When should I start my system?
Everyone is always anxious to kick-off the warmer spring weather, but don't rush supplemental watering, in fact, if the weather is mild we hope you wait until June to actually run your sprinkler, but there is nothing wrong with getting it ready!
Since we are in the Midwest where the weather is fickle, we recommend you don't even think about it until after the 15th of April and not even then if the temperatures are dipping below freezing. We like to have two straight weeks of above 32 at night before you try to start-your sprinkler in the spring, but frankly, there is typically zero need for supplemental watering in April.
Keep in mind that in order for the water you are putting down to do any good for your grass, the ground temperature needs to be above 50 degrees. At Jensen Sprinkler we are checking the ground temperatures every day until it reaches 55 degrees. If you would like a resource to check that yourself, here is a link to the Iowa State Extension data we use:
Four Inch Soil Temperature Maps.
Related Articles
When should I start my sprinkler system?
This is a hard question because the answer will vary year to year. April 15th is the average "safe date" for sprinkler start-ups and is the guide point we use for planning our start-up season. We want about two weeks of nighttime temperatures above ...
Starting Your Sprinkler System
We can’t specifically address the set up for every sprinkler system, but here are the basics on starting your sprinkler for the season. Please wait until the nighttime temperatures have been above freezing for a minimum of two weeks prior to ...
How much time should I water on each zone?
Over watering is often a bigger problem than underwatering, particularly early in the spring. Don't be in a rush to supplement nature's water. Mist head zones need to run half as much time as the rotor zones. Our standard spring setting is 10 minutes ...
What time of day should I water?
Ideally you should water in the early morning hours. Your lawn will get the most out of the water you put down if your watering cycle is completed near sunrise. Watering in the evenings, particularly when the humidity is high, greatly increases the ...
How to manually run your sprinkler (ESP Me, ESP ME3)
On the Rain Bird© ESP-Me and ESP-ME3 controllers it is very simple to run your sprinkler outside of the automatic schedule by manually starting your program. 1) Start with the controller dial in the AUTO RUN position. (NOTE: on the ME-3 it says ...