Irrigation Waste: Where is your water going?
Does this scene look familiar?
If so, it’s time to readjust your watering schedule! When our soils get dry, it can be hard for them to absorb the ideal amount of water in a single application. When this happens we get runoff: lots of wasted water down the storm drain! If you find yourself in this situation, we recommend that you break up your watering into several applications, on the same day. You can do this using the Cycle option on your irrigation clock. It is much better to water deeply once per week, on the same day, than it is to apply shorter waterings several times a week. Here is a sample watering chart
Sample Watering Chart (dry season)
Pop Up Heads
#1(A): 1:00 a.m. 10 minutes
#2(B): 4:00 a.m. 10 minutes
#3(C): 8:00 a.m. 10 minutes
This will give you 30 minutes of watering on the same day, but broken up so your soil has time to absorb all of the water. If you have rotary heads, then your duration for each watering cycle should be increased to 20-30 minutes. When temperatures are hot, like they are now, you’ll want to increase the duration of your watering. You don’t have to add in additional watering days, especially if you’re under once-per-week watering restrictions: Just focus on increasing the duration of watering instead.
For example, once temperatures are hotter than 95 F, you can increase the watering duration by 30%-50% as needed, but you’ll still deliver all the water on one day. If you were running each cycle for 10 minutes in May, you may be running each cycle for 15 minutes now.
Over-watering in St. Augustine lawns is a major cause of decline and fungal disease issues. St. Augustine leaves will start to curl when they need water, so that is your signal to increase the watering duration. If the leaves are not curling, then the lawn does not need additional water. Waste not, want not! Check out our Watering Guide for more details.
If you need help addressing the watering and health needs of your lawn, please give us a call to schedule a consultation 972-272-9211 or contact us.
irrigation, water waste, watering, lawn, Soils Alive, Dallas, water restrictions
