Water is one of the most important factors for a beautiful, lush green lawn and can come from several sources, including rainfall, sprinklers, and/or an irrigation system. The general rule of thumb is that lawns and gardens need about an inch of water every week. But with unpredictable water levels from rainfall or irrigation, how do you know how much water your grass and garden are actually getting?
The answer for most people is that they don’t know exactly how much water their grass and plants are receiving. So our lawn care specialists at Promier Landscapes in Kingsport are demystifying what an “irrigation audit” is and sharing some tips on how to conduct one so that you know exactly how much water you’re giving your lawn and garden.
Conduct an audit
We know, we know, audits sound scary. But thankfully, we aren’t the IRS. Irrigation audits aren’t nearly as menacing or tedious. So let’s take a look at how you conduct one:
Collect and set out cups in a grid — or in various zones — on your lawn and/or garden to capture water during a single irrigation cycle. Cups can be anything from empty tuna or vegetable cans to bottom halves of water bottles or soda cans. What’s important is that you use the same type of cups for consistency in your testing. Also, be sure you have enough cups to position in various places within reach of each sprinkler in every irrigation zone of your lawn.
Once the cups are in place, turn on your irrigation system and allow it to run for its typical amount of time. After the sprinkler system has finished running for one zone, measure the amount of water captured in the various cups to see if they are roughly the same. Record the information in that zone and move to the next zone until you have measured the results of your entire lawn.
Read the results
The goal is to reach a half inch of water in your cups consistently in each zone; one inch of water within the week is ideal for your lawn, so half an inch delivered twice a week — assuming no rainfall in a week — will give you the inch of water needed.
A typical home lawn uses two types of irrigation heads: rotors and sprays. Rotor heads rotate in a circle as they deliver water. Spray heads remain stationary and are typically used in smaller areas. These heads differ in gallons per minute (gpm) of water they deliver, so the amount of time they run for the same amount of water output will differ. Check each of your zones to ensure the heads are all the same, as spray heads and rotor heads should never be used together in one zone.
Make adjustments
Once you’ve determined how much water your zones are receiving, it’s time to make necessary adjustments to ensure proper amounts of water are reaching each irrigation zone.
If your system is delivering too little water and you can add more time to the irrigation zones without, for instance, upsetting your neighborhood’s HOA watering requirements, then this is easy. If not, then you will need to increase the size of your sprinkler nozzles.
On the other hand, if you catch more water than a half inch during your audit and need to reduce the water delivered, decrease the time that the zone runs, or use a smaller nozzle.
Provide the right amount of water to your lawn
Too much water can be as dangerous to your lawn as too little. Overwatering can lead to diseases and fungus. Ideas to help prevent this include turning off your irrigation during the rainy season and again in the winter. During this time, if your grass needs water, it will show you by its leaves starting to fold inward. Turn your system on for a week to adequately water the lawn, then consider turning it back off.
Follow these simple steps, and your lawn will be adequately watered at all times. If you have further questions, we can help! Give our lawn specialists at Promier Landscapes a call at (423) 872-2988, or reach us online today.