Sprinklers Are Nocturnal

Sprinklers Are Nocturnal

As a homeowner, it is important to balance both beauty and conservation.  By treating your sprinklers as “nocturnal creatures”, you can have a beautiful landscape and conserve water in the process!

Outdoor irrigation can use up a lot of water -- water which is in short supply in Southern California, making it all the more important not to waste.  Due to this short supply, we here at the Long Beach Water Department recommend that you schedule your sprinklers to water your landscape at night.

Using your sprinklers to water your landscape at night or in the very early hours of morning is the best practice in order to conserve water, while still maintaining a healthy and beautiful look.  When you use your sprinklers on a hot and/or windy day, the total amount of water that never reaches your landscape due to evaporation is substantial! When you water your landscape at night, less of the water evaporates before it is able to permeate into the soil.  To reduce loss due to evaporation, try to water sometime between 8 pm and 6am, when the air is cool and crisp and the wind is relatively calm.

Additionally, it is important to only water your landscape when it needs it.  For instance, if there has been a recent rainstorm, or the weather has been more temperate and cool, your landscape will require less water.  Over-watering can be just as bad as under-watering; it may damage roots and result in the development of potentially harmful fungus growth as well!

One helpful tip to determine if your landscape needs watering is to use a probe or stick to determine how moist the soil is at 8 to 12 inches beneath the ground.  If the soil is moist despite not watering for a few days, then there will be no need to water at that time.  If the probe is dry when you pull it up, then it would be appropriate to water your landscape again that evening.

For even more helpful tips on how you can have a beautiful, water conserving landscape, check out our award-winning lawn-to-garden program by visiting www.lblawntogarden.com.