I got this info from this site. Hope it helps... water 15-20 minutes twice a day for two weeks water 20-30 minutes once a day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day every other day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day twice a week for one week move into deep irrigation, increasing the time to provide 1 inch of water all over and decreasing the frequency to just once a week. Starting off, the schedule supplies roughly 1/4 inch of water, then increases that amount while decreasing frequency of application at the same time. Like practically everything that concerns lawn care, this schedule is a general guideline and should be modified to accommodate your specific conditions. The lengths of time should be modified if you have an automatic sprinkler system since that will not take as long to provide adequate moisture. So, decrease amount of water (time) but maintain frequency as is. The tuna cans test is recommended. If it is still especially warm, you may want to irrigate 3 times a day (10-15 minutes if necessary) for that first couple weeks. Your objective is to keep the upper 1 inch of soil moist and not let the seeds dry out.

Hope this is still active. I have my sprinkler system controller in my garage. I have valves for the front yard sprinklers and valves for the back. My controller will still turn on front yard sprinklers, but not the backyard. It usedan to wor fine. The connections seem tight at the controller. Don't see any loose connections by the valves though it is somewhat complex looking at there. The valves will turn on the sprinklers if turned manually. How can I check for loose connections versus wire shortages. Not sure if relevant, but we (gardener) did change front yard sprinkler stations prior to the backyard issue started. But I can't remember if the backyard sprinklers were working after that for a short period of time or not. Thanks for any help.

Jeremy, Hopefully, the guys who installed the sprinkler system for you, put in a quick and easy to access, method to turn off the main to the system, and then to drain out the water that's stored between there and the sprinkler valves, and in the backflow device. Assuming that's true, then you should be good to turn it on FOR A FEW HOURS ONLY, any time now. BUT... You MUST drain the water back out of the backflow valve etc. immediately after you finish watering. If you don't do it right after the sprinklers finish, every time, then you will forget about it, and a couple days later you will wake up in the morning to the sound of running water. Like me, you will wonder who woke up early enough to already be in the shower. Then later when you wake again, you'll realize the water is still running. Then you'll lay there and wonder...just where is that water running? Sooner or later you'll discover you have a new 10 foot fountain in your front yard. And it has a great big pool underneath it. If you're particularly unlucky, the back flow device is right near the basement window well, and your basement is flooding. Then, once you get the water turned off, you'll find out those 2 or 3 cute little plastic parts in that backflow device cost about 100 bucks if you buy and install them yourself, or I imagine twice that if you have someone else install them. Actually, it was my buddy whose basement flooded, and had the fountain. My backflow is pretty far from the house, and both times I messed up and forgot to drain it, it didn't actually do a fountain it just leaked out enough water to make the yard really muddy for a few days. Depending on weather and snow fall, I usually turn mine on, and water, and then drain it again several times each spring. I never turn it on and leave it on until Mother's Day, and even then, I keep a sharp eye on the weather, and I go cover up the back flow device with some thick blankets if we get a frost warning. Denver last frost is about the same as Fort Collins, so Mothers Day is probably a sensible date for you to go by also. Bruce

If your emitters are failing: 1. Keep your drip heads above your mulch to keep the dirt out. 2. If it is a new system, flush the lines before installing the dripper heads. I have installed about 1000' of 1/2" tubing and another 1500' of 1/4" tubing to my approximately 800 dripper heads. A rather large system on four zones. Three years ago (first year), I had two dozen or so failures, but I didn't keep the heads off the ground. Now I do, and failures do not occur. Then again, I also switched manufacturers for the replacements, but the original ones not replaced are still doing fine. I use 1/2, 1, and 2 gph drippers, they all work equally well. I also had used a soaker hose, the 1/4" kind with a hole every foot or so. NOT!!! The holes clog and was totally ineffectual. I pulled almost all of it out, I have a few sections that are still working, but they are only watering very xeric plants that get enough water if even 2/3 of the holes were clogged. My system uses cistern water (10,000 gal tank buried in the front yard, water pulled out with a shallow-well pump), so hardness isn't a problem. The pump puts out 30-60 psi, I do not reduce it, and the only time an emitter has blown off it has been because of operator error. If you are using well water, then you may be getting sand and junk inside your lines clogging your emitters. Install a filter and you should be in business. Incidentally, I live at 7000' just east of Albuquerque, and the area around my house looks like a dense jungle of nothing but native plants with penstemons (at least 8 varieties), coneflower, chocolate flower, hyssops, yarrow, yucca, golden currant, sand cherry, salvias, thymes (non-native, but I wanted the groundcover), sumacs, and at least 20 other native species, all irrigated by emitters. Wouldn't do it any other way! Scott