Water by the Seasons
Irrigation season has begun, and there are three things to do in April!
Spring is here, and it is a dry one. Remember that we are under a drought watch, which is no reason to panic, BUT it does mean we need to be much more careful with our water and aware of how efficiently we are using it in our yards.
This April, there are three easy activities you can do to help make sure your system is working more efficiently.
1. Double check your irrigation settings. Your plants are actively growing now. They need an extra drink of water to stay healthy, but it is important that we are not giving them too much. Your plants will do better with a deep watering done less frequently. Print out our Seasonal Watering Chart, which shows how often we recommend watering each type of plant. Water your lawn one to two times per week, your trees two times per month and your shrubs two to three times per month.
Check with a screwdriver to make sure the water is reaching the roots but not going so deep that the roots can’t reach it. The proper depth is on the right side of our chart above.
2. Make sure that your trees and shrubs are watered around their drip line so they can efficiently use the water they are getting. This is where woody plants (trees and shrubs) are best able to take up water from the soil. If your emitters are at the trunk or base of your shrubs, your plants are not able to use all of the water you are giving them. You need to move the emitters out to the drip line, and you may need to add additional emitters. For example, if there are only two emitters serving a mature tree that needs over 400 gallons of water in April, it will be nearly impossible for that tree to get enough water to remain healthy without adding more emitters.
3. Because of the “stay at home” health order, many of us have been focusing on improving our yards. This is the perfect time to upgrade your irrigation system so you can water more efficiently. You may only need to replace the nozzles on your sprinklers, or you may be looking at a complete yard transformation. By making changes sooner rather than later, you will benefit in three ways: You will save money sooner, probably have a better chance of getting into a contractor’s schedule if you need help and put less stress on your plants if the work is done in the cool spring weather rather than during the summer.
It’s also the perfect time to reach out to us for help. Send us an email at AskAnExpert@abcwua.org to ask landscape questions or to arrange an appointment for a free consultation.
Irrigation Service Tip and Watering Recommendations for the Spring Season:
Service: April’s freeze may have damaged your irrigation system, so make sure to inspect it for leaks, or broken sprinkler heads and emitters!
Watering Recommendations: Spring rains are benefitting established landscapes! Follow these watering recommendations to keep your yard looking healthy: for grass (turf), water one-two times per week and for your trees water one-two times per month. To know how much to water, follow our Water by the Seasons spring watering recommendations. Remember, if it rains more than a half inch you can skip your next scheduled watering time as there is no need for supplemental irrigation.
Spring Lawn Best Practices
Do you want to walk barefoot across cool, soft grass? Especially on those hot summer days? We’d love for you to do that! We also want you to take care of your lawn in a healthy way that saves the most water.
One might assume that proper lawn care begins in the spring but creating that beautiful lawn can start at any time. Sometimes it’s even better to start in the fall. Either way, you need to begin with good soil, full of organic material that will both provide nutrition and help hold in that moisture. But if you don’t already have that, how do you get it?
First, dethatch your lawn once a year. Most lawns need this done when the layer of thatch reaches roughly ½” thick. Cool season grasses, such as bluegrass, need to be dethatched in the fall, whereas warm season grasses, such as Bermudagrass, need to be dethatched in the spring.
Aerating is the second step needed to keep your lawn as healthy and water efficient as possible. If you have an older lawn, or have highly compacted soil, you should aerate twice a year — once in the spring and again in the fall. If you are aerating, or hiring someone else to do it, run the irrigation first and flag all your spray heads or rotors. This prevents inadvertently creating the need for sprinkler repairs! Aerate the whole lawn one direction and then again perpendicular to the first pass.
Lastly, top dress your lawn with at least a ½” of fine textured compost twice a year to add nutrients back into the soil and help retain moisture.
Also, regularly sharpen the blades on your mower and set it up as a mulching mower. Your mowing height should be as high as possible to help maintain a healthy lawn and conserve water.
Watering correctly is most important, so maintain your irrigation system year-round, and follow the Water by the Seasons watering recommendations. Check all the filters on each of your spray heads or rotors, then run your system to ensure that all of your spray nozzles or rotors are aligned and aren’t clogged. Repair or replace anything that isn’t working properly. Also check the base of each spray head to make sure you don’t have a leak at the base. The ground will probably be soft and squishy if there is one. To improve efficiency of your system, choose high efficiency sprinkler nozzles (rebates of $2 are available).
One last thing. Kick those shoes off and go enjoy that lawn!
Avoid water waste! Follow Time-of-Day Watering Restrictions from April 1 to Oct 31
A lot of things have changed since last spring, but at least one thing is the same: April 1 is still the date on which time-of-day watering rules go into effect for Water Authority customers in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. That means sprinkler and spray irrigation is not allowed between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. from now until Oct. 31 in order to minimize losses to wind and evaporation.
Using spray irrigation during the hottest, windiest part of the day is not efficient. Instead, water in the early morning or in the evening when it’s cooler. Another good way to avoid water waste is by troubleshooting your irrigation system on a regular basis to identify leaks and make sure water is directed properly to the plants. Follow these tips for a desert friendly yard:
- For turf, follow the Water by the Numbers program and adjust your watering schedule as the season changes: Two days per week in April and May, three days per week in the summer, and ramp down again in the fall.
- Irrigate only when your plants need it, and water them deeply rather than too frequently. Use a long screwdriver or soil probe to check soil moisture.
- Add compost to your soil to increase moisture retention and boost soil fertility.
- Mulch around plants to help retain moisture and reduce weeds.
Grow strong and healthy trees by watering infrequently, to a depth of at least 24,” in a wide area around the tree’s canopy. Many of our trees only need deep watering 1 -2 times per month (depending on the species and conditions).
Irrigation Service Tip and Watering Recommendations for the Spring Season:
As the landscape irrigation season gets under way, inspect your irrigation system for leaks and clogged, broken or missing sprinkler heads and emitters.
Use a pressure gauge to verify that sprinkler heads are operating at recommended pressures, and check and clean all system filters.
Time to follow our Spring Watering Recommendations.
Time to follow our spring watering recommendations. Remember, if it rains more than a half inch you can skip your next scheduled watering time as there is no need for supplemental irrigation.