Landscape and Irrigation is read by decision makers throughout the landscape and irrigation markets — including contractors, landscape architects, professional grounds managers, and irrigation and water mgmt companies and reaches the entire spetrum.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/32573
roadways. Ensuring proper coverage early in the year reduces water consumption and saves money for the homeowner or homeowners’ association. It is also during a coverage check that you can spot clogged nozzles or riser seals that have deteriorated and are now leaking during operation. You can see what the sprin- kler is actually doing — and you probably will not get another chance to see the head operating again all season. If you have to go back to check a sprinkler’s performance later in the year, it is usually because there is now a problem in the landscape related to the sprinkler’s performance (i.e., plant materials that have died due to lack of water, large dry spots in the turf because of poor per- formance, etc.). The initial system check-up can save maintenance costs from escalating later in the year. 2. Use base irrigation schedules A proper “base” irrigation schedule is a basic irrigation schedule that takes into account several factors for irrigating a landscape. It should take into account the plant material to be irrigated and its inherent water needs. Base schedules should be calculated for each individual “hydrozone” (a group of plants that have similar water requirements). A base schedule should take into account local weather patterns and any microclimate factors that could affect plant water needs. A base irrigation schedule takes into account the depth of the rootzone, the type of soil, the water-holding capacity of the soil and its infiltration rate, etc. A proper irrigation schedule is a science-based calculation that tells you how much water a par- ticular zone needs. Once a base schedule is developed for each zone or station, it should be entered into the controller and act as the basic or “default” management schedule. 3. “Optimize” your irrigation schedules Optimum irrigation schedules take into account things like rapid weather changes, compacted soils in some locations, or heavy thatch levels. An “optimized” schedule is one that has been tweaked to take into account something unique to that particular zone or system. Although measuring soil compaction and soil in- filtration rates is costly and time consuming, it affords a much higher level of scheduling accuracy. Setting a base schedule and then just leaving it is like having a Ferrari and just going to the grocery store in it — it never gets out of second gear. An “opti- mized” schedule is custom tailored to each zone, and is adjusted daily if possible. “Optimizing” irrigation schedules allows you to minutely adjust water delivered through the irrigation system to This irrigation schedule keeps the roadway clean! — Photos by Dennis McKernan perfectly mirror the plants’ water needs in your landscape. As the weather changes day to day, so does the irrigation schedule. 4. Embrace new irrigation technology Very few areas of life today are becoming simpler and easier as time goes by. But new irrigation technology, particularly con- trollers, continues to get easier and simpler in operation than ever before. There really is little or no point in “optimizing” base schedules if we are still using older electro-mechanical controllers. New-generation controllers greatly aid in water-conserving efforts by offering much more flexible scheduling options and, truth be told, are significantly cheaper to buy and install than to fix out- dated controllers. New irrigation nozzles have better distribution uniformity characteristics than older standard nozzles. Newer irri- gation valves deal with dirty water conditions better than older valves have, and now give us the option of regulating pressure at the valve for the whole zone. Newer irrigation technology makes our life easier while we save water use. tion year less problematic and more profitable. Dennis McKernan, CID, CGIA, CLIA, is an irrigation designer and consultant, based in Olds, Alberta, Canada. He is a regional authorized instructor for the Irrigation Association and can be reached at lifeworks@telus.net. These tips should help you stay focused on making your irriga- LI www.landscapeirrigation.com Landscape and Irrigation 17