When it comes to watering your landscape, there's some good news and some bad news, the bad news is that up to 50 percent of irrigation water is wasted due to wind, runoff, evaporation and excessive watering and the good news there are inexpensive ways to conserve water while maintaining a lush landscape. In fact, smart irrigation technologies can reduce water use by 30 to 50 percent for existing sprinkler systems. A great first step is installing rain, sensors they're inexpensive and easy to install.

They turn your sprinkler system off during and immediately after a rainfall event to save water. Soil. Moisture sensors are another option. They had just watering based on soil, moisture conditions and climate based controllers provide even more irrigation control. They deliver water only when it's needed Sipi Mesonet org can provide homeowners with irrigation scheduling times, based on their irrigation system. Soaker, hoses and drip irrigation systems are inexpensive alternatives to smart irrigation controllers.

Both systems deliver moisture directly to the root zone through tiny holes that run through the length of the hose simply run your soaker hose through your flowerbed or vegetable garden turn it on and let it run until moisture penetrates six to twelve inches into the soil, use a garden trowel to investigate how deeply the water is penetrating. You can even automate the process by adding an inexpensive timer at the faucet. Perhaps the best option of all is drip irrigation in waters plans individually, so weeds are less competitive.

It's perfect for flowerbeds vegetable gardens or around trees and shrubs. If you've already got pop-up spray heads installed, they can be economically converted into drip irrigation systems. Drip irrigation is the most efficient watering method delivering up to 90% of water to the plants root system.

Here are a few quick tips for keeping your trip system running smoothly above ground trip is best for trees, shrubs flowers and vegetable gardens, use rigid pipe to stave off pets and animals that can chew through unprotected tubing and periodically check for leaks, no matter what irrigation system you choose be sure to consult oklahoma city's mandatory watering schedule, which is now permanently in effect, visit squeeze every drop calm to find the most current watering schedule. If your home or business address is an even number, you can water on even-numbered days of the month.

If your address is odd, you can water it odd days of the month. Drip irrigation is allowed at any time, want to learn even more about conserving water visit, squeeze every drop, calm and learn how to squeeze every drop of efficiency from your landscape.

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