"Using drought-tolerant and native plants saves water and helps protect the Big Wood River. Next year, when our yard is fully established, most of it will need watering just every two weeks."
- John and Daralene Finnell, Hailey
Native vegetation is beautiful and easy to maintain
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1) How to Conserve Water:
Conserving water protects river flows and the aquifer during the hottest months and lowest flows of the year. Our local trout need cold, clean water year round to thrive. Also:
During our arid summers, water between 10 pm and 6 am. Watering during daytime hours is inefficient due to losses to evaporation and transpiration.
In a dry spring, you might turn your system on during daytime hours (remember to check local ordinances) since temperatures can still dip below freezing at night. During a wet spring, you might not need to irrigate at all in May and early June.
During summer months, water deeply AND water every other day or even less frequently (remember to check local ordinances) rather than each day. A thorough soaking encourages deeper roots and provides greater plant tolerance to hot, dry conditions.
Let an area of grass grow very long, which actually requires less water. Don't forget to re-set your irrigation system to water a little less in this newly lush area!
Install rain sensors that automatically turn off irrigation during rainstorms.
Install drip irrigation systems to reduce evaporative water loss and increase efficiency.
Conduct an irrigation assessment to determine your lawn's specific water needs and check for inefficiencies in your watering system. Here are some general irrigation rules of thumb:
- In spring, monitor your soil each morning for one week; soil should be moist and your feet should leave footprints that "spring" back after a few minutes.
- If soil is too wet (squishy) cut back on your watering level; 2 minutes less for spray heads, 5 minutes less for rotor. Repeat this test every morning for a week.
- If soil is too dry (your footprint doesn't spring back), add 2 minutes more for spray heads, 5 minutes for rotor. Repeat this test every night for a week.
- Repeat these monitoring steps for one week each in summer and fall.
- Ensure that your sprinkler heads deliver the right amount of water to each zone; too little water in one area requires over-watering other areas to compensate.
- Make sure your sprinkler heads are level, not pointing up and losing water to evaporation.
- Use all spray heads or all rotor heads-the two cannot mix and match.
- Set every type of sprinkler head to correspond with the pressure on the zone
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