Efficient lawn watering has never been more important than it is today due to the water restrictions in place for most Utah cities. When our lawns are watered, we want to be sure that the water is reaching the root zone and eliminating run-off. Blake Moore, President of Moore Green recommends ‘Water Cycling’ to achieve this.
Water Cycling, simply put, is watering for shorter time periods but doing multiple ‘cycles’ back-to-back to allow gravity to pull water into the soil, virtually eliminating run-off. For example, let’s say that your system is watering a zone for 30 minutes. We would divide this into 3 cycles of 10 minutes each and space each cycle an hour apart. “Out of a 30 minute cycle it’s not uncommon to see the soil only take 10 minutes of watering and losing the other 20 minutes due to the clay content in our Utah soils. By watering 3 cycles of 10 minutes each, the soil has time to soak up the entire 30 minutes,” Moore says.
It’s important to know how much water your system is putting out in a given time period. This will help you know for how many minutes you should set each zone. Using the chart* will help you determine how many minutes you need to set each zone. Moore says, “This chart establishes a starting point. Every lawn is different because of soil type, slope, and sun exposure. But knowing where to start gets you going in the right direction”.
Those who take the time to know their irrigation system and use the Water Cycling method tend to have greener lawns and can go more days between watering. For those who don’t have secondary water may also see a lower water bill. Call the Moore Green office for more information.
Chart:
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DETERMINE YOUR LAWN WATERING NEEDS -- For each Zone
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1.
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Set 3 or more flat bottom cans or coffee mugs at various places on your lawn at least 4 feet from sprinkler head(s).
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2.
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Turn on your sprinkler(s) for 15 minutes.
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3.
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Measure the depth of water in each can with a ruler and determine the average water depth in the cans.
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4.
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Match your sprinkler output with table below. Then water the number of minutes indicated.
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Water Depth in Cans
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1/8"
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3/16"
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1/4"
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5/16"
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3/8"
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1/2"
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5/8"
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3/4"
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1"
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SEASON
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Watering Time in Minutes
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Spring every 4 days
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52
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34
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26
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20
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17
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13
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10
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9
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6
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Summer every 3 days
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104
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69
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52
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41
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35
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26
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21
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17
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13
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Fall every 3 days
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69
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51
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39
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31
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26
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19
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15
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13
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10
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