Water is one of the most important substances on earth—and all plants must have it to survive. Without water, your lawn and landscape simply cannot perform their best. Your Texas lawn may start to yellow and your plants may start to die if you don't maintain your irrigation system.
If having a great-looking property is important to you, then you probably realize that you should pay closer attention to your lawn and landscape's watering needs.
Here are 5 tips to maintaining an irrigation system in Texas.
Do you have the proper irrigation heads for the proper area of your landscape? You might not realize it, but different sprinkler heads are going to feed water to your landscape in different ways—and that’s important. While your lawn might benefit most from a spray head, because of the even application it will provide, your flower beds might benefit more from a pop-up head.
The last thing that you want is to end up with too much water in your flower beds and not enough in your turf—or vice versa. It’s important that the different areas of your landscape, including your lawn, are getting exactly what they need. After all, overwatering can be just as much a problem as under-watering as it can lead to disease or can literally drown your plants’ roots.
An irrigation inspection can determine if your property is being watered properly or if changes need to be made.
Just as you need the right equipment to support your property’s specific needs, the placement of that equipment is important, as well. You want to make sure that you’re not watering your patio, your driveway, or your street and that all of the water is ending up on your property where it’s needed.
Of course, you also want to make sure that there is an optimal distance between irrigation spray heads (called proper “head-to-head placement”). A lot of times we find that heads are either too close and the property is being overwatered or they are too far apart, and the property is being under-watered. Neither is ideal. Again, an irrigation inspection can determine if changes are necessary.
A lot of people don’t realize what an important role timing plays in proper irrigation. Not only how long you water but also when you water matters. Ideally, the lawn should be watered just before sunrise. This will give it time to soak in before the sun begins to cause evaporation. On the flip side, lawn watering in the evening can actually leave your grass prone to fungal growth.
How long lawn watering is performed is also important. Turf areas require a minimum of one to two inches of water per week during the growing season. Achieving that amount will differ from property to property. In other words, exactly how long your system needs to run will depend upon what irrigation system you have.
One way that landscapes suddenly start underperforming is that irrigation needs are not reassessed as the landscape evolves. The irrigation set-up that you’ve had might have worked fine when your landscape was young but now its needs have changed. Maybe you’ve added plant beds or your shrubs have grown and their needs have changed. A landscape is an evolving thing and its needs can change over time.
This makes irrigation maintenance important. An inspection can help determine if you have new or changing needs that your system is not currently addressing.
Since we often perform enhancement work, such as installing plant beds, it’s not uncommon for us to retrofit an existing system to accommodate the new installations. However, not all landscaping companies are proactive. Those that install a new plant bed but fail to think about how it will change the property’s irrigation needs are potentially setting you up for failure as the bed will never perform optimally.
If you’re still operating an older irrigation system, you might want to consider an upgrade. Irrigation technology has come a long way.
For instance, smart controls allow you to monitor and control your system from a smart device, such as a phone or tablet, so that you can make real-time and easy changes.
In addition, rain and freeze sensors, which we can install as a package, can detect when weather conditions might warrant a change in your typical irrigation schedule. Upgrading an existing system can save you both aggravation and money.
If you suspect your irrigation system could be performing better, and you’ve conducted an online search for irrigation repair services in North Texas, then you know your choices in companies is varied. But you want to be sure that you choose an irrigation company that truly understands your property’s needs so that it can continue to perform it’s very best.
It’s important that you choose wisely when it comes to hiring a company. The last thing that you want is to hire a company for its irrigation maintenance services but continue to get poor results. Then you’re back to the drawing board with choosing a company and you’ve lost time in getting your landscape back on track. You’re willing to make the investment—now you deserve to have the fantastic lawn and landscape that you desire.
We understand that you don’t have the time to be worrying about the nuances related to irrigation systems and how to get yours to perform its best. You just want to be able to choose a company that knows their stuff and can get you the best possible results for your investment. By choosing this package, you can let go of the worries associated with your landscape, including its watering needs, and get back to just enjoying your property to the fullest.
Stop worrying about your irrigation needs and leave it up to a pro who knows exactly what your Northern Texas property needs. Get a Free Quote, then you can enjoy the best lawn on the block!