Irrigation is the foundation for a thriving lawn and landscape, without it your lawn and landscape will suffer.

We frequently receive questions about proper irrigation for best results with the lawn and plants.

The correct answer is "As needed".

This often leaves you asking "What does that even mean?"

Our goal is not to frustrate you with this answer. However, this is the most honest answer to a complex question. Variables like the season, recent weather events, your local environments, plant needs ect. all play a factor in this.

Lets dive in! For example some plants require very moist soils and some require dry soils. What happens when you, your builder, or landscaper plants these 2 types of plants right next to each other?

The answer is simple, one or the other does not THRIVE, one suffers or dies.

You may have heard the statement "the right tool for the job". This essentially is the same with plants and is referred to "Proper product placement". This is where we place plants with similar needs in similar environments.

Next we will talk about the environment in your landscape both natural or influenced by man made structures or your irrigation system.

Imagine your home has a beautiful Grand Oak that provides shade to 1/2 of your front lawn. You have St. Augustine sod that covers your entire front lawn and 1 sprinkler zone responsible for irrigating the grass.

This is a PROBLEM!

The irrigation needs of your St. Augustine grass is different in the full sun vs. partial shade. This scenario leads to a problem where the sunny area does not receive enough water or the shady area gets too much water. Due to this the sunny area dries out and becomes a favorable enviornment for pest like chinch bugs or the shady area becomes over saturated, develops disease issues and thins out.

No spray program or services program alone will fix this scenario. The underlying issues must be addressed.

Poor design and/or poor plant selection is the root of this problem. The solution would be to manipulate the volume of water the irrigation system puts out. In some types of sprinklers this can be as simple as changing a sprinkler nozzle to a different volume nozzle, this can be done on rotor sprinklers. Adding a secondary zone and seperating the sunny area and the shady area or changing the landscape in portions of the lawn all together would be another solution.

The simple answer to "How much should I water?" is approx. 3/4 to 1 inch per irrigation event.

Rotor sprinkler zones usually achieve this in 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Pop - Up sprinkler zones usually achieve this in 15-30 minutes.

To evaluate your system try the "catch can method". The catch can method allows you to evaluate the amount of water put out in a certain time frame and allows you to evaluate coverage issues.