Take Control of Your Irrigation Controller

• Sharpen your lawnmower blades annually to prevent frayed ends. Like your hair, healthy lawns need a sharp cut.
  
  
• Maintain a lawn height of four inches; tall turf helps shade the roots reducing evaporation, and prolonging the time between watering.
  
  
• Deep watering encourages grass roots to grow deeper into the soil. Deep roots mean the lawn will be less affected by surface drying.
  
  
• Aeration increases water and oxygen absorption in the root zone, promoting deeper and healthier grass roots. Once a year in the spring or fall have your lawns aerated. (Many local landscapers offer this service, or you can rent power aerators at local rental yards.)
  
  
• Dethatching, the removal of dead stems and blades beneath the green surface of the lawn, can be achieved manually with a stiff metal rake, or you can rent power dethatchers from a local rental yard. Monitor the lawn for thatch, like a “thatch” roof on a house, excessive thatch in your lawn prevents water and fertilizer from reaching the soil. ( back to top)
  

When programmed correctly, irrigation controllers are an efficient tool for saving water, time, and money. Unfortunately, most irrigation controllers simply get turned on in the spring and turned off in the fall, rather than being adjusted to match varying weather conditions.

A simple way to improve irrigation efficiency with your controller is to adjust the number of watering days, up or down, as the weather changes, rather than adjusting watering duration or cycle.  For example, in the spring, water one or two days a week using a watering duration that achieves adequate moisture without runoff.  As the days get hotter and watering needs increase, gradually increase the number of days you water each week. You can expect the number of watering days to peak in late July and early August, Atascadero’s hottest months.  Then, as the days begin to cool and shorten, begin reducing the number of watering days each week.  It’s that simple!  There’s no need for a complete reprogramming of your controller to adjust to changing irrigation needs.

Remember, irrigation controllers without rain sensors or soil moisture meters will water your landscape even when it is raining or the ground is saturated!  If rain is in the weekly forecast identify the landscape’s need for water, spot water if necessary, and turn your controller to the Rain Pause or System Off position.
 
Identify your irrigation controller. The manufacturer and model name will be on the controller door or the face of the controller. If you no longer have the instruction manual, sufficient instructions are often available on the inside door of the controller box. Irrigation suppliers have developed user-friendly websites with instruction manuals available to download or print.  

Use the 1-800 numbers on the controller or in the instruction manual for help. Most manufacturers have a phone line for homeowner questions, and often they will walk you through programming your controller. Many irrigation suppliers have online step-by-step programs to familiarize you with how to program your controller.

Replace the backup battery inside the controller once a year. Even if your irrigation controller is hardwired, the controller will reprogram to the manufacturer’s setting in a power outage. The manufacturer’s setting is often to water seven days a week, ten minutes per station (valve). Most irrigation controllers use a standard 9-volt battery.

Understand the terminology on your controller.
Programming your irrigation controller can be broken up into four key components; Programs, Watering Days, Start Times, and Watering Time.

• Use Programs A, B, or C for optimum water efficiency by separating the water requirement of plants and the irrigation type
  
  Example: Program A – Lawn with rotor sprinklers
                 Program B – Medium-water shrubs with pop-up sprinklers
                 Program C - Low water plants with drip irrigation
  
  
• Watering Days is the amount of days you want your controller to irrigate the lawn. Watering Days should be adjusted on a monthly to weekly basis. Most controllers allow you to select specific days to irrigate. For example if you mow the lawn on Saturday mornings, you would not want the lawn to be watered that morning. Interval Watering Days is a little more tricky; interval can be referred to as every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 days. One day would be every day, while 7 days would be once a week. The concept of Odd or Even Water Days was created in response to water purveyors’ needs to reduce the daily peak demand on water systems during drought stages.
  
  
• Start Times are used for “Cycling,” which is an extremely efficient way to avoid “Run Off” and achieve deep watering in compacted or clay soils and on slopes. The most generic way to explain cycling is to divide your normal watering time into two or three separate run times; this allows more time for the water to soak into the soil instead of it running off. All the stations/valves on one program will have the same amount of start times. Important Note: Drip irrigation will always only have one start time.
  
  
•  Watering Time is the duration of time a particular station/valve is going to irrigate for at each start time.
  
  
  Irrigation Controllers for the Homeowner Brochure