It
’s the time of year where many of us set our irrigation
controller to automatically water our landscape. Irrigation
controllers are a great invention. They save us time and trouble
and allow us to water with far more precision than other
methods.
It’s the time of year where many of us set our irrigation controller to automatically water our landscape. Irrigation controllers are a great invention. They save us time and trouble and allow us to water with far more precision than other methods.
However, an irrigation controller set to “autopilot” all year long will wind up wasting more water than it saves. Wasted water means wasted money and wasted energy.
So take control of your controller by considering the following three tips:
• June isn’t July and July isn’t October: Your landscape’s need for water changes dramatically with the weather. While we should have some hot days this month, the water needed to maintain a healthy landscape is much lower now than it will be in July and August when long hot spells are the norm. So start your controllers off at a reduced schedule now and then ramp up the duration or frequency when the heat of the summer sets in. Similarly, remember to turn your irrigation off a bit in September and October and then off completely once the winter rains hit.
n Flower beds aren’t lawns: Unless you have a selection of unusual marsh plants, most flower beds require far less water than lawns. Set your controller to water your flower beds less frequently than your lawn. If you controller can’t handle different schedules, consider changing it out for a newer advanced model. They really aren’t that costly and the water saved could easily pay for the cost of the controller within a year.
In addition, if you are planting new flowerbeds, put plants with similar water requirements in the same area. This practice, known as creating hydrozones, will enable you to water appropriately while maintaining a lovely landscape. At our home, for instance, we have several flowerbeds that need water only once a week to look great, while the two beds closest to the house get water every other day.
n Deep and infrequent beats shallow and often: Just about every watering guide you’ll read recommends less frequent deep watering sessions instead of frequent shallow sessions. Since most of our community has soil dominated by clay, we may need to be a little more strategic in planning our watering sessions in order to both get the water deeply and avoid excessive runoff. The great thing about clay soil is that it retains water very well. The bad thing is that it takes a long time to get the water into the soil.
Therefore, instead of watering a lawn for 30 minutes consecutively, it may be better to water for 15 minutes, wait an hour, and then water for 15 more minutes. This formula changes depending on your particular soil and your particular irrigation equipment.
Turn on your sprinklers and monitor how long it takes for the water to start running off of the lawn. Turn the system off, wait a few minutes, then see how deep the water penetrated before shutting off. If it made the soil moist four inches deep, that will probably be adequate for the lawn. If not, set up the secondary session an hour later.
Flower beds are best watered using some sort of drip or soaker system. By slowly applying the water directly to the soil, you avoid the overspray and can easily get the water to go deep. It is best to get the soil wet at least six inches deep in a typical flower bed. It is best to avoid watering late in the day or evening as wet foliage during the night is a cause of plant disease and disruption.
Eco-Fact of the Week: The Groundbreaking for the City’s new Indoor Recreation Center is at 5:30pm today, May 31. The site is the land on Edmundson between the creek and Community Park. This 52,000-square-foot facility will include an indoor aquatics center, fitness center, senior center, gymnasium and youth center.
Eco-Fact of the Week #2: On a hot, sunny day in mid-summer, the average lawn uses 125 gallons of water per 1,000 sq. ft. The same lawn on a cool cloudy day uses as little as 10 gallons of water.
Eco-Web Page of the Week: A nice practical list of water saving tips can be found at: www.consumerenergycenter.org/homeandwork/homes/outside/tips.html.
Anthony Eulo is a program administrator for the City of Morgan Hill who is designing his landscape with several different hydrozones. He welcomes your questions, comments and thoughts, and can be reached at en*****@************ca.gov or 779-7247.
