Irrigation Advice from SAWS

SAWS sends out a great newsletter with really useful tips on how to conserve water and care for your San Antonio Landscape.  The following is a link to an article they sent out last week that had some great information about changing your irrigation settings on your controller.

 http://www.saws.org/conservation/newsletter/enews/issue.cfm?id=299

 In case you can't follow the link, the following is an excerpt:

 "At this time of year we encourage you to just turn off your irrigation system and run it manually on the few occasions when watering is recommended.

Consider your landscape's watering needs:

•          Plants are preparing for dormancy. This means they don't take in as much water and the rate at which moisture evaporates from the soil is significantly less than it was just one month ago.

•          Roots continue to grow at a snail's pace during dormancy. Apply mulch to conserve existing soil moisture and help protect plant roots from freezing temperatures.

•          The cooler, wetter weather is usually sufficient for our soon-to-be-dormant lawns. Any additional irrigation – especially during certain times of the day – only encourages the growth of fungi."

If you have any questions or need any help, please feel free to give us a call and we would be happy to help.

DIY Irrigation Tune-Up

As mentioned last week, keeping your irrigation system working properly is very important in order to conserve water and money.  An irrigation system should be checked at least annually so the system can be working at its maximum efficiency.  In an effort to help you do your own tune up on your sprinkler system, we will offer step by step directions on how to do it.

Step 1:  Turn on each zone valve, one at a time to inspect the zone for problems. 

If you have above ground zone valves, carefully inspect for leaks, drips or puddles around the valve.  If one is leaking, you will need to replace it.  Replacement parts are inexpensive and easy to install.

Step 2:  Replace the battery in your irrigation controller
Reset the controller and make sure it is set for the current date and time.  Adjust your watering times to meet the new seasonal needs.

Stay tuned for Steps 3 & 4 tomorrow!