Your irrigation system is made up of several “zones” or areas of your yard. The purpose of an automatic irrigation timer is to tell each “zone” when to water and for how long. The homeowner, business owner or irrigation company will need to determine a watering schedule for each zone.
It’s easier to first plan your watering schedules on paper. It’s also a great reference tool if you your irrigation timer loses power or gets tampered with manually.
There are many factors to consider when determining the time each zone should water including the type of irrigation heads that are in that zone (spray heads or rotor heads), what is being watered (grass or landscape), the type of soil, weather conditions and current watering restrictions. A general guideline is to set each zone to run 15 minutes. Remember, this is only a general guideline to follow. Sometimes the best thing to do is to call an irrigation expert to determine your watering schedule for you.
