Get the Most Out of Your Irrigation System in Orlando

<h1>Get the Most Out of Your Irrigation System in Orlando</h1>Author: <a title="Richard Gilliland" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/richard-gilliland/17483.htm">Richard Gilliland</a> A lush, green lawn is well within reach of any homeowner in Orlando, Florida. The most important contributing factor to having a green lawn is proper installation and maintenance of an irrigation system. While it is possible to have a healthy lawn without an irrigation system, most of your time will be spent dragging around a hose and sprinkler, rather than enjoying your lawn. Irrigation systems are not a cure-all, though. In order to get the most out of your irrigation system, keep in mind the following tips:
• At the beginning of fall and the beginning of summer, make sure that your entire irrigation system is thoroughly cleaned out and tested. During the season, sprinkler heads can become broken, or can be kicked or moved out of place so that they are not evenly watering the lawn. Change the backup batteries for your timers at this point, as well, so that if a power failure happens while you are on vacation, the entire system does not need to be re-set as well. Being sure that everything is in working order is the first step to getting the most out of your irrigation system in Orlando.
• After checking to be certain that all mechanical parts are in working order, test the spray patterns around your lawn and garden. To do this, set about five of the same straight-sided containers around the lawn. Turn on the system for a specified period of time. After you turn off the irrigation, measure the amount of water in each container. It should be roughly equal, otherwise, some parts of the lawn will receive more water than others, which can cause an uneven color, and trigger disease in some parts of the lawn. One area of special importance to check is the space where the spray from two heads overlaps.
• Water deeply and infrequently. It may be comforting to see the sprinklers run every morning at 6:00 am when you step out for the paper; however, that is not the best watering strategy for your lawn. Your lawn will need about one to one and half inches of water twice a week. In order to test how long it takes to give your lawn that much water, use the same technique that you used for testing the coverage of your irrigation heads. Turn the water on, and keep tabs on the containers. When each has one inch of water in it, turn off the irrigation system and note the amount of time it took. Then program your system to water for that period of time two to three times a week.
• Water early in the morning for best results. Grasses, especially grasses in Orlando, are susceptible to a variety of bacteria, insect and fungal problems. If you water in the morning before it is hot and windy, more of the water will soak into the ground-less will evaporate. Additionally, the grass blades will have a chance to dry out during the day so that they cannot harbor fungal spores and allow disease to take hold.
• Use different settings for the lawn areas and flowerbed areas of your yard. Chances are great that your grass and your flowers need different amounts of water. It is important for the health of the grass and the flowers that the irrigation settings be separate for both areas. Otherwise, you will have dry flowers and wet grass or wet flowers and even wetter grass.
If you are not a great do-it-yourself kind of person, it is best to hire a landscape or irrigation contractor to help you make adjustments. That way, you can be certain that you are getting the most out of your irrigation system in Orlando.
 About the Author: Richard Gilliland Provides Expert opinions and reviews about <a href="http://www.greenmarkirrigation.com/" target="_new">sprinklers</a> and <a href="http://www.greenmark.us" target="_new">Orlando irrigation</a>Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/landscaping-articles/get-the-most-out-of-your-irrigation-system-in-orlando-458936.html" title="Get the Most Out of Your Irrigation System in Orlando">Get the Most Out of Your Irrigation System in Orlando</a>

A lush, green lawn is well within reach of any homeowner in Orlando, Florida. The most important contributing factor to having a green lawn is proper installation and maintenance of an irrigation system. While it is possible to have a healthy lawn without an irrigation system, most of your time will be spent dragging around a hose and sprinkler, rather than enjoying your lawn. Irrigation systems are not a cure-all, though. In order to get the most out of your irrigation system, keep in mind the following tips:

• At the beginning of fall and the beginning of summer, make sure that your entire irrigation system is thoroughly cleaned out and tested. During the season, sprinkler heads can become broken, or can be kicked or moved out of place so that they are not evenly watering the lawn. Change the backup batteries for your timers at this point, as well, so that if a power failure happens while you are on vacation, the entire system does not need to be re-set as well. Being sure that everything is in working order is the first step to getting the most out of your irrigation system in Orlando.

• After checking to be certain that all mechanical parts are in working order, test the spray patterns around your lawn and garden. To do this, set about five of the same straight-sided containers around the lawn. Turn on the system for a specified period of time. After you turn off the irrigation, measure the amount of water in each container. It should be roughly equal, otherwise, some parts of the lawn will receive more water than others, which can cause an uneven color, and trigger disease in some parts of the lawn. One area of special importance to check is the space where the spray from two heads overlaps.

• Water deeply and infrequently. It may be comforting to see the sprinklers run every morning at 6:00 am when you step out for the paper; however, that is not the best watering strategy for your lawn. Your lawn will need about one to one and half inches of water twice a week. In order to test how long it takes to give your lawn that much water, use the same technique that you used for testing the coverage of your irrigation heads. Turn the water on, and keep tabs on the containers. When each has one inch of water in it, turn off the irrigation system and note the amount of time it took. Then program your system to water for that period of time two to three times a week.

• Water early in the morning for best results. Grasses, especially grasses in Orlando, are susceptible to a variety of bacteria, insect and fungal problems. If you water in the morning before it is hot and windy, more of the water will soak into the ground-less will evaporate. Additionally, the grass blades will have a chance to dry out during the day so that they cannot harbor fungal spores and allow disease to take hold.

• Use different settings for the lawn areas and flowerbed areas of your yard. Chances are great that your grass and your flowers need different amounts of water. It is important for the health of the grass and the flowers that the irrigation settings be separate for both areas. Otherwise, you will have dry flowers and wet grass or wet flowers and even wetter grass.

If you are not a great do-it-yourself kind of person, it is best to hire a landscape or irrigation contractor to help you make adjustments. That way, you can be certain that you are getting the most out of your irrigation system in Orlando.

Richard Gilliland Provides Expert opinions and reviews about sprinklers and Orlando irrigation

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