Tips from the Pros

If it’s new landscaping watering the correct way is very important. Brummel Lawn will water plants when planted, but after that the responsibility goes to the owner. There are three different ways to get it watered; irrigation spray heads, irrigation drip lines and hand watering. Below you will read the pros and cons of each. We will also address how long you should be running the water.

Irrigation Spray Heads

We normally have irrigation spray heads set up to run three times a week for 10 minutes. If it’s the heat of the summer we will increase to four times a week. With existing landscaping, in the spring we tell people they won’t need to water. However, in the heat of the summer one good soaking a week for about 10-15 minutes would be best and will also help concrete foundations. The pros to the spray heads are that you can see the water and see the coverage that it is giving to the plants. With spray heads it will also water areas other than just where the plants are located. For foundations that can be a good thing with hot dry summers or if you decide to add more plants it will also be easier to just adjust a head then move drip lines. A con is that if you water everything it can possibly cause a weed problem in mulch beds and some rock beds.

Irrigation Drip Lines

Normally we set drip line systems or zones to run two times per week for 45-60 minutes, with the heat of the summer you could increase to three times a week. For existing landscaping once a week during the peak of the summer will maintain your plants. This might seem like a lot of time, however the water drip is very slow coming out of the line which allows the soil/plant to soak in the water. With drip lines you are able to target just the plant that you want to water and even loop the line around the root system of the plant. With drip lines you don’t have as much of an issue to over watering areas that you don’t want to or run off. The few drawbacks of drip lines are you can’t see the water. This can be a problem, because you can’t tell if the plants are not getting water as well as if there is a leak and just flooding the area. The other issue is if you add plants, then the drip lines have to be expanded or re-routed. On the flip side if the line is run around a plant that you want to remove the drip line from you have to figure out a way to make sure the line continues.

Hand Watering

This is the simplest way and a great way to make sure it gets done correctly. With new plants a simple 10 count per plant is about perfect, again this would need to be done about three times per week and four times in the heat of the summer. With regard to trees 15-20 count is recommended. The down fall to not having an automatic system is we all get busy and can forget to water plants until it’s too late and the plants are gone.
All three ways of watering will work, but even with the auto system, checking plants to make sure they are not getting over-watered is important as well. More plants die because of over-watering than under-watering and will drown as the roots can’t get air to allow the plant to breath.