# How long should I water each zone of my lawn?



## turfnsurf (Apr 29, 2020)

I am not able to do the full fledge head to head coverage setup, so I am going with a 4 zone hose setup. I bought 2 of these timers - one for the front and one for the back.

I have a digital wheel tape measurer, so I can measure the zones I intend to cover.

I want to schedule my zones separately. What is the best way to determine how long I should schedule each zone?


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## grasscorrection (May 2, 2019)

What size lawn, what sprinkler, what's your PSI, what's your GPM, any water filters, what size hose, what's the outside temperature, how windy is it - get it? It's kind of like asking how many prints can you get per ink cartridge, when everyone will be printing different pictures, text, size font, margins, printers, age of ink.

Get yourself a rain meter to place out in the yard. Run the sprinkler for 30 minutes or 1 hour. Measure how much. Also know if you put your oscillating sprinkler wide open spray pattern is going to calculate differently than a narrower spray patter. You'll get different results with a lawn tractor or a pulsating. based on my findings you'll need half an inch of water every week. I do just under that every 4 days. Along with Hydretain app for $30 with a decent watering after for the summers.

Water early around 5am. Try to stagger the times as more water may be put down with one sprinkler, rather than 2-4 running at the same time. Many sprinklers work best at full water pressure to one head.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

turfnsurf said:


> ...What is the best way to determine how long I should schedule each zone?


You will need to determine the precipitation rate (in/hr) of your sprinkler setup. Then divide your desired amount of irrigation (in) by the precipitation rate to determine how long you should run them. For example, if you find the precipitation rate of your sprinkler setup is 0.25 in/hr and you want 1/2" of irrigation, you would need to run each zone for 2 hours.

A common way to determine your precipitation rate is with a set of sprinkler gauges.


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## turfnsurf (Apr 29, 2020)

grasscorrection said:


> Get yourself a rain meter to place out in the yard. Run the sprinkler for 30 minutes or 1 hour. Measure how much. Also know if you put your oscillating sprinkler wide open spray pattern is going to calculate differently than a narrower spray patter. You'll get different results with a lawn tractor or a pulsating. based on my findings you'll need half an inch of water every week. I do just under that every 4 days. Along with Hydretain app for $30 with a decent watering after for the summers.


I have one of those gauges and that will be my first test. Thanks!



> Water early around 5am. Try to stagger the times as more water may be put down with one sprinkler, rather than 2-4 running at the same time. Many sprinklers work best at full water pressure to one head.


With me having a timer for the front yard and one for the back yard, do I need to stagger the back yard until the front yard is done, or can I run a zone from the back yard while a zone is running from the front yard? I ask because I don't know if the answer is "yes" because they are drawing off of separate spigots, or if the answer is "no" because my water is ultimately pulling from one source.


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## turfnsurf (Apr 29, 2020)

Ware said:


> turfnsurf said:
> 
> 
> > ...What is the best way to determine how long I should schedule each zone?
> ...


Thanks @Ware for the explanation.

Also, I wish I would have bought these gauges before I bought the lone rain gauge I found at Home Depot. I am picking these up.


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