# What time do you water?



## rnaude241

I have a 4 zone sprinkler system that waters my lawn every Wednesday and Sunday mornings. I have it start the first zone at 5:00am and it goes for 45 minutes to put down about 1/2 of water, the next zone follows and so on. I noticed driving around a lot of people water in the late evening, between 6-8pm.

I know not to water during the heat of midday for obvious reasons. So when do you water your lawn? What is generally considered the best time to water lawns so they absorb the most water?


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## atc4usmc

I water in the mornings starting around 4 or 5 am. I also have neighbors who water in the afternoon / evening which is wasting water and also can cause fungus if you water late at night.


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## LIgrass

Right around when dew would be forming. 3am-4am is the best time for me, give or take 30 minutes either way.


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## g-man

4am. Mainly because of wind. Go to weather underground and look for a station near you. Check the wind chart for various days. You will likely notice that there is barely any wind during those times. Less wind means more even spraying.

Folks do the evening watering because they are home and could move hoses around. But fungus becomes a problem since the blades will stay wet most of the night thus providing more time for fungus to grow.

Ideally measure how long it zone takes to water 1in. Use used tuna cans to measure it. Then don't water on a fix schedule (ie Wednesday and Sunday). Water only when the lawn needs it, but the whole in. This is a general guideline meant to be broken based on what you see.


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## MrMeaner

I have to start mine at 1:00 am and the run approx 5-8hrs depending on the season


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## Topcat

Mine starts at 5 am. If I put a granular down, I will run in the late morning, typically before noon, just to water it in - no more than 15 minutes a zone.


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## GrassDaddy

4am.. and I usually forget to close our bedroom window so i wake up to it lol


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## MedozK

GrassDaddy said:


> 4am.. and I usually forget to close our bedroom window so i wake up to it lol


Funny. That made me laugh out loud.


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## J_nick

I normally start around 2-3am. With my 4 zone system I need 6 hours to put .6" on the lawn.

As of right now I water at 7am, 10, 11, 12pm, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 10pm. Gotta keep those seeds moist! Only running for 6-8 minutes at a time.


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## Mightyquinn

I now have 6 zones (4 lawn and 2 Shrub/Flower bed). The lawn gets watered at 0400(4 am) when the Rachio decides it's needed and I have the Shrub beds going off at 1000 everyday as I have some new plantings in there but it only runs for 15 minutes per zone in the beds.


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## Ware

It normally doesn't bother me to irrigate at night (after all, it rains at night), but I've been battling some leaf spot, so I have been waiting to start them about the time I leave for work in the morning.


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## chrismar

Mine's set to start at midnight, if the controller (Weathermatic SL1600) thinks it needs it. I have 15 zones (12 turf), and many slopes, so if I didn't start early it'd never get done with all the running and soaking that needs to happen.


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## dfw_pilot

My Rachio starts at 0100. My system runs for almost five hours and I want it finished by six am when all the showers start to be turned on in the neighborhood.


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## Mightyquinn

dfw_pilot said:


> My Rachio starts at 0100. My system runs for almost five hours and I want it finished by six am when all the showers start to be turned on in the neighborhood.


This is another reason I like to water early as it provides better water pressure before everyone wakes up in the hood  I can always tell the days that have low water pressure as the overspray isn't as high on the fence as other days.


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## Ware

My irrigation meter is on an 8" main that always supplies north of 100PSI. I regulate that down to about 75psi. I also use 40psi pressure-regulated bodies with the MP Rotators, so I don't have to worry about variations in coverage or precipitation rates.


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## g-man

I'm on a 3/4in PEX to and from the meter. That's slightly better than 1/2in copper. I had to design my system to 5gpm zones.


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## rnaude241

Thanks for the comments everyone. I think my watering schedule is fine so I'll stick to it.


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## Tex86

When I built my house i wish I had installed sprinkler systems for that reason. I didn't because of two reasons: 1. I didn't think I'd take my lawn as seriously as I do. 2. the builder wanted to tack on $4,300 for the install - which I thought was outrageous at the time. Now it's on a list for me to do in the upcoming year since I travel.

Oh well, I'll use my impact sprinkler with a tripod for now. I usually water about 6 a.m on Saturdays for 35 minutes and a light mist spraying on Wednesdays if the lawn looks like it needs it. The back yard need the tripod moved twice and the front I can hit my whole yard without moving it. The side yards on the other hand require hand watering while i drink my coffee.


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## Miller_Low_Life

I set my alarm for 4:30am and I go out and manually move my sprinkler every hour ending around 10. Needless to say I don't water more than once a week since I don't like to wake up that early.


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## phil

@Miller_Low_Life That's my problem, too. I have two outdoor faucets and good enough pressure to run two sprinklers at the same time, but I have 20,000 square feet of grass. It takes a full two days of watering to get even close to an inch down over the whole thing. I *try* to get the first section started at 6am, but with having to go to work and bugging my wife to move it during the day....boy is that hard.


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## g-man

Two of these will give you 8 zones. Just time them to start at different times so they are both not running at the same time.

Hydrologic 4-Zone Digital Water Timer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E0LONN4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ZhmGzbS9NGQMY


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## phil

@g-man That looks pretty cool. I'll check it out today.


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## g-man

This is another brand. I've the previous version for +10 years and use it for renovations.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N4X93A8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_xADGzb81SWS39


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## Jericho574

I tried not to water my St. Augustine (when I lived in Florida) at night because of fungus. With bermuda, not really a concern...after all you should be mowing low enough that there is almost no blade  I frequently water at night when there is no wind with no problems.


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## Movingshrub

I want my irrigation to finish up before 5am, so I backwards plan the start time, depending on the length of the cycle run time. I aim for early morning due to the least amount of wind.


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## Bluegrass64

4 am when the wind is calm for max coverage


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## glenmonte

First year with an irrigation system, and found 0200 was way too early. Switched to 0500 when I noticed rust.


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## FuzzeWuzze

5am Rachio default.

Takes about 3 hours to finish my 8 zones(4 yard, 3 bushes, 1 garden).


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## glenmonte

My initial worry was having sprinklers on at 8 am, especially when the kids are off to school or people are walking their dogs (I have to water over the sidewalk in the front), so I set it to 2.

As the summer progressed, I noticed the Rachio controller split up the zones. Out of 10 zones (2 beds), it usually waters 4 or 5 at a time because of the difference in moisture levels and history. I do the beds manually (through rachio) when they're looking weak, and they're almost never included in the regular flex schedule.


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## OutdoorEnvy

I water about an hour or two after dark. The grass is still wet in the morning. My thinking is the longer soak in is better for the soil to retain more moisture.


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## pennstater2005

I water when I get time. Hopefully back to every other day with cooler temps back.


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## g-man

OutdoorEnvy said:


> I water about an hour or two after dark. The grass is still wet in the morning. My thinking is the longer soak in is better for the soil to retain more moisture.


One of the problems with watering after dark is that the leaf of the lawn remain moist all night. That's a petri dish for fungus and lawn problems. The ideal time is in the am since there are less winds and the am sun dries the lawn.


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## OutdoorEnvy

g-man said:


> OutdoorEnvy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I water about an hour or two after dark. The grass is still wet in the morning. My thinking is the longer soak in is better for the soil to retain more moisture.
> 
> 
> 
> One of the problems with watering after dark is that the leaf of the lawn remain moist all night. That's a petri dish for fungus and lawn problems. The ideal time is in the am since there are less winds and the am sun dries the lawn.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info G-man. Does grass type/length matter at all in this, as well as temperatures?


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## g-man

Not much, in my opinion. Fungus has a sweet spot. If it is too cold, then the spores go dormant, and too hot and dry also stops it.

Edit:
I was thinking this over as I mowed the yard. A shorter hoc will have less surface area for moisture to remain, so less area for fungus. But a low hoc lawn is also more sense, so the moisture could remain in the root area. Therefore I change my answer to: I'm not sure if hoc is a factor.


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