Spreading the proper amount of water on your lawn can be a significant challenge if you aren’t sure what you are doing. Unfortunately, many homeowners turn their sprinklers on too hard and drown their grass or starve it by not watering it nearly enough. Thankfully, your smart sprinkler controller can make this process easier.
In this article, you’ll learn not only how much water your lawn needs but how to figure out the output of your sprinkler system and adjust it to meet this need. In this way, you should get the high-quality water control that your lawn needs without damaging your yard in any way.
How Much Water Does Your Lawn Need?
Grass is thankfully pretty robust and not excessively water-hungry most of the time. For example, you typically need no more than one inch of water every week to make your lawn healthy and green for years to come.
This amount will rise depending on the heat of your area and drought situations. For example, if the temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit consistently, you may need two inches every week.
With an excellent intelligent sprinkler system, you should have little difficulty getting the amount of water you need throughout your lawn. Typically, your system will spread a decent amount of water every time it turns on to operate.
However, the output will vary according to water pressure and the method used. You can measure your system’s production using this simple testing system:
- Find a small tin can of at least two inches in depth and place it somewhere in your yard
- Turn on your sprinkler system at the angle and power you typically use when you water your lawn
- Run the system at least 15 minutes before turning it off to check your can
- Use a ruler to measure how much water is at the bottom of your can
- Multiply that amount by four to get your water output per hour
- Multiply your hourly rate by your typical watering session and that number by seven
For example, if your sprinkler outputs one-sixteenth of an inch of water per hour and you water for five hours, you’ll provide five-sixteenths of an inch every day. Multiply that amount by seven (if you water every day), and you get over two inches of water every week on your lawn.
Adjusting Your System to Get the Best Water Flow
When installing an underground sprinkler system for your home, you need to adjust your watering schedule based on the above factors. Use your intelligent controller to create a watering schedule that you can easily change:
- Decide if you need one or two inches of water based on the temperatures
- Calculate how many days you want to water your lawn every day
- Divide your water needs by that number to get your daily water needs
- Adjust your water flow to meet that need properly
For example, if you want to get one inch of water every week, and you want to water four days a week, you’ll need one-quarter inch every day. And if your sprinkler has an output of one-sixteenth inch per hour, that means you’ll need to water for four hours to get four-sixteenths or one-quarter of an inch.
Getting the Best Results
Make sure that you follow these steps to give your yard the high-quality look that it deserves. If at any point you find that your yard is browning, you may need to reach out to your sprinkler system professionals and talk to them about what is happening to ensure that your grass doesn’t die.
