New Install! Now what?...

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Hammbone81
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New Install! Now what?...

Post by Hammbone81 » October 11th, 2020, 8:23 pm

I'm so excited to finally have an inground irrigation system! I did all the plumbing inside, was really considering doing the whole job myself, but ended up hiring the system design and install out to a highly reputable local company. They vibratory-knifed the lines in, and peeled up sod and put back around heads, valve boxes, etc. Minimally invasive, yet still invasive. (I have a Hydrawise Pro-C controller.)

So now what? The system will be on for a couple more weeks before they winterize me. I've done a few audits throughout the lawn and have nailed down a program for 1/2" of water. I have very sandy substitute beneath my sod, so going to a full inch would be wasteful. (i.e., 1/2" of water will percolate down 5-6")

My goal until they winterize me is to attempt to heal the "scaring" as much as possible. I put down a bunch of organics and seed down about a month ago. Today I put down some HumicDG and 1lb/M of urea (~.5 lb N/M) - then ran the system in my "syringe mode" to devolve both products.

The irrigation guy said to run it every night for a week.. I've ran the system 2 nights in a row at 1/2" water per night. Is that too much? Should I back off duration and/or amount? FWIW, the spots around the valve boxes are looking pretty brown.

Thanks in advance for the tips.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by MorpheusPA » October 15th, 2020, 1:17 pm

I kinda thought about it for a bit. Half an inch is a bit much and I'm not all that sure why to run it for a week to begin with? To flush the pipes? They should be clean after a one inch run. System tests? It seems to be fine?

I don't get it. If it has to be done, do a five minute run and call it finished, and do it at dawn rather than let the lawn stay wet overnight.

Personally, I'd discontinue those and just run this system normally. You should be very close to winterization at this point, actually.

The area around the valve box is probably dead from disturbance and may need reseeding or some transplanting next spring from overgrown areas.

Hammbone81
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by Hammbone81 » October 21st, 2020, 1:15 pm

Thanks Morph. I ran it for 2 days back to back at 1/2" each. Then skipped a day or so due to low temps. Then I set it to "Virtual Solar Sync" and it ran a couple more days at a ~30% reduction. Saturday I removed the outdoor RPZ and attempted to blow it out as best I could with my compressor until the irrigation company gets here to do it with their high CFM unit. I did it 3x with mine, one zone at a time and waited for the compressor to catch up between each zone (it took forever!)

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MorpheusPA
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by MorpheusPA » October 21st, 2020, 4:32 pm

Next time, try it with a shop vac.

Yeah. :-)

Hammbone81
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by Hammbone81 » October 21st, 2020, 4:45 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:
October 21st, 2020, 4:32 pm
Next time, try it with a shop vac.

Yeah. :-)
Great ideal. Do you have photos of your connection method?


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MorpheusPA
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by MorpheusPA » October 21st, 2020, 8:22 pm

I wrap my hand around the end. It's not efficient. It works. But I think you're going to be happier with your compressor.

Actually, there's some advantage to the fact that you can push/pull with my shop vac. It still takes a while--about fifteen minutes for four lines--but it does work well enough to winterize for PA.

Hammbone81
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by Hammbone81 » October 21st, 2020, 10:02 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:
October 21st, 2020, 8:22 pm
I wrap my hand around the end. It's not efficient. It works. But I think you're going to be happier with your compressor.

Actually, there's some advantage to the fact that you can push/pull with my shop vac. It still takes a while--about fifteen minutes for four lines--but it does work well enough to winterize for PA.
I have 12 zones! It took a while. But I have a 25gal compressor, 5hp, 5cfm at 90psi. I set the static pressure to about 75-80psi, drops to about 60psi (same as my static water pressure) when blowing out. Initially anyway. Went through each zone 3x. Starting furthest away and working my way back. Waiting for the compressor to catch up each time. My system has a long trunk line with many branches to each zone. There are valve boxes along the trunk and wires trenched all the way back to the control panel.

I "hope" I got it good enough. For example, each zone that has 4 rotors, the first 3 in the line are completely dry and blowing air. The last one I got down to a fog but never pure air like the rest on the same zone. I had this situation on every zone. If its nice again this weekend, I may try the shop vac method and see how much more I can push out.

Hammbone81
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by Hammbone81 » June 14th, 2021, 2:55 pm

Update - June, 14 2021
As most of the Midwest knows, we're experiencing a heck of a hot dry spell. No rain in 16 days, and no "appreciable" rain in 26 days. Daytime high temps have been 85-92°F for the last 11 days.
I have my new system set for ~.5" rain 3 days a week. Tues, Thurs, Sat. That's 1.5" per week (again, very sandy calcareous soil here). I've been syringing in the peak of the heat on the non-irrigation days.
My problem is the 2 days when the irrigation doesn't run. I start developing obvious signs of heat stress in areas (darker gray/blue green).

1. Should I add an irrigation day?
_a. If so, should I take water away from the adjacent day and spread it out over 2 days?
_b. Should I just add the 4th day at 1/2" and put down 2" per week?
2. Should I make my schedule 4 days and redistribute 1.5" over those 4 days?[/list]

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MorpheusPA
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Re: New Install! Now what?...

Post by MorpheusPA » June 14th, 2021, 4:01 pm

Not necessarily. Heat stress is just that--wilting. Plants wilt when their roots can't keep up with water demands. It doesn't mean there's no water, just that the root systems aren't up to the demands of the moment.

If the grass recovers in the evening, there's no need to irrigate. In fact, adding the extra day might encourage the grass to drop root systems due to overwatering, requiring even more water use in the future.

Exceptional heat typically causes wilting in plants, so it's not at all unusual. Observe and see if the grass recovers. If it's not trying to go dormant, it's fine.

Example: I'm rooting some ageratum after a failure in the seeding this year. They get planted when the roots are half an inch long, or not very large at all. They wilt easily mid-day because the root systems just can't keep up when young, but the soil they're in is quite damp. They recover by nightfall. There's no reason to pour water on the plants because it wouldn't help--the soil has water, it's just that the root systems can't keep up.

In fact, overwatering will discourage root system growth by reducing oxygen in the soil. I don't want to do that, so I keep the soil damp to moist, but not fully saturated, until full rooting. At that point, ageratum are pretty drought-tolerant, so I go into ignore mode. By July 1st, that will be the case with the dozen cuttings I sprouted.

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