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Tips, Tricks, and Advice

An ongoing series of informational entries

Happy Holidays

December 20, 2020

Walks at night during the Christmas season in my neighborhood is a favorite activity for my wife and myself. Looking at the lovely Christmas lights and Holiday decorations is a nice way to enjoy our precious cool weather. Our neighbors in Rancho Santa Fe, Avondale have out done themselves again this year. I can't help but notice all the water running into the sidewalks and storm drains. I also can't help notice that lawn sprinklers are kicking on at night throughout the neighborhood, and probably most areas around town. Simple adjustments to the irrigation controller to water less frequently and earlier in the day will solve many of these issues. Once water goes through the meter, you have paid for it. So you are paying for whatever flows into the storm drains. We are in a prolonged low rain and snow pattern in all of the west.

We have enough water to use, we don't have enough to waste

Valley of the Sun Winter

November 5, 2020

Winter temps are above normal and still dry in the Phoenix Metro area. Only a drop or two of rain in the last 3 months. Even in these conditions, cool nights mean lawns and landscape plants don't need much water. There is still a need to reduce watering if it hasn't been done in the last couple of months. Yellowish appearance on new growth of plants and lawns is a good indicator that the soil is staying moist between irrigations

What is Drip Irrigation?

October 15, 2020

Changing the way we think about drip irrigation. In numerous conversations with clients and neighbors, I almost always need to clarify how people think about drip irrigation. Drip is a low water use system, not a low maintenance system. Actually, drip is a higher maintenance system than conventional spray irrigation, requiring substantially more user input throughout the year. This includes controller input to adjust water use, monitoring emitters for proper water distribution, and ongoing issues with polyethylene distribution tubing. With most large master-planned communities, the landscape installation is the last step before the house sells and is almost always thrown together at the last minute

Irrigation Service Flow

September 15, 2020

An example of recent service is as follows. A homeowner contacted me regarding some system leaks that were still present after a large tree had been removed. After a bit of investigation, I determined the best course of action was to replace approximately 15 feet of drip tubing in the root zone of the now non-existent tree. An under rock mulch path was dug out removing still existing roots and reconnected using improved thicker/stronger drip tubing

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