Your Fall Sprinkler Check: Three Things to Look At Before Winter
Most sprinkler controllers in North Texas are still running the schedule somebody set back in June. Nobody did anything wrong. The run times got set when it was 100 degrees out, and once a system is working, nobody wants to touch it.
The trouble is that your lawn has changed and the controller hasn't. Bermuda and St. Augustine slow way down once the nights cool off, and a lot of the water that kept them alive in August is now just sitting in the clay. Here's the fall check I'd run on any system. It takes about twenty minutes and a walk around the yard.
Why Your Lawn Needs Less Water Now
Warm-season grass uses water to grow, and in fall it isn't growing much. Texas A&M AgriLife puts fall water needs at roughly half to three quarters of what the same lawn needed in summer. Once daytime highs are staying under 70, their advice is to stop running the system on a set schedule and water only when it's been dry.
Too much water this time of year does more than run up the bill. Cool, wet soil is exactly what large patch and take-all root rot like, and both are a lot easier to prevent than to fix.
The Three-Part Fall Check
Start at the controller and run each zone manually, one at a time. Walk the yard while each one runs, and keep watching after it shuts off. You're looking for three things.
Zones That Keep Running
Every zone should stop when its time is up. If one keeps going after the controller moves on, or water is flowing when nothing is scheduled at all, a valve isn't closing all the way. Grit caught in the valve or a worn diaphragm are the usual causes.
To narrow it down, turn the controller off. If the water stops, the problem is in the controller or its wiring. If it keeps flowing with the controller off, it's the valve, and that's a sprinkler repair job. Until it's fixed, close your irrigation shut-off. If you're not sure where that is, here's how to find your sprinkler shut-off valve.
If you've got the opposite problem, a zone that won't come on at all, I walk through that in why one sprinkler zone stops working.
Heads That Keep Trickling
After a zone shuts off, keep an eye on the lowest heads in it. A little water bubbling out for a minute or two is normal. That's just the pipe draining downhill to its lowest point.
A head that keeps weeping well after that, or a soggy spot that never dries out, is different.
It usually means a valve is letting a little water through when it's supposed to be closed. On a sloped yard, the lowest head can also drain the whole zone every time it runs, and a check valve in that head stops it. Either way, that slow leak adds up over a month and keeps the low corner of the yard wet right when you want it dry.
A Schedule That Still Thinks It's Summer
This is the one that matters most. Look at how many minutes each zone gets and how many days a week the system runs. If nothing has changed since summer, it's time.
Most newer controllers have a seasonal adjust setting, sometimes called water budget, that turns every zone up or down by a percentage.
Fall is a good time to bring it down to somewhere between 50 and 75 percent and see how the lawn responds. If your controller doesn't have that setting, shorten each zone by hand.
If you're in Lewisville, you're still on the same two days a week we covered back in August. The 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. limit ended September 30, but early morning is still the best time to run. Other cities in our area set their own rules, so check yours before you change watering days.
Before You Walk Away From the Controller
While you're standing there, check that the rain and freeze sensor is still connected. A system that runs on a frozen morning puts a sheet of ice across the sidewalk. And once the grass goes dormant, you may not need the system on a schedule at all.
What to do with the system for winter, and how to protect the backflow before the first freeze, is all in do you need to winterize your sprinkler system in North Texas?
Want Us to Do It?
If you find a zone that won't shut off, a head that won't stop draining, or a controller you can't make sense of, that's what we do. Our sprinkler and irrigation crew can fix it and set the schedule for the season in the same visit. Get a quote and we'll come take a look.
Rob Dilts
Owner
RD Services
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