Thursday, May 21, 2015

Three Ways to Save 30% or More on Your Water Usage This Year

Okay, so we are experiencing a drought. We should be doing all that we can to conserve water.   I want to propose that we can easily save 30 to 50% on our water usage and still have a green healthy lawn and landscape.  I know some of you have made up your mind that you are just going to let the lawn go dry which is a big mistake for countless reasons - cost to replace, loss of the benefits of turf such as cooling, filtering, noise abatement, home value, aesthetics.  It should not be all or nothing.  There are a few great solutions I'd like to share.

First I would start with the sprinklers.  Today there are much more efficient heads that will in themselves save 20-30% by providing more uniform coverage and a slower precipitation rate greatly reducing runoff.  Toro and Hunter offer some really good upgrades to your old and inefficient heads.  Along with this we always recommend regularly checking your system for leaks, coverage, plugged nozzles and the like which offers additional water savings.

Secondly, I would replace or enhance the traditional sprinkler control box to make it a “smarter” clock.  There are smart clocks with a weather station or with satellite input that can self-adjust to the weather outside and adjust daily to the needs of the landscape.  A cheaper alternative is adding a device that feeds a normal controller historical data and adjusts daily and seasonally so you are not watering the same day after day throughout the spring, summer, and fall regardless of the demand.  These steps can easily save 30% or more too.


Finally I would strongly consider the use of quality long-term soil surfactants in the landscape.  They will increase the water use efficiency 30% or more by improving water movement into the soil and distribution in the profile.  Runoff will be greatly reduced and the soil’s ability to hold more water will significantly increase as well.  Assuming there is adequate coverage, localized dry spots will disappear and the plants will find more water throughout the root zone.  One treatment can enhance water management up to 4 months.  Some claim the addition of polymers and hydrogels into the soil profile will result in 50% water saving over several years.  Imagine saving 20-50% on your water bill and doing your part in water conservation and still having a great lawn and healthy plants!

Water is indeed very precious and so is your outdoor landscape.  Taking on one, two, or all three of these steps will save water and your investment.  If you have any questions about conserving water please call Weed Man at 266-1624 or visit our website at Fresno.WeedManUSA.com.  Aqua Man Irrigation Solutions can upgrade your sprinklers and controllers. Call them at 475-7777.  

If you want to abandon your lawn and want to explore if artificial turf is right for you, then Grass Creations with 14 years of experience and a proud installer of TigerTurf would be a great place to call at 475-7700.  

Green is always prettier than brown.

25 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for this lawn care advice. The city I live in is going through a drought, so I'm looking for ways to conserve water, but still take care of my lawn. I'll be sure to take your advice and check out more efficient sprinkler heads.

    Susan Hirst | http://www.heathserviceec.com/

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  2. Wow, I'm so impressed with the photos you included of the results of using a soil surfactant and reducing water. I had not considered more efficient heads before; great idea. Having a smarter clock sounds like a wonderful lawn care piece of equipment; if you are low on money for lawn supplies, however, I would think that you could make the adjustments, that your smart clock would make, manually. This would render the same results.

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  3. Sorry you just want to keep business going. It's time to shut down. Lawns do nothing but are an artifact of people trying to act rich. The West shouldn't have lawns. I've stopped watering mine and they are dead. Good riddance. I'm driving through neighborhoods reporting anyone with green lawns. And if those lawns don't brown eventually, I'll go there myself with acid and kill them. Water is for humans, not plants.

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  4. Water is a natural resource and it is vital to save that natural resource. The Study says that, with the help of Lawn sprinklers one can save water. Although there are many other benefits of Lawn sprinklers like they made the lawn look more beautiful, they help in giving water in each and every corner of the lawn etc.

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  5. Thanks. This is very helpful. I hope you could write another article about how to care or fertilise Sir Walter turf. That would be another helpful topic.

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  6. Thanks for the tips! I'm going to look into the self-adjusting sprinklers- they will definitely increase efficiency!

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  7. You are definitely right about having different watering cycles for different seasons. The grass does not need the same amount of water in the summer as it does in the fall. A lot of people don't know this and just water it the same way all throughout those seasons. One more tip would be to turn your water off when it's raining. I've seen this too many times and it just doesn't make any sense.

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  8. Great tips! I hope you also could write a post about organic lawn care tips for buffalo grass.

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  9. I recently switched to better water conservation sprinkler heads and can definitely tell a difference. I would recommend it to everyone, especially those with older sprinkler heads that need to be updated anyway.

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  10. Amazing!!!!!
    Thanks for this informative post.

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  11. Interesting post... Check out this post .. they give awesome landscape design services

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  12. Each year my lawn usually dies. It would be great to get some landscaping tips, in order to help me keep this lawn alive. I think that applying a sprinkler system that really works well is key towards this endeavor. I love your idea of changing the sprinkler box to a "smart: one. I want to make sure my system embraces new technology.
    http://www.allexteriorimprovements.ca/landscaping.html

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  13. Each year my lawn usually dies. It would be great to get some landscaping tips, in order to help me keep this lawn alive. I think that applying a sprinkler system that really works well is key towards this endeavor. I love your idea of changing the sprinkler box to a "smart: one. I want to make sure my system embraces new technology.
    http://www.allexteriorimprovements.ca/landscaping.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very interested your blog & excellent advice for lawn care!!! Thank for the share the information & I once more visit your blog. Rubbish Removal Clayton

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  15. Very nice post & thank for the share the lawn care advice! Looking forward to all of the great ideas! Ormond Gutters

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  16. Yes, its a great idea to save water. We also recommend our customers to install automatic lawn sprinkler systems in their garden. Also water usage will be reduced by over 50% by this way.

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  17. Nice blog! Turf is nice to hire, It can be managed very easily and it looks nice too. For gardens where generally golf is played, there actually we plant turf. Turf should be hired from reputed organizations like http://www.royceturf.co.uk/ . It provides good service.

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  18. Awesome Post.
    Truly good and informative Blog.
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  19. Thanks for the information and links you shared this is so should be a useful and quite informative!
    Lawn Care Hiram

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  20. Quick question, is there a specific type of sprinkler head that yields a good output in addition to saving you water? I'm sure that there are plenty of landscaping or grounds-keeping companies out there who would want to do this. I know that I would since I'm all for saving money and you are very right that green looks better than brown. However, I think that the grass looks better with the 25% water reduction than the 50%. It looks a bit fuller don't you think? http://www.mcgintybros.com/lawncare.htm

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  21. bermanfaat banget. very useful
    terimakasih banyak ya kawan. thank you :)

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  22. cuma kunjungan. salut deh. semangat terus

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