changing your watering schedule

With automatic timers so prevalent we are finding that many people are over watering, watering too often and compensating for sprinkler design mistakes with more water everywhere.

As we move into fall and winter the question comes up how should I change my irrigation.

Our answer is usually change the frequency of irrigation not the length of time.

If you are watering three times a week for 20 minutes we start with changing to twice a week and then once a week as the weather changes. as the weather changes even more we turn the automatic irrigation off and water only as we see the need.

If you reduce the amount of time the sprinklers are on we run into problems with not getting the entire root system moist.

another issue to remember is in rainy weather plants under overhangs or evergreen trees may not be getting enough water. These areas need to be checked individually.

Remember, as we move into weather with frosts, that frosts acutually pull water out of evergreen plants. You may need to water occasionally during this kind of weather to replace the water lost.