Does my Dallas lawn have to look bad during water restrictions?

Most cities in the Dallas area are implementing water restrictions this month. While everyone assumes their lawns and landscapes will suffer, for most people that’s simply not true. The number of days you water per week has very little to do with the health of your lawn. The number of minutes you are watering is far more important.

Sprinkler repair specialists say during 100 degree days your soil loses roughly an inch of water per week in full sun and it takes roughly 60 minutes for spray heads to put out an inch of water (double that for rotors). It doesn’t matter very much whether you spread that out over several days or just one as long as you get to that magic 60 minutes.

A few years ago the city of Plano instituted a one day per week water restriction. I heard more people talking about how much damage their lawn and landscape suffered that year yet my customer’s lawns had very few problems. What was the secret? We set their controllers to water three times in the morning and three times in the evening for ten minutes for a total of 60 minutes (watering more than 10 minutes at a time causes runoff). The water restrictions were honored and the lawn and landscapes looked fine. Most cities this year have gone to a two day per week watering schedule which is even easier – three start times, 10 minutes each on the two days you’re allowed to water. With smart watering you don’t need to stress over water restrictions and neither does your landscape.

As always, if you need help figuring out how to set your controller or repairing your sprinkler system, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

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