Irrigation Thought 101:

May:

Question: In order to irrigate one acre of land with 1" of water, how much water do you need?

Answer: Roughly 27,154.3 gallons of water to achieve the equivalent of 1 inch of water on one acre of land. Now, granted the average home in this area is sitting on a half acre of land minus the home, patio, driveway and other things. But it gives you an idea of how many 1,000’s of gallons of water can be saved a week by someone whom is water smart.

Automatic Lawn Sprinklers (Irrigation) is a great tool in keeping your lawn or garden in peak condition. In April I talked about some basic watering concepts. I would like to continue with going over different types of sprinkler heads. The two most common types of sprinkler heads are the spray and rotor. The spray head is design for smaller areas of 17ft or smaller, such as tree lawns, side of driveways or homes and flowerbeds. The spray head puts out a fan of water and can saturate a small area in a short period of time. Turf rotors are design for the larger areas and when operating the pattern is a stream of water and the head will oscillate back and forth to the desired pattern. Since the turf rotor and spray head distribute water at different rates (sprays distribute water at a higher rate) you do not want a spray and rotor type head on the same zone. If you do have sprays and rotors on the same zone and notice a heavier saturation in the area of the spray heads they do have new technology that can help solve this problem (MP rotator or Rain Bird Rotary nozzle) the new technology distributes the water at a slower rate and will closer match the precipitation rates of turf rotors. This new technology may also be helpful for a homeowner that may have a zone of sprays with some of them in full sun and some in a shaded area. By using this technology on the shaded area you will allow the heads in full sun to put down more water then the area in shade. If you have a similar problem with a zone of turf rotors, you can just down size the nozzles on the heads in the shaded area to reduce the amount of water. The best irrigation system is one that nobody even realizes is there, besides seeing the lush lawn. Submit any questions to Bob: info@rilawnsprinklers.com