Adjusting Run Times With Heat/Drought

[jbell36]

Originally Posted by grassman177

The most we get people to allow is 30 min rotors,15 sprays, every other day
Posted via Mobile Device

that's pretty much exactly what we do...the system i changed today was about 10 minutes per zone every single day...i was taught to water deep every other day...the grass was nice and green though, this is why i asked this question...i went with 18 minutes on the sprays and 33 on the rotors MWF and Saturday...i know some people believe watering for shorter periods of time every day is the way to go so i wanted to see how people feel about this, in this case it seemed to be working better than i would think...

[jvanvliet]

Florida; Palm Beach County last restriction directive 2011.

Water 2X per week Odd # Wed & Sat; even# Teus & Thurs.

No water between 10:00AM and 4:00PM

We extended run times on Rotors to 75 minutes and mist heads to 25 in full sun areas, otherwise run times remained the same.

We experienced some brown out in areas and learned where coverage was weak in others.

[bcg]

This question is impossible to answer without knowing soil type, sun exposure, plant material, root zone, DU and PR fo the system installed, etc., etc.

Last year, I used the Seasonal Adjust on many controllers to deal with the drought and adjusted them up to 120% to 150%. You don't necessarily need to water more frequently if you've got a good root zone and you've taken the time to program your run times properly to begin with, you just need to water more deeply. Some of the properties I worked on were getting watered every day or every other day and others were only getting watered once every 5 days. Root zone and soil type were the biggest factors in making that decision (both before and during the drought).

[grassman177]

sounds like a fungus magnet to me, way too much water

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Wet_Boots

I've had a lot of systems screwed up when my hot-weather programming gets dialed back by thrifty homeowners.

Maybe the systems wouldn't be dialed back if they had a DU > 30%.

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by bcg

This question is impossible to answer without knowing soil type, sun exposure, plant material, root zone, DU and PR fo the system installed, etc., etc.

Finally someone said it.

Originally Posted by bcg

Last year, I used the Seasonal Adjust on many controllers to deal with the drought and adjusted them up to 120% to 150%. You don't necessarily need to water more frequently if you've got a good root zone and you've taken the time to program your run times properly to begin with, you just need to water more deeply. Some of the properties I worked on were getting watered every day or every other day and others were only getting watered once every 5 days. Root zone and soil type were the biggest factors in making that decision (both before and during the drought).

If the controller is properly setup for the landscape and the historical hottest part of the year, the season adjust setting will generally work in the hottest part of the year.

[jvanvliet]

Seasonal adjust to 130 or 140% is great if you don't have a limited run time available. Most communities here don't want the sprinklers running after 6:00 AM or before 10PM, which makes a seasonal adjust under water restriction challenging.

[Duekster]

Originally Posted by jvanvliet

Seasonal adjust to 130 or 140% is great if you don't have a limited run time available. Most communities here don't want the sprinklers running after 6:00 AM or before 10PM, which makes a seasonal adjust under water restriction challenging.

It can be on larger systems for sure. Frankly the system should be designed deliver the peak watering requirements on a two day schedule in a 12 hour water window.

[jvanvliet]

Originally Posted by Duekster

It can be on larger systems for sure. Frankly the system should be designed deliver the peak watering requirements on a two day schedule in a 12 hour water window.

Most systems we manage were designed when daily watering was the norm... they could water less more frequently... no time issues.

We'll split larger systems between different days using a/b programing settings or on demand systems the cycle settings. When restrictions are in place, we have to obtain a variance to permit us to water 4 days as opposed to two.

[Duekster]

Originally Posted by jvanvliet

Most systems we manage were designed when daily watering was the norm... they could water less more frequently... no time issues.

We'll split larger systems between different days using a/b programing settings or on demand systems the cycle settings. When restrictions are in place, we have to obtain a variance to permit us to water 4 days as opposed to two.

We do not get much sympathy for variances. Some of the more advanced cities will work with you only after you have thrown every proven water saving principle to work, ET controls, water audits with high DU, often including things like MSMTR. Those same cities also mandate ET on new residential.

We try to pre-stress the grass and get it used to less water. St A is not going to make it in some cases. Some cities in Texas have Banned ST A.

I like ST A but it is not as drought tolerant as Buffalo, Bermuda, or Zoysia. I am coming around to thinking Zoysia is perhaps the best of all worlds for good turf.