Cold weather lawn irrigation ?
 

Night temps below 40*F, should the lawn sprinklers be shut off?
It's not going to freeze but wondering if it's bad for the lawn.

I've shut mine off from automatically running. This time of year I'm manually doing my system (running it if it starts getting dry). We are supposed to get rain early Wednesday morning so I won't be using it for awhile.

I outsource this task to my smart irrigation controller (Rachio). It checks the weather reports and decides for me based upon the size of the zone, when it was last watered and what is being watered, lawn or shrubs. Some zones have been skipped, others have not. Unlike a human it has not been wrong, although it was hard to give this task up.

I received this email from Massey today.

This week much of the Southeast is expected to experience freezing temperatures, which can cause severe damage to lawns, trees and shrubs.
* Here are a few tips to take when a freeze is in the forecast:
Irrigate before a frost or freeze to ensure there is proper moisture in the soil root zone, however make sure irrigation is stopped early enough to allow time for leaves to dry to avoid ice forming on them
.*
Cover cold-sensitive plants with blankets or boxes, but not plastic.* Be sure to remove the covering as soon as the temperatures begin to warm up.

Do not mow turf that is frozen, and keep the lawn mowed high.* This can reduce cold injury in two ways.* First, it will promote a deeper root system that will provide greater stress tolerance.* Second, it will create a warmer micro-environment within the lawn.*
Avoid foot traffic and vehicular traffic on frozen turf, as it can increase damage.*

Which weather station is your Rachio using?

It is on top of the Brownwood fire station, across from the Eisenhower Rec center. It is number PWS_TVGLKDTN. There are others in the area as well.

BTW last night Rachio shut off a zone due to cold weather and will skip the next watering cycle based upon the predicted rain. No input from me require what so ever. It will also tell me how much water was saved because the zones were skipped. Of course it tells me how much water was used for the month as well. This is very helpful if you are out of town.

What was approx. cost of Rachio and who installs it, I am interested.

$200.00 on Amazon. Maybe less from other vendors. Pretty easy to install yourself. Also rachio support is good and will help you with the install. Main thing to do is take picture of your existing controller so you know which wires go where.


Amazon offers an installation service for $170.00.


Amazon.com : Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller, WiFi, 8 Zone 2nd Generation, Works with Amazon Alexa : Garden & Outdoor

How did you find that it was on a the Brownwood fire station?

The PWS web site shows it on a house in Collier. Maybe they have the gps coordinates wrong?


PWS - Station Observations for TVLGLKDTN

Last I checked the Rachio was 189.00 on amazon, that was two weeks ago. It looks like it went up 10.00. Yes you can install it yourself, easily. My phone shows the station as the Brownwood fire dept, I always thought it was that or the water tower next to it. Who knows it could be home in the Brownwood area. Point is once you open the app you can choose the weather station that you want to use, I chose this one because it was the closest.

Bottom line for me is technology is great if it: is convenient; saves me time; saves money. Rachio does all three. As an added bonus it does not have the reputation for breaking as the Hunter model does. The hardest part of using it is accepting that it does its job well, I don't have to change the time seasonally or shut the system off for cold weather.

Ditto.