Fine Tune Your Sprinkler to See Green and Save Green.

With simple practices and new technology, existing sprinkler systems can be made more efficient, lowering your water bill, reducing run-off and eliminating waste.  Waterwise habits will result in a healthier lawn and landscape, in addition to conserving water.Water Saving Tips:Adjust your system to the weather. You should learn how to operate your controller. Most important is to know how to add or subtract days of the week that you water. Once the times are set really all that is needed is to adjust how many days per week you are watering.Different plants get different schedules. Flower beds and pots need to be watered more frequently that turf so set their schedules on separate programs. Don’t water everything every day.Inspect your system monthly. If not more. You should watch your system run so you know if there are problems that should be addressed before they become big problems.Get a professional audit. Hire an Irrigation Associated certified professional to perform an audit and make recommendations for improvements.                                                                                                                                                   Install a rain-shut off switch. Nobody wants to waste water or be the guy on the corner whose sprinkler runs even when it’s raining. Today a rain shut-off switch can be added to most any system.Consider drip and microspray irrigation for beds and pots. This efficient style of irrigation keeps water off the house, which minimizes wood rot, and allows you to water only where you want.                                                                                                                                                                      Water in the morning. The best time to water is between 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. when the wind is low and the water doesn’t evaporate so fast. It also helps knock the dew off the lawn which aids in disease control.                                                                                                                                                  Water slowly.  Our heavy clay soil only accepts .25 inches of water per our so anything over that just runs off down the storm sewer.  Use the rain/soak/rain method.  Let your zones run just long enough to deliver .25” of water and then move to the next zone.  Then start over and run through each again about 1 hour apart.  This will deliver a deep soaking that is good for the roots.                                       Water when needed.  Soak the root zone and then let it dry.  It is much better to water deeply and infrequently that to water a little bit every day.  With a few exceptions most lawns can be watered on a Mon. Thurs. schedule until it gets hot and then move to Mon. Wed. Fri.These tips will keep your lawn healthy, save water, and save money.