Updated: Nov 13, 2020
Living in our beautiful state has its challenges with water. Luckily, our climate allows for a wide variety of native plants as well as plants from other similar regions. The key to thriving plants is great irrigation.
Once you know your soil is conducive to the plants your are planting, making sure your irrigation is working right and has these elements for top efficiency and thriving plants:
Good complete coverage of area
Watering at the roots
Minimum runoff
A smart controller
Existing Systems Can be updated Without Being Replaced
Automatic controllers can waste water because they always come on, despite conditions, unless managed. Switching it out for a smart one that can sense when to water can make a big difference in saving water and helping plants to thrive by not being over watered.
Sprinkler heads can also be updated to spray with less evaporation and more direct control. Rotators can help let water absorb while watering other areas. Drip systems are a great way to get to the roots with as little waste as possible.
Updating your system with these elements will make a huge difference in your water bill and your plants will thrive!
Conserving water has become woven into our lives and striving for the perfect amount for your landscape is essential in helping it thrive, and keeping water costs down.
Here are ten simple ways from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources to insure you don't use more than you need when it comes to watering your landscape:
1. Select water-efficient plants that grow well in your climate and microclimate
2. ‘Hydrozone’: Place plants with similar water needs together and irrigate them accordingly (high, medium, low, and very low zones)
3. Let roots of established plants dry out between irrigations, water deeply and infrequently slightly below the root zone
4. If you do not use or enjoy your lawn consider replacing it with drought-tolerant plants
5. Mix soil amendments (compost, etc.) evenly and deeply into sandy and clay soils (40% or more by volume) before planting
6. Spread a 2 - 3” layer of mulch on top of soil around garden plants and trees
7. Water early in the morning
8. Control weeds
9. Avoid over-fertilizing
10. Sweep walkways and driveways , do not hose them down with water
These steps can make a difference in your water consumption. Adding smart irrigation systems, updating sprinkler heads and using drip irrigation can really help too! Need an expert? Call us at 661-222-7525 or contact us through here.
Previous sprinkler systems would spray water into the air which is both inefficient and wasteful. New irrigation systems save water and money and take better care of your landscape. Whether designing a new system, or updating your current system, we can help.
New Design
A detailed design of an irrigation system will be created by our landscape irrigation specialists Pacific Vista Landscape Services to best suit the area, climate, plants and property features.
If there are existing trees, special care can be given to them to protect them during construction.
A pre-construction GPS landscape audit can provide an evaluation of the ‘before’ level of carbon offset.
A combination of soft and hard scapes can reduce the amount of areas needing irrigation and can create a better flow for movement around the property.
Irrigation Retrofit
Pacific Vista Landscape Service can take an older system and retrofit it by establishing baseline data based on a digital base plan of existing/original irrigation and landscape in support of the planning process and ROI measurements.
This provides an accurate digital record of the location of the existing irrigation equipment [valves, lines and heads] to allow the designer to accurately depict the configuration of the new more efficient system.
We then have an accurate digital record of the location of the existing plants, which allows our irrigation and landscape designers to accurately depict which plants will be retained or replaced.
As cost reduction strategy, irrigation designs may include use of existing infrastructure. The result is the inclusion of several customized construction procedures as well as the use of:
Rotator and Precision nozzles installed at appropriate locations replacing the original Spray and/or Stream Rotor heads.
Surface flow and other low volume installations along all non-porouszles, surfaces and some of the turf areas
