Don’t be spooked by your irrigation controller. There’s an easy switch that can save you water and money.
It’s finally October and while afternoons haven’t cooled off much yet, days are getting shorter, the nights longer and overall plant stress is decreasing as dormant season approaches.
And that means you want to check the settings on your irrigation controller, even if it’s way back in the garage. Because as frightening as all the dust and spiders out there can be, even more terrifying is the fact that a typical irrigation system can use 10 to 30 gallons of water per minute. Eek!
Now is the time to conquer your fear of the irrigation controller and save water by getting to know the seasonal adjust feature.
With it, you can adjust your basic run time based on an easy percentage — without having to remember all the specifics of the individual sprinkler zones. For example, if you have a zone set to run for 10 minutes and reduce the seasonal percentage from 100% to 70%, the run time on that zone will decrease from 10 minutes to seven minutes. And all the other run times on that program will adjust as well.
Some controllers allow you to pre-program seasonal adjust in advance for each month, so the controller adjusts the percentage automatically for you — thus saving you a trip to the controller. As always, before making changes, the best way to get to know your sprinkler system is by checking your owner’s manual. Some controllers may have slightly different settings when it comes to seasonal adjust.
October is typically the beginning of “seasonal adjust” season in San Antonio and by November it can be set to 40% or lower. Even better — shut off your irrigation system completely and run it manually in winter, once per month if there’s been no rain. Your landscape is preparing for dormancy now anyway.
SAWS offers residential customers free irrigation consultations. Call 210-704-SAVE to schedule your appointment and one of our conservation consultants can help you with seasonal adjust recommendations or other irrigation settings that can benefit your landscape and wallet.
The terrifying walk to your irrigation box will be no more.
