Remember life without GPS? We got along, but sometimes it’s hard to remember how. I can’t tell you how many hours and how many gallons of fuel I’ve saved simply by using this one type of smart technology.
I’m sure it’s paid for itself many times over.
Your plants have no need for travel directions, but there’s another type of smart technology that offers similar savings for your landscape: smart irrigation.
What Is A Smart Irrigation System?
A smart irrigation system is a landscape irrigation system that wirelessly monitors factors—such as weather, humidity, evaporation and plant water use—that affect your landscape. Then, with the help of a central smart controller, it automatically adjusts to deliver the precise amounts of water needed for optimal plant growth and health.
Smart irrigation really is to older irrigation systems as GPS is to a paper map. Because the technology is so efficient at eliminating water waste, it’s not uncommon for a smart irrigation system to enable 50-70% savings on landscape water bills. Smart irrigation is convenient, too: a smart controller can integrate with your existing iOS, Android or other mobile operating system for easy operation directly from your smartphone, tablet, or home computer.
How Can A Smart Irrigation System Save You Money?
Here are just a few ways to save with smart irrigation:
- Zone your landscape. Different plantings, even adjacent ones, can have very different irrigation needs. Delivering the same amount of water to them often results in wasteful over watering and costly plant loss. With smart irrigation, you can easily create and monitor zones to deliver each plant type the exact amount of water it needs to stay healthy and vigorous – no more.
- Monitor moisture. Older automatic irrigation systems simply run on a timer, without taking actual conditions into account. But there’s no point in watering when it’s raining. One simple way to benefit from smart irrigation is to integrate a rain sensor into your system and program it to shut off when it’s raining. But you can get even more sophisticated when it comes to plant and lawn irrigation. Georgia climate variables also include wind, soil saturation, temperature, and of course our renowned summer humidity. Advanced systems can track all of these to pinpoint water needs exactly – and eliminate every drop of excess water use.
- Adjust your cycles. Various soil types absorb water at different rates. Too much water too fast or for too long a time can overwhelm a soil’s ability to absorb. That leads to runoff—and water waste. With a smart system, you can adjust the watering cycle length and flow rate to ensure that every drop gets used, or even incorporate soil moisture sensors that turn zones on or off as needed.
- Keep your plantings trimmed. Not even the smartest irrigation system can function well if the emitters are blocked by long grass or overgrown plants. To stay at peak efficiency, we advise regular landscape maintenance, including mowing and pruning, throughout the growing season.
- Schedule regular checkups. As with any mechanical system, your smart irrigation system will benefit from regular inspections. We recommend a monthly walk-through to make sure emitters are still in the right place, check for leaks, make sure valves are operating properly, test the controller, and check for wet or dry spots, high or low water pressure, and other tell-tale signs of system imbalance. It’s a quick check that can result in tremendous savings by preventing water loss before it happens and/or nipping problems in the bud.
- Keep an eye on your savings. One of the most satisfying things about owning a smart irrigation system is that it gives you virtually omnipotent control over your system. Right from your smartphone, you can see just how much water is being used at any given time. We actually recommend taking a peek every day or so. That way, if your system should experience a leak you can see the spike in water use—and take action to stop the waste right away.
Residential Smart Landscape Irrigation: Macon, GA And Surrounding Areas
If you’re interested in enjoying substantial savings on your home irrigation water bill, consider contacting us about installing a smart irrigation system. The first step is to schedule a visit to inspect any current system you may have in place, and determine what upgrades would best fit your landscape needs and budget. You can reach our friendly Macon folks at 478-750-7733, or call our East Dublin office at 478-272-3878. Or, contact us online here. We look forward to helping you!
