Lawn Care: June 2010 Archives

Many Rain Rich clients have been adding flower pots, flower boxes, and hanging baskets to their homes, patios and pool areas only to find difficulty watering them regularly. I resolved this situation several years ago by adding drip irrigation to all of the above. It was so successful that I took it one step further by installing a separate drip zone for the flower pots which is independent of the existing sprinkler system having the ability to run the cycle more frequently and for a longer period of time. Now when your sprinklers are on the flower pots are automatically being watered.

Generally speaking, for the north shore of Long Island, the program that works the best is watering every other day and/or watering on odd or even days of the month. The soils on the north shore are typically heavy clay or a heavy clay loam and are compacted. They do not accept water very well and have poor drainage. The positive characteristic of this is that clay soils hold water better and longer making it available to many types of trees and plants. The sprinkler system can operate less frequently and for shorter periods of time in these conditions.

Every so often a zone will stay on long past its time to have shut down. Many times this is due to the solenoid valve or zone valve being stuck in the "open" position. You try to stop the zone from being "on" by turning the controller to "off" and the zone stays "on". Next, you remove the plug from the controller thinking that it can't get any power and yet the zone stays "on". The problem is hydraulic not electrical. Typically it is because there is dirt and debris in the zone valve preventing it from closing even though the controller has ceased sending a signal for the valve to be "open" or "on" the valve can't physically close. The only way to close down the zone is to shut off the sprinkler main valve.