Your grass may have needed extra water throughout the summer to help it combat heat and drought. As fall approaches, though, it is time to adjust your sprinkler system for the last few months of the growing season.
In autumn, the temperatures start falling. Rainstorms start happening more frequently. With these changes in the weather, it makes sense that you will need to irrigate less. You especially want to make sure that you do not stimulate excessive new growth as it may be damaged from early frosts. You do not want to completely stop watering yet, though. Your plants are busy storing up reserves before they go dormant and need a moderate amount of irrigation.
Consider installing a rain sensor in your sprinkler system as this is designed to override your scheduled sessions should it start to rain. This will save your lawn from being over-watered (keeping it healthier and saving you money) and conserve in the landscape to boot. These days they range from simple electric devices to high tech systems with Wi-Fi capability.
Near the end of autumn, you also want to start winterizing your system so that the pipes will not burst. This is a process where you remove all liquids from the system before the frosts get into full swing. After water is drained out, an air compressor is used to blow out any remaining moisture. Call us to get help in making sure that your system is properly winterized and avoid costly damage.
When do you start winterizing your sprinkler system?
Image by mikecogh under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
