Save More/Do More

Desert landscaping is designed to save water. Targeted irrigation applies water directly where it is needed instead of broadcasting its contents across a large indiscriminate area. When it is installed correctly, this system has the potential to save our Valley vast quantities of water per year. This is why our local water authority (SNWA) has been offering rebate incentives to replace inefficient systems with Water Smart designs. However, without proper attention paid to the installation, operation and programming of the system, a lot of what could be save is wasted instead.

Improper Installation:

More than likely, it is too late to economically fix this if your system has already been installed. But, if you are looking to convert or upgrade your system, please take the following items into consideration and make sure whoever you have installing the system quotes you and installs correctly.

Dissimilar plants on a single valves. Not all plants require the same amount of water. Drought tolerant Cacti and water thirsty Daises, for instance, should never be programmed together. Trees and shrubs, similarly, should have  independent valves when installed. The more complex your landscape, the more complex your irrigation system should be. At a minimum, select different emitter flows (in gallons per hour) to regulate irrigation rates to different plants.

Emitters should never be placed at the base of the plant. Roots spread out from the plant and your irrigation should too. Too much moisture at the base of the plant can create a stunted root system and crown rot.

Broken Lines:

A lot of people I have met are intimidated by the little black hose that brings water to their plants. They know they have a leak because they can see the water pooling in their landscape, or their water bill is higher than it normally is, but they lack the knowledge or desire to find and fix the problem. Months can pass because its easy to forget something you don't see daily. Sometimes, you don't even realize you have a leak. Emitters can pop out of the line and a small geyser of water sprays aimlessly into the air.

Two simple ways you can eliminate water wasted through broken lines.

One: Check your system regularly. Turn the stations on either at the valve if you know how or from the clock. This should be done at a minimum monthly during the summer and quarterly the rest of the year.

Two: Program your controller to water when you know you'll be at home during the daylight hours. Drip irrigation is not the same as spray irrigation in that watering during the hottest parts of the day is not necessarily the worst thing you can do. It is better to water when you are awake and present to see that shooting stream of water flying across your landscape.

Fixing broken lines can be as simple as replacing a broken emitter and the tools are not expensive. Or, you can always pay a professional to do it for you.

Improper Programming:

There are some individuals out there that feel having a drip system is saving enough water and there is no subsequent need to change their watering habits Spring, Winter, Fall or Summer. Seven days a week. Rain, snow or shine. These homeowners are probably not reading this and therefore I will not delve any further into this portion of the topic.

However, for the rest of us, there is some misunderstandings and sometimes misguided information available to you. The SNWA, in an attempt to aide homeowners in scheduling their controllers have mandated certain watering days. Winter months (November thru February) allow for one day per week watering. In Spring and Fall you get three days and from May thru August 31st you can water whatever day you want.

This is helpful in reminding people that water is less necessary in the cooler months of our year, but it is based mostly on the least common denominator in landscapes which is lawns. Desert landscaping, which is often comprised of desert plants, can and should be watered less frequently than grass. Three deep soakings per week during the hottest of summer months will create a healthy environment for your plant's roots. Weeks without water during our cool, often damp, winter months will only strengthen your plants further.

It is important to be involved with your landscape, even if you have a personal landscaper to tend to the more menial of tasks, to maximize your water savings. Don't allow yourself, or your neighbor to be content with saving a little. Save more by doing more.

Dog Spot Disease

I have been asked by many homeowners who also own dogs ,especially large dogs, what they can do to eliminate the patches of brown in their lawns. Unfortunately, my answer is always, "not much". Dog Spot Disease is created by the concentration of salts (NO3) in a canine's urine. Unless the salts are immediately pushed through the soil by applying water to the area, the effect is a dead spot. The bigger the dog, the bigger the spot.

Here is an article that discusses a few possible remedy's.

http://www.doodycalls.com/resources_treat_yard_health_brownspots.asp

Winter Conditioning

Now that our winter season is fully upon us, it is the perfect time to maximize water savings and begin the conditioning process to strengthen your plants.

Use the following tips to begin driving your roots deeper into our soils.

1) If your controller isn't already programmed this way, separate any lawn areas and plants onto separate programs. Example, all overhead spray stations should be programmed on Program A while all drip stations are in Program B. This allows you flexibility to set your station start times differently during the growing season.

2) Make sure your Station Start Times are set to come on no earlier than 8:00 AM. This prevents your sprinklers coming on too early on cold mornings which could freeze your plants and create unwanted runoff.

3) Turn your controller off every other week. Most controllers do not allow for anything more complicated than a seven day programming cycle, but cooler weather gives you the ability to stretch your watering cycles further apart without the fear of death.

4) If you do not have any lawn areas, you could easily get by with one good soaking every 21-28 days. Make sure your run times are adequate enough to fully soak the root area. I recommend two cycles of 60 minutes with most drip nozzles for a total of two hours (2 GPH nozzles X 2 Hours = 4 Gallons/emitter).

5) Monitor your plants daily. If they begin to show signs of wilting, increase your cycle times or give them an extra start time.

Remember, winter is the perfect season to stress your plants without the immediate fear of death or decline. It will make your plants stronger, healthier and more adapted to the arid climate we live in.

Green, with Envy

What makes a lawn care company, such as mine, "green"? Is it the use of battery powered equipment? The water conservation practices I provide to my customers? Or is it the composting of the green waste I collect from my weekly en devours that allows me to promote Ecoscapes as a friend of the environment? In part, I guess all of these make Ecoscapes greener than the other guys. But does that really make me "green"?

I do, after all, need to do a little bit of travel to visit each customer. This requires a truck, which consumes fuel and adds to the same carbon emission levels I'm trying to reduce. Also, the batteries in my equipment aren't charged by the sun. They're plugged in nightly at my office, pulling resources from the power grid which more than likely generates its energy from the burning of fossil fuels. There is a lot to take into consideration to be considered "green".

I considered each of these factors when I formulated the concept behind Ecoscapes of Las Vegas. I want to be the greenest of the green. The gold standard for the environmental services I offer. I'm not doing it to get in on the latest fad. I am doing it because I genuinely care about the world we live in. I have been a passive environmentalist all of my life and now I have the opportunity to do something to actually help. But, would there be a market for it in Las Vegas?

The answer, I learned quickly, was that there wasn't. At least not for a Sierra Club certified company like I was proposing. Most potential customers who are willing to sacrifice certain details of a truly hardcore environmental lawn care company, would probably not agree with the mode of transportation needed to get the people and machines to their homes and would simply haul the man powered push mower out each weekend to cut their lawns themselves. Or, being that "its a desert out there", wouldn't have much to maintain in the first place.

A good business professional may not agree, but I decided that I wasn't willing to compromise my position towards protecting the environment. Maybe I needed to re-think my approach. After looking around and evaluating the potential competition, I decided that my services were as good, if not better than anything that was out there. So why did I need to solely promote my "green" side when I could simply show people that being green did not mean compromising having green?

And thus, Ecoscapes of Las Vegas was born. Our slogan, "Lawn care is our business, the environment is our concern" is more than just a marketing ploy. The most hardcore environmentalist may take issue with a couple things, but at the core of everything thing we do is the belief that we are truly making the place in which we live a better place. And to us, that count for something.

Kicking the Habit

Many people in the valley, both professionals and homeowners alike, wrongfully believe that a cool season grass such as tall fescue needs constant watering to survive our harsh desert summers. I do not subscribe to the same philosophy and over the next few entries hope to prove to you how it can be done with a little preparation and conditioning.

Most landscape professional use a diet heavy on nitrogen and water to maintain a lush, green lawn. This is the easiest and quickest way to provide their customers with what appears to be a healthy lawn through most of the seasons. Unfortunately, after a few years on this meal plan, the lawn begins to become infested with weeds and often experiences disease and death. At this point, the lawn care provider can up-sell the customer to include a herbicide program to keep the weeds in check; seed or sod to replace the dead turf; and of course more fertilizer to help weak grass recover during the hot months of summer. It also makes the grass dependent upon these inputs and it will show signs of stress when one or the other is not applied frequently enough.

A truly healthy lawn begins at the roots. Roots will search for water, driving deeper into the soil and branching widely, when it is not excessively available at the surface. When water is constantly present, ignoring for a moment the anaerobic ramifications that can occur, which is a topic for another discussion, the roots find no advantage in penetrating the soil and the majority of its mass is located close to the surface. After that consistent water, if the water were to disappear for a day or two, the roots can not handle such a condition because they have not built the support system and the plant goes into stress. Conversely, where the plant has already been stressed and the roots are deep within the surrounding soil, after a day or two without watering, the plant can more readily access water that is present in the lower profile.

Fall is a perfect time to begin transitioning your lawn from a thirsty water abuser, to a drought tolerant survivor. As the temperatures begin cooling down, evaportranspiration rates allow you to start slowly weening your lawn off of its crutch. Below are the basic principles you want to follow when setting your irrigation controller.

1. Deep, infrequent watering it paramount to developing and maintaining a healthy root system.  Allowing the soil to dry out between watering cycles forces the roots to drive deeper into the soil in search of water.
2. Cycle/Soak is the process of allowing one cycle of water to soak into the ground before the next round is applied. This reduces wasteful runoff and helps drives salt buildup through the soil profile. Watering cycles should be spaced at least one hour apart. More if you have heavy soils that do not drain well, less if your soil drains rapidly.
3. Watering early in the morning reduces water loss due to environmental conditions. Watering in the evening promotes disease and pests. 
4. Always set your drip irrigation and lawn irrigation on separate programs in your clock (A vs B).  Most irrigation clocks allow for this option.  This allows you flexibility in how you water two distinctly different zones. 
5. Drip irrigation should run in a similar fashion, where the first run soaks the rootzone, is allowed to settle into the soil, then the second round is applied, pushing the water even deeper into the soil.
6. General guideline is 3-5 minute runs on turf (every lawn is different and should be adjusted based on your observations and historical knowledge) and 30-45 minutes for drip (again, there are a wide variety of emitters out there.  Know your flow before setting your time.)

A properly programmed and operating irrigation system will allow you to condition your lawn to handle the harsh summer weather of Southern Nevada.

JM

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog.

My hope is, through this publication, I can help keep you informed on what Ecoscapes of Las Vegas is doing as a company to fulfill our personal commitment to protecting the enviroment as well as helpful tips and suggestions on how you can help.