We boil your watering schedule down to the four seasons. The starting point is spring because that’s when the soil loses the most water, which is the exact opposite of most other parts of the country. Our typical spring is warm and dry, causing a need for longer sprinkler run times to keep your lawn from experiencing drought stress.
Picture a bucket filled with water and left in the middle of a sunny lawn. If you were to check it a week later you’d see it probably lost about 1” of water. If you don’t replace that inch of water, gradually your bucket will get lower and lower. That is also what happens in your lawn's soil, where the top layer gets more and more dry unless the water is replaced with irrigation. The top area is the area where St. Augustine and other turfgrass roots are looking for moisture to sustain their color and density.
FAN SPRAY ZONES:
The normal fan pattern spray nozzles (that don't rotate) like the one shown in the main photo above take about an hour to put out 1" of water. The problem is our lawn and soil can’t absorb an hour's worth of water all at once (you’d probably have water running down your street and alley.) That's why we water 2 days per week, and we recommend 30 minutes per zone on spray zones. Remember that this is specifically for turf, as most landscape plants have deeper root systems and need less water.
ROTOR ZONES:
For the zones with rotary head sprinklers (photo to right - they slowly turn and send out 1 long stream of water), these spray farther than the small spray heads (15-30') and they typically cover two to three times the turf. Since they’re covering twice the area with the same number of gallons, they need to run twice as long to put out an inch of water, so in the warm season you’ll usually water about two hours per week. I recommend 60 minutes per rotor zone running 2 days per week, and that should replace that 1" of water lost from evaporation.
MP ROTATOR ZONES:
If you have the updated spray heads that utilize multiple thin streams of water (see photo to right), you can mirror the "Fan Spray Zone" settings above. These heads put out less water per minute, but due to their ability to evenly distribute water and allow it to soak into the soil, they save money compared to other heads.
WHEN TO WATER?:
We recommend watering in the early morning, around 4am, because it is cooler so you’ll have less evaporation, plus there is less wind which can blow your water onto your driveway, sidewalk, or street. Watering in the morning will mean more water ends up in your lawn which is both environmentally and financially smart.
ACCOUNTING FOR RAIN:
Many people mention that the "bucket" analogy above doesn't account for nature's sprinkler system, rain. You're correct, but if your irrigation system is up to code then it has a functioning Rain Sensor on it that will measure the rainfall and turn the system off if it has met the needed rainfall for that cycle. Newer stems may even have a HydraWise system that uses Wifi to track weather patterns and adjust up/down based on your closest weather station.
ACCOUNTING FOR SHADE:
Have shady areas? The above settings are recommendations for full sun. If your lawn is shaded in areas, typically you want to water about 2/3 of the time you would in a sunny area, in a heavy shade you might even cut it down to half or less.
ACCOUNTING FOR RUNOFF/CLAY:
For hillside lawns and dense soils such as clay, you may want to break the run times up with separate cycles to stop water runoff. Hills and clay soils cause the water to be soaked up slower by the lawn and can create runoff which is wasted money going down the driveway and or street. One example we recommend is separate start times such as watering for :30 at 4am and another :30 at 7am, rather than watering for 1 hour all at 5am. The separate cycles allow water to soak in for better use by the lawn and soil.
If we can help with your Gainesville Sprinkler System, give us a call at 352-378-5296 or fill out the form above to contact us. We offer bi-annual and quarterly irrigation service plans to help conserve water while also meeting your lawn's changing seasonal needs.
