Keeping Your Baton Rouge Lawn’s Irrigation System in Check with an Irrigation Assessment

If your home or business has an irrigation system to keep your lawn and landscaping healthy during the spring, summer, and warm autumn months, now is the time to get them ready to get back in action. In order to conserve the amount of water that your property uses, and to efficiently and effectively give your grass and flowerbeds the hydration they need, it is important to have an annual irrigation assessment. As your lawn’s sprinkler system has been dormant during the colder winter months, having a professional assessment performed before the growing months is a great idea. But what does an irrigation assessment include?

Irrigation Assessments for Your Lawn

Your irrigation system should be designed for the look, layout, and needs of your green space. During an assessment, the different zones of your lawn can be checked to determine pressure, water output, and coverage. It is important to identify dry areas and pooling areas so that adjustments can be made to add water or prevent the waste of water unnecessarily. It is also important to ensure that each sprinkler head is elevated above the grass when activated but fully retract below grade after use to prevent damage from mowing equipment. Any irrigation heads that are angled should be righted and realigned so that every spray distance has a “head to head” range/coverage. This is also a great time to look for and identify any bubbling, dribbling, or geysering sprinkler heads as those are usually clear indications the heads seals, nozzles, or riser tubes have been damaged and them the head needs to be replaced. Lastly, assessing the system while it is running allows you to determine which plants need to be pruned to prevent blocking coverage or if heads need to be relocated if pruning is not an option to ensure water is reaching every part of the bed space as needed.

Why are Sprinkler Head Types Important for Your Irrigation System?

As stated above, your irrigation system should meet the specific needs of your lawn and landscaping. This means that certain sprinkler head types need to be used in certain areas. Slope, soil type, sun exposure, and other factors all help to determine the right type of sprinkler heads for a lawn. First and foremost is to remain consistent with your sprinkler head types. Do not mix and match types of heads as different types of heads disperse water at different rates, distances, and volumes as this can result in over-watering of one area and under-watering of another in the same zone. For larger lawn space areas, rotor-style heads are more efficient but need to run for longer lengths of time to put out the correct gallons of water per square foot where as VAN (Variable Arc Nozzles) put out a lot of water in a short time frame.  Additionally, certain heads are paired with certain nozzle types to put out the proper amount of water as set distances, so the water stays within the area to be watered and is not sprayed onto unwanted areas such as driveways, walkways, or streets.

Irrigation System Additions for Your Lawn

Once your irrigation system has been assessed and evaluated there may be some opportunities to help your system perform better. Soil moisture sensors, rain sensors, and smart controllers that control the run time and frequency of your irrigation system can all help to keep your water bill and lawn under control. Newer water conservation style nozzles and rotors can help in limiting water waste by way of run off by outputting less water but running a longer time frame to allow for the water to soak thoroughly through all the soil layers.

While your lawn’s irrigation system keeps your lawn lush and healthy, it will only do so if it is operating properly. An inefficient and ineffective irrigation system can not only damage your grass and landscaping, but it can cost you money. The experts at Kyle’s Lawn and Landscape can make sure that your irrigation system is ready to perform this spring, as well as handle all of your residential or commercial mowing and landscaping needs.