Rain gauges and sensors could be lawn’s new best friends

The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Jul 25, 2010 | by MARY REID BARROW
By Mary Reid Barrow
Correspondent

Buy a rain gauge. That’s what Susan French, a Virginia Beach Cooperative Extension agent , thinks is the best thing a gardener can do to conserve water this summer.
And if you have an automatic irrigation system, the best thing you can do is purchase a rain sensor, said Roy Burton of Burton Well Drilling in Virginia Beach.
Both pieces of advice make good sense, especially in this dry, droughty summer, but rain gauges and sensors also make good sense year round. Too much water can be harmful to your plants – and no one wants to waste a valuable natural resource like water for any reason.
“I’m a proponent of rain gauges,” French said. “It rained some last (night), and when I woke up, the ground was wet, but there was hardly any water in the rain gauge.”
That meant the humidity in the air kept the ground wet, but no water actually reached the plants, she explained. The rain gauge told the truth about the amount of rain that fell that evening.
On the other hand, an inch of water a week, more or less, is all that’s needed to keep landscape plants and turf grass happy, French said. So if your rain gauge tells you that an inch of water fell the night before, then you can rest easy about watering for a little while.
Folks with automatic irrigation systems usually don’t have to worry about watering too little. Their issue is watering too much, according to Burton.
“There should be a law that everybody who has an irrigation system should have a rain sensor,” Burton said.
Burton is working hard now to adjust pressure in his clients’ wells all over the area because the water table normally gets low in the summer and more so in this droughty one. Then, he said, it irks him to drive out after a rain and see water being wasted.
“I see all these water systems running like it’s OK,” Burton said.
LaVerne Crown , who lives in Virginia Beach’s Great Neck section, is one of Burton’s clients. She has an automated watering system and was having trouble with her well recently. She called Burton, who adjusted the well pressure to accommodate a lower water table, and then told her about the importance of a rain sensor.
“I had never heard of it,” Crown said. “When we are home and notice that it is raining, we turn our system off, but when we are away, we can’t check it.”
After talking with Burton, Crown has placed an order for a rain sensor with Gentle Rain Irrigation Co. in Virginia Beach. One of the owners, Ben Hancock , said his company offers sensors with all of its automatic irrigation systems now, but that many systems without sensors can be retrofitted with one.
Depending on how the systems are programmed, a sensor usually cancels out the next irrigation cycle after a rain.
It doesn’t make sense for people to have automatic irrigation systems without rain sensors, Hancock said. Most people have their systems programmed to come on at 5 a.m.
“Who’s going to get up and turn the system off at that hour if it’s raining?” Hancock asked.
Hancock said rain sensors, which run around $140 installed, not only save water but also save money. You will save on your water bill if you use city water. If you use well water, you will save money because you use less electricity to run the pump and you put less wear and tear on your pump motor.
“If the good Lord is doing the job, let him do it,” Hancock said.
Mary Reid Barrow, barrow1@cox.net
a drop or two
Virginia Beach Cooperative Extension agent Susan French offers these watering tips:
* Empty your rain gauge between rains. One, you can’t accurately measure more than one rainfall, because some water will evaporate between rains. Two, a partially filled gauge can be a haven for mosquitoes to breed.
* If your vegetables are well composted they may not even need an inch of rain a week. “Compost holds a lot of water, so you have to watch out not to overwater,” French said.
* Water in the early morning. In the middle of the day, you can lose as much as 70 to 90 percent of your water to evaporation. If you water late in the day, you are creating a home for plant disease.
* If you must water in the late afternoon, water just the roots with a hose or watering can, plant by plant. Don’t use the sprinkler late in the day.
* Mulch wherever possible and use a soaker hose or drip irrigation if possible.
* Plant perennials in the fall so they will get a good start in cooler, wetter weather and won’t be so needy in the summer. a drop or two
Virginia Beach Extension agent Susan French offers these watering tips:
Empty your rain gauge between rains for two reasons. One, you can’t accurately measure more than one rainfall, because some water will evaporate between rains. Two, a partially filled gauge can be a haven for mosquitoes to breed.
If your vegetables are well composted they may not even need an inch of rain a week.
“Compost holds a lot of water, so you have to watch out not to over water,” French said.
Water in the early morning. In the middle of the day, you can lose as much as 70 to 90 percent of your water to evaporation. If you water late in the day, you are creating a home for plant disease.
“A lot of diseases thrive in a moist, dark environment,” French said.
If you come home in the late afternoon and your flowers or veggies look really wilted and you can’t refrain from watering until the next morning, use a triage approach, French said. Water just the roots with a hose or watering can, plant by plant. Don’t use the sprinkler late in the day.
Mulch wherever possible, and use soaker hose or drip irrigation if possible.
Plant perennials in the fall so they will get a good start in cooler, wetter weather and won’t be so needy in the summer.

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