SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

I recommend an irrigation company to come in and audit your system

Generally for a homeowner it's best to keep your system simple
1 Program with only 1 start time


With that being said- Where i live a very general watering schedule is during the Months of May and June- an every 3-4 watering day interval and during the months of July and August - an every 2-3 day watering interval.

This of course depends on Hyrdozones and the Micro climates around your house ( Plant type, Soil type, Shade, sun)

It is generally better to water deeper, less often. The down fall to this is possibly run off from over watering . The idea is to split it up into a Cycle and Soak Method

For example- If a 4 zone system with 10 minutes of run time ran 3 times a week
I would split this up 2 or 3 times, instead of a full 10 mintues of run time- I would split it 3 times to a 3 ( or 4) minute run time over a 1 hour total run time

The down fall to this is if your zones are on a slope and don't have SAM heads installed this can cause extra run off.

An example programming if you want to get nice and detailed

Program A-

Zone 1 and 2 only

Run time 3-4 Mintues

Full Sun Zones and high priority front yard ( Because after all the whole point of a sprinkler system is to show off to your neighbors)

Start Time 1-6 AM
Start Time 2 -6:30 AM
Start Time 3- 7 AM

2 day water interval

Program B

Zones 3 and 4

Run time 4-5 min

3 day watering interval

Shade Zones and low priority zones


Start time 1 - 6AM
Start time 2 - 6:30 AM
Start time 3 - 7AM

Your controller SHOULD have stackable programming..
Programming can and should go even more in depth for properly watering