Most of us know how important irrigation is for healthy landscapes. But this seemingly straightforward task is actually surprisingly complex. And far too many Bradenton lawn companies try to get away with substandard irrigation placement and maintenance.
So today we want to talk a bit about the things we do to ensure that your irrigation system is properly installed and running at its best capacity. Big South offers irrigation installation, maintenance, repairs and even “wet checks” of your existing irrigation system to test how well everything is working.
Parts of an Irrigation System
Whether it’s a modest Lakewood Ranch home, a sprawling Longboat Key estate, or a Bradenton business, irrigation systems consist of the same basic parts:
- Sprinkler heads: The nozzles that distribute the water to your lawn and plants.
- Pipes: The underground channels that connect the heads to your water supply.
- Timer box: The electronic system that can be programmed to turn on and off all or some of your sprinklers at set times.
Types of Sprinkler Heads
These are the primary types of sprinklers that we see in most modern irrigation systems:
- Rotors: These heads have the farthest reach and typically rotate over a set number of degrees to deliver water to a larger area.
- Pop-ups: These heads typically spray in a full circle and are used for smaller portions of lawn and plants.
- Microjets: We use microjets to deliver a small amount of water to particular plants, like in flowerbeds and gardens.
- Dripline: Driplines are long tubs with periodic openings that deliver small amounts of water in rows. While we don’t typically install driplines at Big South, they are a common alternative to microjets.
Keep in mind that both rotors and pop-ups should sink below grass level when not in use and rise up when the water is turned on.
The Key to a Professional Bradenton Irrigation System
Water Coverage
I say this all the time: One of the most important things to understand irrigations is water coverage. When you’re installing irrigation proper water coverage is a MUST! In other words, the water from your built-in sprinklers should reach every part of your lawn. After all, what’s the point of an irrigation system if you have to do supplemental watering by hand?
As straightforward as this seems, you’d be amazed at the number of homes and businesses we see with insufficient water coverage. Some companies cut corners by stretching their heads as far apart as they think they can, but that means the water from one head barely reaches the water from the next. This results in insufficient water supplies to those middle plants.
Efficient Placement for Water Consumption and Water Pressure
Of course, water coverage isn’t the only thing you have to worry about when deciding how to layout an irrigation system. We also want to make sure the water supply is being used efficiently (to save you money) and that each head has enough water going to it to maintain a full spray.
- Water Consumption: Efficient placement for water consumption is basically another way of saying: You don’t want to water the concrete. Careless irrigation design will mean that some heads spray onto your driveway or sidewalk or even the street! That’s literally washing money down the drain. Another careless design that slap-dash irrigation installers try to get away with.
- Water Pressure: Your irrigation system is divided into zones, and each zone gets a certain share of water. If you put too many heads on one zone, the water pressure goes down. Think of it like having all the taps and showers running in your house at the same time.
Installing Heads to the Appropriate Height
Where a sprinkler head is placed and how far it needs to spray affect how deeply it should be set in the ground. Because these heads are intended to sink below the grass line when not in use, it’s important to set them low enough that they’re less susceptible to damage from lawnmowers. However, burying them too low can hinder the spray and make them more likely to get covered and/or stuck.
On top of all of these considerations, we also have to keep in mind the maintenance and upkeep of your irrigation system. That includes a number of checks and potential problems throughout the entire system, from the timer and valves all the way through to the heads themselves. Maintenance and repairs are a whole other conversation! We’ll discuss Bradenton irrigation system maintenance in our next blog.
