You don’t own a home or a commercial property in Florida without understanding the never-ending woes of Irrigation issues. Florida is a hot-bed for weird irrigation problems. Sure, it may rain every day in the summer, but what about those weird, long spans of no rain at all where our grass is begging for a drop from the hose? Suffice it to say, Florida doesn’t abide by any kind of weather schedule, so you’ll have to make sure that you’re in charge of your own irrigation systems.

But without a regular routine of maintenance check-ups for your irrigation system, how can you be positive that it’s properly working? Effective irrigation is going to be the lifeblood of a healthy lawn and Landscape (a fact we’re sure you already know), so properly caring for your plants, trees, flora, and fauna, is going to remarkably rely on the way your irrigation system is working.

At Landcrafters, we like to consider ourselves the irrigation experts, and we don’t just say that because we’ve got egos on us (though, after a combined total of 150 years of experience, we definitely aren’t amateurs). We value irrigation system check-ups above all else because we know that without an effective irrigation system, your landscape simply isn’t going to thrive. What’s the point of putting in the hard work to design, implement, and care for your landscape if we aren’t going to be able to water it properly?

That’s why we’ve put together this irrigation situation article for you to give you the scoop on the most important landscaping tool of all – water. Check out our guide below on why you should check your system, how you can tell there are issues, and what sort of implementations and updates you should be considering!

Why Should You Check out Your Irrigation System?

We likely don’t need to math it out for you, but taking good care of your plants, trees, and overall landscape is going to cost you a lot less in the long run than rapidly replacing them because they’re dying off due to dehydration. While that’s the most obvious reason to keep your irrigation system updated and to consider a total makeover on your watering technology, it’s certainly not the only one. Check out a few of our favorite reasons for checking on your irrigation system regularly and considering updates.

Outdated Issues

Maybe your irrigation system is functioning fine. Maybe you’re not seeing leaks, puddles, excessive water, or inadequate water on your landscape. But your irrigation system, though reliable, might be super outdated, which, might mean that you’re either not gifting your landscape a system with full potential, not getting the most bang for your buck, or potentially both. Consider talking with a professional landscape company to look over your irrigation system, check its functionality, and see if you could be saving more money, preventing water waste, and better servicing your landscape with an updated system.

Saves You Money in the Long Run

It’s likely that one of the ways you realized your irrigation system was faulty was because your water bill increased dramatically. A leaky irrigation system, or a broken, non-functioning system, will likely over water, leak out water in unintended spots, run when it’s not scheduled, and drip away your money. Updating, redoing, or simply giving your irrigation system regular check-ups can help to save you tons of cash in the long run.

Another way it saves money? Like we said before, it keeps you from having to replace consistently dying plants. In other words, it protects yours investment that you made in your initial landscape by properly caring for the plants, flowers, lawn, trees, and more that you already have in your landscape.

Prevents Water Waste

This is a hugely important factor to consider. By updating your irrigation system, or simply making sure (regularly) that it’s functioning properly, you could be preventing gallons upon gallons water waste. Water is a valuable resource – a resource that people struggle to receive enough of every day. The last thing you need to do is unintentionally waste valuable water simply because you didn’t check in on your irrigation system.

Irrigation Renovation: What You Need to Consider

Update to a Technologically-Advanced Irrigation Controller (or a New System Altogether?)

If you’re thinking about updating your system altogether, consider ditching the old irrigation systems and upgrading to a new, smart irrigation system that allows you to input data that can help your system best decide when and how to you water your lawn. There are irrigation systems out there that feed off information like zip code, plant and soil type, and weather that can automatically update to best regulate when they should be watering and when they shouldn’t. Some smart irrigation controls even have rain sensors or thermostats that read the weather and know to deliver water to plants and soil only when it’s necessary. Forget the old irrigation systems that simply run on a timer – consider a total remodel of your irrigation system with a smart control hub. It’ll save you time, money, conserve water, and better protect the investment of your landscape.

Ditch Old Leaky Spray Heads

You’ll want to double check all of your spray heads to ensure that they’re not dribbling or leaking and causing excessive water puddling, pooling, or waste. If you’re in the market for new spray heads, consider purchasing updated versions that efficiently deliver water a landscape of your size, and even try to pick out specific spray heads for shrubs, flower beds, and landscape plantings (they exist!). Take a look at high-efficiency rotary heads for your larger landscape and consider pop-up heads that disappear back into the ground when they’re not in use. If you’re looking at just checking in on your current spray heads to ensure they’re functioning, we suggest replacing old, protruding ones to help better protect your guests walking through your landscape (you’d hate for them to trip!)

 All-Around Tune-up

If it’s not quite in your budget just yet to do an all-out revamp of your irrigation system or implement a smarter irrigation system, then consider doing an all-around tune-up. Have a professional landscape company work with you to give your entire system a good once-over to ensure that every piece of functioning properly. Get an estimate of what your water bill should be looking like on an average month and try to better understand the amount of water you should be using to water your entire landscape.

Did our Irrigation Situation article do its job of persuading you to give your irrigation a good old-fashioned look-over? We hope so! If you found that your irrigation system could use a tune-up, needs refreshing, or you’d like to go for an all-out irrigation re-do, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We can give you quote on your irrigation system, talk options, and best explain to you how you can provide routine check-ups on your irrigation system. Give our office a call at (727)-201-3947. Want more landscape inspo, ideas, and tips and tricks? We’ve got you covered. Check out our blog for weekly updates on how you can care for your Florida lawn, the hottest landscape trends, hurricane safety, and more!