Poipu Yard Crew, LLC

Here are some general guides to consider and follow for summertime watering. The information below will focus on proper use of an irrigation system on established landscapes.

First some watering basics:
-It is best to soak deeply less frequently than a little bit every day.
-Water in the early morning (2-6am) due to lower evaporation.
-Properly mulched beds need less water than turf areas.

Recommended Lawn Watering (per week)
1-1.5 inches every week for Bermuda grass during June, July and
August. Buffalo grass needs 25% less water and St. Augustine needs about 15% more.

How Much to Water: Apply enough water to wet the soil to a depth of 4-5 inches. Use a soil probe or screwdriver to determine the depth the water actually reaches.

Use a sprinkler that emits large drops of water that remain close to the ground, not one that sprays a fine mist into the air. The average pop-up sprinkler head is designed to apply 1-1 1/2 inches of water if they were run continuously for an hour.

A general guide to start with is to water twice per week at about 20-25 minutes per station or three times a week for 15 minutes per station. Many systems have runoff if operated over 10 minutes, so set the run time over multiple cycles on the same day to apply the same amount of water to soak in. An example would be:

Apply 15 minutes of water on one day - with three start times.

Remember these are general guidelines to start with. Run your system, make observations, and adjust accordingly. Typically, side yards and mulched beds need less water than turf areas. Also—don't forget to take advantage of what rainfall we get in the summer.

If you would like to determine how much water your sprinkler applies:
Put out containers in each zone and measure how much water after running the system for 15 minutes. Multiply this by 4 to get your inches per hour. There may be a variance from one zone to another. The knowledge gained from this exercise can save many gallons of water!