Set up a hose irrigation system for great benefits at a reduced cost
The most efficient way to water your yard is by using an automatic irrigation system with underground valves. Hand watering can be problematic because it can lead to inconsistent watering, causing you to overwater, underwater or forget to water altogether.
However, these systems can be expensive to install, with costs sometimes ranging from $800 to $2,000, depending on the number of valves. If you are ready to install a more efficient irrigation system but aren’t ready for the cost of an inground system, consider starting with a hose timer system that can be easily converted to an inground system later on.
A hose timer system is an inexpensive way to get your plants on automatic irrigation, allowing you to water your yard on a specific day of the week, time of the day and for a set number of minutes. You can put it together yourself for under $100.
The hose timer attaches to high-quality irrigation ¾” Polyline with drip emitters or professional landscape dripline. The dripline can stay in the ground year-round and be later connected to future valves of an automatic in-ground irrigation system.
There are a variety of products you can use, including smart controllers, easy twist-and-turn controllers, multi-valve controllers, and more. We offer a rebate on ones that adjust to our weather and your plants’ water needs (referred to as ‘smart controllers’).
Most Albuquerque homes have an irrigation box below ground in the yard that contains automatic valves, pressure reducers, and filters with backflow preventers next to the box. The automatic valves are wired to an irrigation controller that’s often in the garage, laundry room or an outside wall. Different variations of these controllers have been around since the 1960s and allow homeowners to adjust when and how long to water different zones. However in the early 2000s the proliferation of wireless technology and the internet ushered in the ‘Smart’ controller.
Smart controllers use WiFi and connect wirelessly to the local weather station. They will not water on days when it’s too windy or it has already rained. Most will also determine what your landscape’s water needs are and create a schedule based on data added during setup plus the information it receives from local weather stations. They connect to your smartphone or tablet so you have easy control over your system no matter where you are. Irrigation Designer Richard Perce says, “A smart controller adjusts your watering based on the local weather conditions which saves you money and water. But what I love the most is that you can turn your system on and off from the phone as you walk the line to find leaks. No more needing to run back and forth to the garage.”
Smart Controllers allow you to turn your system on and off without running back to the irrigation controller in the garage.
What is a smart irrigation controller?
Smart controllers use current and/or historic weather data to create a custom irrigation schedule.
Our study shows residents with traditional landscaping saved about $150 per year, or about 20% in landscape irrigation costs by installing a smart irrigation controller.
Popular models cost around $150, and with a 25% rebate on qualifying models, your investment pays for itself in less than a year-thanks to water savings alone!
Nearly all smart controllers use an intuitive phone app, making it easier for you to set up and to check for issues – no back & forth to your garage!
The Water Authority’s offers a smart controller rebate. The rebate is a 25% rebate, up to $100.00 and includes the purchase and professional installation of a smart controller.Installing a Smart controller provides the following benefits:
A healthy, beautiful landscape: Smart controllers help landscapes flourish and remain healthy by providing the right amount of water for each plant zone. Underwatered or overwatered landscapes can be unhealthy, unattractive and wasteful.
Savings of both water and money: These controllers help eliminate overwatering, so they may lower water-use expenses and conserve water particularly for high water users.
Convenience: Properly programmed smart controllers save end-users the time required to continuously monitor and adjust irrigation schedules in response to changing weather and seasons (If you’re installing your new smart controller in an outbuilding or detached garage you may need to verify that your wi-fi signals are strong enough to reach the smart controller.)
BESTSELLING SMART IRRIGATION CONTROLLERS, ABQ METRO AREA (2025)
Features: 8 and 16 zones options, inexpensive, connects to local weather stations, works with all modems, easy to use, robust water schedules based on plant type, soil type, sun exposure; and rebates are available. This controller must be controlled by an smartphone since it does not come with a screen on the controller itself. Costs around $200-$250) Integrates with Amazon Alexa and other smart home devices. Supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz)
Features: 6 and 12 zone options, inexpensive, connects to local weather stations, easily controlled via your smartphone, can be mounted indoors or outdoors, works with all internet modems (2.4gh and 5gh), long-range Bluetooth radio, can adjust both at the controller and on your phone, easy to use, rebates available. Costs around ($125-$200) Integrates with Amazon Alexa. Model 57950 has a screen, dial and physical buttons you can use to adjust the settings (in addition to the smartphone app). Model 57995 does show the date time and weather you’ll need to use your smartphone to adjust the settings.
Features: If you have an existing Hunter X2 controller you can add WAND. It is a simple plug-in Wi-Fi option for any X2 controller model for online irrigation management from anywhere with an internet connection. Costs about $100 for the wand on your existing controller (costs between $80-$150), connects to local weather stations, easily controlled via your smartphone, can be mounted indoors or outdoors, works with only (2.4gh) internet modem, can adjust both at the controller and on your phone, easy to use, rebates available. Compatable with amazon alexa, control4 and homeseer home automation technology.
Features: 4 station base model but HPCs can go up to 23 zones, runs about $200, connects to local weather stations, easily controlled via your smartphone, can be mounted indoors or outdoors, works with only (2.4gh) internet modem, can adjust both at the controller and on your phone, easy to use, rebates available.
The Water Authority offers residential rebates of 25% up to $100, and commercial rebates of 25% up to $500, for Smart Controllers. The rebate can be used for both purchase of the controller and the cost of professional installation. Installation is quite easy and is a great weekend DIY project with a high return of investment. Before purchasing your new controller, make sure to visit the list of qualified WaterSense controllers located in the rebate section.
If you have heard of Bermuda grass or live in one of the older areas of Albuquerque, just the name might make you flinch or grimace. The reason it gets a bad rap is because it is dormant in winter, it spreads like crazy into garden beds and can magically appear out of a dirt mess after monsoon season.
You may be surprised to hear that some of us actually like Bermuda grass lawns. In fact, I’ve even planted the grass in my backyard. I’ll take you through the pros and cons and why I’ve come to love the Bermuda grass lawn. It can be the right plant for the right space to fill the right need.
Many homeowners would like turfgrass but feel irresponsible watering a lawn in the arid Southwest. The key to choosing a turfgrass is to determine the one most suited to the specific needs of your landscape The Water Authority is not anti-lawn that is efficiently irrigated and physically used and enjoyed. Bermuda grass cultivars are one means of having a traffic/play/dog tolerant surface that uses half the amount of water of a traditional cool season lawn
According to the “turf research lab” at New Mexico State University (NMSU), “Certain turf characteristics, such as climate adaptation, water use, traffic tolerance, color, quality, maintenance requirements, and available resources, are all factors that need to be considered when selecting a turf species. Climatic adaptation and traffic tolerance, which largely determine the future use of the turf area, are the two most important factors. Many problems encountered in maintaining turfs can be attributed directly to selecting the wrong turfgrasses for Albuquerque’s difficult growing conditions and to the lack of resources, especially water, that homeowners and professional turf growers face in the state.” This means that understanding how much traffic (kids and dogs playing) and our very dry local climate are how we should be selecting turf grass species not what the big box store happens to have in stock.
There are two different categories of turfgrasses: cool season and warm season. Common Cool season grasses are Kentucky Bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass and Tall Fescue. These are cold tolerant, green most of the year and hold up to extensive foot traffic. But they use a lot of water, up to 50” a year If efficiently irrigated. The water authority frequently has many customers (especially commercial customers) that water grass 80-100” per year! in a town that only gets an average 8” of precipitation. Common warm season grasses are Bermuda grass, Blue Grama and Buffalo Grass. Warm season grasses have a shorter growing season. This means they green up in mid spring, are low maintenance and require less water than cool season grasses. But blue grama and buffalo grass can’t take extensive foot and paw traffic plus they go dormant in the winter.
In my case, I had an existing native buffalo and blue grama grass lawn. It had always been perfect for our home. It’s native, low water use, easy to maintain and beautiful to look at. Fast forward to three kids and two dogs later. I was noticing wear and tear in certain areas of my lawn from two large dogs leaving run paths and kids playing soccer. I’m a professional landscape architect and knew Bermuda grass is a prolific spreader but in this case, I was actually looking for a grass to take over and fill in around the heavily accessed places in my yard. I found a species that could meet both my needs called Cynodon hybrida Dog Tuff ™ Grass Plugs, originally from High Country Gardens. There are many cultivars available check out the many options researched by NMSU. It is a Bermuda grass hybrid perfect for high traffic and play areas. It has excellent durability in yards with dogs. Once established, it is highly weed resistant, deep rooted and provides a soft, cushioned feel for bare feet.
The grass itself “produces an extensive system of creeping rhizomes and stolons commonly called runner roots that often have a scaly appearance. It also produces fibrous roots at the stem nodes. Bermuda grass reproduces through seed and vegetatively through rhizomes and stolons,” according to NMSU, allowing it to spread with just a little bit of water, around 20” a year. I find that it rarely needs mowing because of the traffic we give it. I mow it about twice a summer to the highest setting my mower goes around 4”.
Bermuda grass plugs.
The data on this grass comes from NMSU, which has turf study sites in Las Cruces and Farmington. A few key points from their study sites mentions that “Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is similar to Kentucky bluegrass in its tolerance to traffic and turfgrass recuperative capabilities after stress or damage, but it appeared to be more aggressive than Kentucky bluegrass during hot weather in mid-summer.” NMSU evaluated five different varieties of bermudagrass, Guymon, Riviera, Wrangler, and Yukon, at both their northern NM and southern NM sites. “Riviera was given higher quality ratings than the other varieties due to finer leaf blades. Being a warm-season grass, the bermudagrasses required less irrigation to exhibit a quality comparable to the cool-season grasses.”
The shocking reason homeowners don’t like Bermuda grass is that it can become a troublesome weed, especially in southern NM, so it is wise to separate this grass from garden areas with a dry, unirrigated buffer strip, concrete mow strip at least 8”x 8” or other barrier. I like to design a concrete walk, patio or edger around these grass areas.
Grass lawn framed by concrete walk.
When placed strategically in a landscape this water friendly, high traffic, low mow grass is a winner in my book.
Author: Jill Brown, ASLA Landscape Architect and owner of My Landscape Coach in Albuquerque. Even more resources about turfgrasses can be found over at NMSU, one of our nations top university turfgrass science programs. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
Your new xeric plants are in, and everything is looking good. What do you need to do to keep it that way? Start by looking at your irrigation controller. It may be programmed to apply water too frequently and/or for too long in order to get the plants started. If you hired a contractor, they may have set the controller to water every day because it’s easier than getting a call about a plant that doesn’t look great.
Many desert-friendly plants and trees evolved to survive on very little precipitation but also to make the most of abundant rainfall when it does happen. They’ll store the water in their roots or grow larger (and produce more seed for dry years) than they would with only adequate water. A xeriscaped yard doesn’t automatically “save” water — it is up to the homeowner to do the actual water saving by adjusting their irrigation controller. My dog would be “happier” if I fed her as much as she wanted, but it’s wasteful (among other things) to do so. Watering your desert-friendly plants too much may cause them to outgrow the space they were designed for, which might mean pruning them more than they need so they don’t grow against the house or over a path or outcompete other plants. Overwatering also creates lush, tender growth that is more attractive to pests and susceptible to frost damage.
A recent study in Arizona found that xeriscaped yards didn’t have reduced water usage because the homeowners applied the same amount of water as they would for a traditional yard with a lawn and non-natives.
Here are steps you can take to make sure you’re watering correctly for your new landscape and keeping your plants healthy:
Reduce the number of emitters if needed: The best way to do this is by cutting off the drip emitter and installing a “goof” plug in the end of the ¼ inch tubing. This is preferable to trying to pull the ¼” coupler out from the larger line, which creates a larger hole that can’t be easily plugged.
Check your irrigation controller: You’ll want to keep the soil moist around the newly installed perennials, shrubs and trees for the first week, and that might mean watering every day if it’s above 90 degrees. After the first week, switch to watering every other day. Then on week three, switch to twice a week. Exceptions would be for cacti, which I would soak once when planting and then water once a week for the first month before tapering off to once or twice a month until established. (Perennials / grasses - 8-10 weeks, Shrubs - 1 year, Trees - 1-3 years.)
Check that drip emitters are working properly, especially if a plant looks wilted: Drip emitters often get clogged after a repair is made in the larger ½” or ¾” poly tubing. If you’re using “flag”-shaped emitters and one is not flowing, you’ll want to grasp the body of the emitter while you turn the top “flag” shape counterclockwise 90 degrees to allow the top to separate from the rest. You should do this while the zone is running so that you can see if any emitters aren’t working and so that the water pressure can clear the clog. Once you’ve twisted off the top, you should have a strong flowing stream of water coming out. Hold your finger over the water stream, forcing it into the drip outlet, which clears the clog.
If you’re using “button”-shaped emitters and one is clogged, you’ll need to cut it off and replace it. Don’t try to pull it off the ¼” tubing, just cut it off and plug in a new one so that the barbed insert has fresh (not stretched out) tubing to fit into.
Keep up with plant growth: As your desert-friendly plants grow larger, you can move the emitters farther away from the base of the plant and add new ones if needed; larger plants require more water. There are several ways to do this. You can poke a new hole in the nearby larger poly tubing, insert a ¼” coupler, run an additional ¼” line to the plant and add an emitter. However, if the main poly line is more than a couple of feet away, install a ¼” “T” in the spaghetti tubing and go from there. It saves time and means fewer holes in the main poly line. Remember, when installing ¼” couplers into the main poly, always poke the hole in the side, not the top; that way if you step on them by accident, they won’t break off. Also, if your plants are on a slope, the emitter should be on the uphill side, so water flowing downhill will cover more of the root zone. Check that water wells are still in place and holding water around the plant.
Inspect your trees: Check the leaves for any insect damage and the underside of leaves for insect infestations. Also make sure the mulch or gravel isn’t covering up any of the tree trunk above the root flare, which traps moisture that can cause decay or rot. Particularly in fruit trees, this can also allow detrimental insects access to the trunk where they could bore into it.
Check the soil around the base of your plants: Often during initial watering, the soil will settle into the planting hole and can expose the root ball, which causes it to dry out quickly. If you observe or suspect this, kneel in front of the plants, move the mulch out of the way and scrape the surrounding soil back around the plant to cover up the root ball. Then replace the mulch and reposition the drip emitter as necessary.
Learn the common or scientific names of your plants: If you don’t have a list, plant tags or a detailed landscape plan, some newer smart phones have a plant identifier built into the camera app (no need to remember the app store password and download another app). The closer you can get to the plant — showing leaves, branch shapes and flowers (if any) — the better the app will work. The phone (as we all know) can be wrong, but it will give you a place to start. Alternatively, send an email with photos to askanexpert@abcwua.org and we can help you identify
Once you know the plant names you can look them up in our xeriscape guide to reacquaint yourself with their water needs and mature sizes. Need help remembering the plant names? Often the plants themselves can tell you. Is it a catmint? Rub the leaves and smell the minty aroma. Turpentine bush? Lemony pine smell, for sure. Maybe it’s the shape of the leaves. Fernbush? Examine the leaves closely and see how they resemble an actual fern from a rainier climate.
