Should I Turn Off My Irrigation When It Rains? (Question of the Week)
Should I Turn Off My Irrigation When It Rains?
Your lawn requires between one and one and one half inches of rain each week. Use a rain gauge to determine weekly rainfall amount will help you know exactly how much you need to supplement with irrigation.
Watering is one of the most important parts of maintaining a healthy lawn. It is nice when the weather helps you out and does the watering for you but the question always remains, ‘is my lawn getting enough water?’
There are two main types of rain gauges. Your first option is an Analog (or manual) rain gauge. They are typically consist of a clear acrylic or glass cylinder, usually marked in inches and centimeters or millimeters. These devices may be mounted on a fence, deck rail, post, or placed in or on the ground. They need to be placed in an area where you will have easy access to empty the cylinder. Make sure you do not have any obstructions over them that could impact the accuracy of the rainfall reading. (Example being leaves from garden plants.)
Analog rain gauges come in varies sizes and collection capacity. You can find very plain gauges to very decorative gauges. They are typically inexpensive and are quite useful for knowing how much rain your lawn is receiving.
Another option for rain gauges is the digital rain gauge. These gauges are more technologically advanced and consist of a self-emptying rain collector that transmits rain data wirelessly to a LCD display, which you can check without having to go outside. These gauges include more features such as alerts for potential flood conditions, a rain alert to remind you to bring items inside before they get wet, and a short or long-term rainfall records.
