You will need to water more mid-April thru mid-June (hot,dry,windy) than in rain season. 90F with 25% RH and 15 mph wind sucks the life out of everything. Smart sprinkler controllers are just not that smart :)

I'm closing on a house next week. I will be a Snow Bird and not present during the summer. Is it typical for Snow Birds to leave their irrigation systems on during their absence?

I think most snowbirds leave their irrigation system on. However, if you do, you really need an irrigation company, or at least a home watch service to monitor the system. If you have a broken sprinkler head, it will be very difficult to deal with it from out-of-town.

Will, let me encourage you to do a test run on your sprinkler system. Start with the recommended times and see if you get any run off. At the time of the run off, that would be your timeframe for that zone. (Our front yard has a slope to it and water runs off pretty quick. So we have to water that zone with minimal time but more often, not to waste money with it going down the drain.) As others have said, there is no 1 correct answer other than pay attention to your minutes in each zone to see what your grass requires. Sometimes, you might even get help from your neighbors system because it sprays into your yard. My husband is always checking our system and he runs it manually.

Agree on having a irrigation company periodically check the system.

Flume is an option for monitoring your irrigation system. it can easily pay for itself automatically catching one broken head.

Flume Water | Smart Home Water Monitor | Water Leak Detector

Do a tuna can test for each zone.
Every system is different. Times will vary.
St. Aug should get 1"-1-1/2" per week over a couple days.

As others have said you do need to test how much water your sprinkler heads are putting out. My Hunter MP heads takes 45 minutes to put out a 1/2 inch of water. The Lawn Care Nut utube channel recommends 1/2 inch of water every 3 days and that is working well for me. I would also recommend getting a Rachio or other wifi controller and have the rain skip feature turned on.

Snowbird irrigation
 

I only snowbirded for a year, but yes it's typical to leave the irrigation system on. No irrigation and an abnormally dry/hot summer wouldn't be good. I changed out my irrigation controller to a b-hyve which can control from your smart phone. I never had any problem with access to the b-hyve (i.e. dropped wifi etc) in the year I snowbirded or the four years since.

I’ve worked hard to get grass growing in small bare areas. They have filled in pretty well. I don’t want to loose those or have any more begin to appear. With this drought and no appreciable rain in the forecast for at least 45 days I’m currently watering four days a week for 25 minutes in the three main areas of the lawn right now. No runoff so it is soaking into the ground. I’m seeing too many brown lawns that are watering according to the villages suggestion number of days and length of watering time. Every lawn is different and every home owner has different desires how they would like their lawn to look. Should be green. Not brown.

Thanks for the snowbird recommendations.

I check & adjust often as needed.

South of 44 it's wise to install an irrigation filter to minimize clogging of the sprinkler heads.

I'm flushing my filter weekly due to collecting large amounts of sediment and algae with the low retention pond levels.

My irrigation guy said he is replacing far more heads than normal and thinks they may have reduced/stopped filtering and treating irrigation water as a cost savings (unconfirmed...)


Previous thread on irrigation filters.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ter+irrigation

I attended a n irrigation seminar a few years back. I was told that when the ambient temperature gets above 75 degrees F, rotors should be set to water 40 minutes twice a week, and pop-ups 25 minutes twice a week. As others have commented, you should start your irrigation cycle between 3 AM and 4 AM depending on how many zones you have. Starting your irrigation cycle outside that window promotes either excessive evaporation or unwanted fungal growth.

There Are Many Things to Consider
 

Lots of dated info here. Your lawn will tell you when it needs water. Generally 15-20 minutes 3 times a week is not sufficient. Not water turning the day is old school. Golf courses often apply some water during the day to cool the grass down and provide some moisture. Higher evaporation yes but some water during the day when your grass tells you it needs it can be beneficial.