Switched to watering deeply and infrequently
uscjusto
10 years ago
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dchall_san_antonio
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Watering basics
Comments (27)I made some soakers out of old garden hoses by running a small drill thru it every 6in. These were to use on my rain barrels which have virtually no water pressure to work with store bought soakers. I also use 3gal. buckets with 4 small holes drilled in the bottom-sides. I just fill the buckets then let it seep into the soil. I like this cuz I can tell how much water I am putting down. Plus I can move the buckets to another area. Remember the roots grow out away from where the plants go into the soil; many 4ft or more is where they feed. So it could very well be out in your walkway where they are feeding. fwiw - I know if my tomatoes split due to rain that "I" have NOT been giving them the amount of water they 'want'. I started using the bucket method just to deeply water my tomatoes. I don't dig into the soil, damaging the roots. I just place the bucket on top or in a slight recess dug early in the season. HTH, GumbyCT...See MoreWatering - conflicting ideas?
Comments (4)No conflict at all. RB is using theory out of a book. Dave and myself work in the real world of application. In the real world you only water your grass when it needs it. It will tell you when it needs it. Just like when your mouth gets dry and you need a drink. When that happens you give it a good deep soaking. Or you can throw a book at it and HOPE....See MoreSwitching from frequent watering to deep & infrequent
Comments (2)I posted a response to a similar question that you might find useful. Here's the link...See MoreDeep Infrequent Watering or Follow Rain Bird?
Comments (7)Posted by SaveH2O (My Page) on Thu, Jun 6, 13 at 14:28 pb, Lehua actually hit a couple of good points. "frequency" and "duration" are on a much longer scale than minutes and days... the Rain Bird smart controller actually waters deeply and less frequently, the "cycle & soak" feature you mention only splits the irrigation cycle into chunks to ensure that on the day the controller is supposed to water all of the water actually reaches the roots and doesn't run off. I am still trying to figure the 'cycle & soak' options out a bit. So while I have not investigated what type of soil I have (looks like sticky reddish clay from visual inspection) - the C&S setting seems pretty straight forward. Unfortunately, it seems to split the watering for each zone over several days and so many minutes. It seems counter intuitive to the age old adage of deep/infrequent to attain root growth & minimize weeds. Many professional irrigation contractors without the use of a smart controller emulate this by using multiple start times on a controller hence using the watering day more efficiently. Once the desired amount of water is applied (five times in a day for clay and maybe once for sand) the smart controller will wait until the soil has been depleted to a certain extent before applying any more water. I understand what you are trying to say & it appears to alleviate some of my watering frequency fears, I may actually have to get a soil test to properly input the necessary control parameters. So the irrigation frequency is really the time between watering days and not the time between "starts" on any given day. The great benefit of a smart controller like the Rain Bird is that it will vary both run time (on a watering day) and frequency (based on weather) additionally, the Rain Bird controller measures rain whereas other sensors simply shut off and not calculate how much of that rain was usable to your landscape.. I've noticed that my clay inputs, root depth & coverage setting for grass, shrubs, trees, or plants using the sprays & rotors have yield different watering times but not frequency. ie. times can be go up or down because of type of foliage, root depth & slope assumptions but I cant for the life of me tell how the RB accounts for frequency except that it doesn't water after rainy days. I would heavily discourage you from switching to timed option. The controller is actually watering "Deep and Infrequent" the multiple starts in the day should not be considered as part of the frequency they are just preventing you from wasting water due to run-off. Thank you very much for your insightful feedback. I am really trying make sure that I am using water only when needed to maintain a healthy & vibrant lawn. The RB is my first sprinkler controller & one that is very powerful from what I can see to help me in that purpose. But the lack of information from the RB, the irrigation installer & the landscaper that laid the sod down has gotten me a bit frustrated & I appreciate any & all feedback!...See Moredchall_san_antonio
10 years agouscjusto
10 years agouscjusto
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10 years agodchall_san_antonio
10 years ago
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uscjustoOriginal Author