering longer less often your getting more longevity out of your fertilizer applications.

 

2) Try not to water more when it’s hot and humid. Wait until the weather breaks and we have a cooler night to water. It will not hurt the lawn to skip watering for a few days in a row when its 85 plus degrees outside doing this will not kill your lawn. It most likely would go into drought stress first, if you see this you can get water on it ASAP and it will bounce right back. I rather you be on the dryer side then too much water.

 

3) Do not water in the early evening and let the lawn stay wet for extended periods of time. Especially in the summer time when it’s hot and humid.

 

4) I like to tell all my clients to water longer less often. You need that water to be 5-6 inches into the soil profile. “Water the roots not the grass.” Our lawns only need what Mother Nature does not provide. Less water is better.

 

5) Make sure you have good over lap with sprinkler heads and look at the stream of water coming out to see if you have good mist coverage from the head to where the water lands. I find this to be one of the biggest problems with heads. Sometimes there is not enough water in the middle part of the stream of water to get adequate coverage.

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The idea behind watering is to water longer less often. You know your property the best. I would start with 2-3 days a week for 5-60 min depending on the sun and shade areas. Then as it gets warmer out make some adjustments. I would always try a longer time and less days of watering. The dryer the lawn between waterings, the better. You need less water in the shady areas then you do the sunny areas. It’s hard to give a general guideline for each and every property. I hope this is helpful.

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