While a subsurface drip irrigation system can last from twelve to fifteen years, especially if it is maintained well, some of the system’s components may need to be replaced or repaired through the years.
A controller, for example, is subject to UV degradation if it is installed outside. Controllers need to be properly sealed and monitored for any inside moisture that can corrode the system's components. Older controllers (pre-2000) can be difficult to set and have limited choices for how to water, which can make watering inefficient when using these controllers. Since Water Sense Smart Technology controllers are more efficient, we recommend switching to this technology. We offer rebates to help you make that upgrade.
Drip irrigation tubing is also known to degrade when exposed to UV light. According to landscape professionals in the Albuquerque area, you can expect the tubing to last for about ten years if it is buried. If tubing is placed on the surface of the ground, it generally won’t last a decade due to several factors, including exposure to UV light and an increased risk of freezing and splitting.
Emitters have various lifespans. Button emitters tend to clog less but need replacement when that happens. Flag emitters clog more often from mineralization but can be flushed.
Another reason for emitter and drip line failure is damage from humans, dogs, rabbits, ground squirrels and pack rats.
Regular maintenance is the best way to increase the lifespan of an irrigation system. Click here for our free irrigation checklist to help keep your system in tip-top shape.
Author: Richard Perce, Irrigation Efficiency Specialist with the Water Conservation Department for the Water Authority. Research: USGA.org and Colorado Extension Service Have a question about the article?
Albuquerque ranks third, after New Orleans and Houston, among cities with tree loss. Our trees are dying because they aren’t being watered properly or at all. How should we water established and mature trees?
To address this problem a landscape architect and a professional landscaper put together a Tree Watering Irrigation Kit that allows you to water established trees more deeply and consistently.
It’s easy for homeowners to assemble a similar kit that attaches to a hose spigot using the parts below, from left to right.
Startwith a hose bib vacuum breaker, which prevents water from siphoning back into the potable water system. Next in line is a hose water timer that works like a kitchen timer, opening and closing a valve at a pre-set time. Instead of a hose water timer, consider using a WaterSense Smart Controller (a rebate is available for this controller). Attach a female-to-male hose swivel converter to the timer or controller. This converter allows you to pop on a pressure regulator that drops our city’s water pressure down to 30psi, which is the best pressure for a drip system. After the pressure regulator, attach an adapter that connects to the ½” inline dripline. The inline dripline comes with 1gph emitters that are spaced every twelve inches. This allows the water to drip consistently and efficiently directly into the ground, deeply soaking the roots of the tree.
Once you have your system installed, a good rule of thumb is to set up a 45-minute run time. To know how often to water, follow the Seasonal Watering Recommendations .
The end cap (pictured below) is installed at the end of the inline drip tubing. This can be opened to empty the line of water and prevent freezing.
Do you want to learn how to harvest rainwater to support a beautiful, regionally adapted, low -water-use landscape in your yard? A new video series launched in June provides instruction on how to design, install, and maintain residential-scale, passive rainwater harvesting features. In passive water harvesting, rainwater is conveyed directly to a landscaped area and infiltrated in the soil.
Landscapes that incorporate rainwater harvesting and native/drought-tolerant plants require little supplemental irrigation. Rainwater harvesting provides the deep watering that large plants like trees and shrubs need in our hot and dry climate. Capturing and infiltrating rainwater also reduces runoff that carries pollutants to the Rio Grande River.
In this series, you will learn how to construct some of the most common passive rainwater harvesting features in residential applications – basins, swales and soil sponges. The training addresses site selection, sizing basins, grading swales, installing soil sponges for enhanced infiltration and selecting plants. It is presented by four local experts on rainwater harvesting and arid-adapted gardens: Jim Brooks, Tess Houle, Judith Phillips, and Hunter Ten Broeck.
The video series was developed through a collaboration between Bernalillo County, Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Arid LID Coalition, and included the installation of a Rainwater Harvesting Learning Landscape at the Gutiérrez-Hubbell House History and Cultural Center. Please visit the Rainwater Harvesting Learning Landscape in person to see an example of a rainwater harvesting feature designed for our arid climate.
Fall can be a great time to plant, especially if you are planting higher elevation and temperate climate plants that are adapted to cooler, more humid growing conditions. In the fall, the soil is still warm enough to encourage roots to develop so watering properly makes a big difference on preparing them to survive in the winter season. What to plant? Most conifers, shade trees, cool season grass and moisture-loving fruit and ornamental trees, such as crabapples, apples and pears, are a great selection for planting in this autumn.
What not to plant this fall? The answer is plants from desert ecosystems like southern New Mexico and the Mediterranean natives. Their newly planted roots are less able to survive our winter cold. The same is true for perennial wildflowers and warm season grasses. These should be planted in the spring through early August. Succulents are another group of plants that thrive after settling into the garden during the warmer part of the growing season, so wait until the spring to plant them.
Knowing what to plant at this time of year will give you that edge you need to grow healthy plants!
Author: Judith Phillips, owner of Design Oasis, landscape designer, and garden writer with 30 years of experience designing arid-adapted and native gardens in the high desert. Photography:Plants of the Southwest. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
Did you know that half of Albuquerque homeowners do not have an irrigation system? We’ve been talking to hundreds of homeowners, and it turns out that the reason they haven’t installed one in their yard is they think an irrigation system for a typical lot (1/8 acre or 10,000 sf) will cost $5,000 or more. The good news is this is a myth! The cost for one fully installed irrigation drip system plus a controller/timer is between $1,350 and $1,900. Prices will vary depending on the size of your yard, the complexity of your water connection and if you want to add additional valves for irrigating plants with different watering needs, such as existing mature trees, vegetable beds, container plants or a turf grass lawn.
Here is what a typical irrigation system looks like. Do any of these elements look familiar to you? Perhaps you have a residential backflow preventer in your own yard and didn’t realize it or you thought it didn’t work because you’ve turned on the timer in your garage and nothing happens.
Many homes already have one or a couple of residential backflow preventers in the yard that are no longer in use. A local irrigation contractor usually can get those back up and running and include a new stub out for drip irrigation.
For those homes that don’t have any existing irrigation remnants, you’ll need to start from the beginning. One drip irrigation system is generally all you will need in a desert-friendly xeriscape for a 1/8 acre or smaller yard. Drip irrigation is the recommended method of delivering water to all your plants and trees (but not turf grasses).
You’ll want to install one backflow preventer with one valve to run the drip system in the yard. A ¾” distribution polyline is connected to the valve. The polyline, which winds all around the yard, has ¼” spaghetti tubing connected to it so water gets directly to the plants. Due to our typically high water pressure, most drip irrigation systems require a pressure regulator to slow the water pressure, thereby reducing the chance of the drip emitters getting popped off the line.
Here is a breakdown of the costs:
One automatic residential backflow preventer with valve and pressure regulator with stub out to future dripline. $600-800 installed (includes parts and labor).
¾” dripline polyline connects to the stub out of a new valve or from an existing one and winds around the yard. Add ¼” spaghetti tube with drip flag emitters on the end to water each plant in your yard. $400-600 installed (includes parts and labor).
One automatic irrigation controller/timer (Smart Controller that connects to the Internet and your smartphone). $350-$500 (includes parts and labor) (rebates available)
A regular controller costs $350 (includes parts and labor).
Before hiring an irrigation designer and/or contractor, it’s advisable to ask them specific questions so you can make wise choices about design options and the kind of equipment you need.Click on this link to access a helpful guide put together by the Irrigation Association as developed by Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Adding an irrigation system (especially a drip system) means watering your plants using the least amount of water to provide optimal health. It is making sure that every drop of water you use goes to where it is needed and can be used most effectively by your plants. An irrigation system conserves water, produces a healthier landscape, saves time and is not as costly as you think!
Author: Jill Brown, ASLA. Landscape Architect and Owner of My Landscape Coach The prices quoted here are based on my experience as a landscape professional in the Albuquerque market. Prices will vary, of course, on size, complexity, and availability. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — By and large, New Mexican homeowners are getting the all-important message of the arid Southwest: Water is precious, and not to be wasted.
But local experts say an important piece of the story is still often lost when it comes to landscaping: Conserving water doesn’t have to mean a yard consisting of one plant surrounded by gravel.
“We’ve got to go away from that,” said Carlos Bustos, water conservation program manager for the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority. “Xeriscapes are luscious, they’re beautiful, they’re abundant, they’re resilient, they’re sustainable. … We hope that 10 years from now we’re not still dealing with the idea of ‘zeroscapes.'”
Solange Serquis, of Santa Fe-based Serquis + Associates Landscape Architecture, agreed.
“I am a big believer that we all deserve aesthetic and beauty,” she said. “When you combine aesthetic and beauty to achieve something else, like passive cooling or low-consumption plants or an invitation to be outdoors, better use of … energy indoors, that’s the main thing.”
Plant selection
According to Jill Brown, a landscape architect and owner of My Landscape Coach, selecting plants tends to be a point in the landscaping process where homeowners get very engaged.
“If I go back and look at the most popular articles, the most popular things, discussions, questions that we’ve received, it’s always about plants,” said Brown, who also provides content for the water utility authority’s landscape website 505 Outside. “So people are really interested in plants and learning about plants and in that aspect of a landscape.”
For several local landscape pros, planting trees tops the list.
“That’s going to provide shade, which is going to reduce your energy bills if you put it … on the south side of the home … or the west side of the home,” Brown said.
Bustos said if a tree is well planned and well-positioned, those energy savings can be significant.
“There’s studies out there that say that if you place a tree strategically where you need to, you can save up to 25% of the energy in a typical household use,” he said, adding that tree shade helps reduce water lost by other plants nearby.
“By creating this microclimate, you can reduce the water need between 6 and 20%,” he said. “It’s always cooler in the shade.”
Serquis says planting trees adds long-term value.
“I always say planting a tree is an act of … citizenship,” she said. “Because you plant that tree today and in maybe 50 years, it’s … a heritage for the neighborhood.”
With trees as well as with smaller plants, Serquis said she’s looking for ways to passively cool living spaces – both indoors and outdoors – and selects varieties that have low water consumption.
When it comes to choosing specific plant varieties, Brown’s got a simple approach.
“Basically native plants that you buy from a local nursery are going to work in your soil,” she said. “That’s like a generalization we like to tell homeowners: Don’t over-stress about your soil. If you buy plants from a local nursery, you’ll be OK.”
Of course, there’s a caveat: Those plants and trees still have to be watered properly.
Irrigation
Brown said data and her own experience suggest that in the universe of homeowners who care about their landscaping, about half use an irrigation system of some kind, and about half are hand-watering.
Those hand-waterers, according to Brown and Bustos, should think about installing an irrigation system.
“Hand-watering is wasteful, because they’re spraying the leaves and … we need to get to the roots,” Brown said.
Those who already have an irrigation system can consider whether it’s efficient or fine-tuned enough.
Those who use spray sprinklers, for example, may consider swapping out sprayers for highly efficient models that are more available to homeowners today than in the past, often on the shelf of local irrigation supply companies, Brown said.
Homeowners can look at whether plants in their yard are being watered to the right depth, whether their irrigation system adjusts with the seasons – less water during the spring and fall than in summer – or with the weather.
Plants’ water needs also vary depending in what type of soil they’re planted – which even in the Albuquerque metro area can range widely, from sand on the West Side to clay in the valley.
Brown concedes the considerations can overwhelm homeowners.
“People really just want you to say, ‘Hey, water your landscape 20 minutes two times a week in the summer, 20 minutes once a week in the spring and fall,” Brown said.
Lawns
Serquis said when she first moved to New Mexico from Argentina, the trend was incentivizing homeowners to get rid of their lawns altogether in favor of gravel. But lawns don’t get quite such a bad rap with conservation-minded landscapers these days.
“I think there is something in between” lawn and gravel, Serquis said. “(It) depends how you look at the grass, or what type of grass – it’s not that bad. And a xeriscape with no plants, just as a reflecting surface, could be even worse” because of the heat generated.
Brown said there are types of grass that require less water – and even if homeowners want the grass “that’s at the park,” there are better ways to water it than with a spray system that throws water high in the air and risks evaporation. Bustos agreed.
“If you have a lawn and you’re enjoying it and it’s functional and you’re taking care of it, then update it,” he said. “You know, update that irrigation system. There’s technology out there that just can make things a lot more efficient.”
Mulch
Brown said mulch is an important part of landscaping in the Southwest.
“One of the biggest things people complain about are weeds in New Mexico, and a lot of that is because wherever there is bare dirt, you’re going to get weeds,” she said. “… The simplest solution and the most inexpensive solution and easy to install is 3 to 4 inches of a shredded wood chip mulch over the entire yard.”
Mulch helps soil hold in moisture and insulate plant roots, and it breaks down over time to enrich the soil. Brown said a mulch layer often means replacing expanses of gravel.
“All gravel does is produce more heat and more weeds,” she said. “Even if you have the weed cloth, the weed cloth just makes it easier to pull the weeds.”
Starting small
Bustos acknowledged the process of adapting a landscape can be daunting. He said he encourages residents to start with the “lowest investment,” which is changing behaviors. People can start following the seasonal irrigation needs of their landscape, rather than giving the same amount of water all year.
Those ready to invest some resources can take small steps like installing smart irrigation controllers, swapping out sprinkler heads and efficient nozzles – steps Bustos said can save up to 30% of water usage in some cases.
“If you really want to invest, you want to transform your yard into a desert-friendly landscape, then we got a xeriscape rebate that folks can tap into,” he said.
Brown said while her clients may be in different phases with their landscapes, they tend to share one thing in common. “Overall, in general, people in Albuquerque want to save water,” she said. “That is a no-brainer now.”
Author: Gabrielle Porter, Albuquerque Journal Business Editor. Reprinted with permission from the Albuquerque Journal. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
