Best practices
Distribution Uniformity
In the “business” we call this DU, in layman’s terms we refer to this as “the negligent neighbor letting water run down the gutter twice a week.” Ideally an irrigation system is applying water where the landscape needs it most, the root system. The accuracy in delivering irrigation water is measured by uniformity dubbed, DU.
Point Source Emitters
Point source emitters, or button emitters are a simple irrigation component designed to deliver a consistent amount of water from inside supply tubing to the emitters output. Controlling precisely where water is delivered assists with substantial weed reduction.
Streaming Rotary Nozzles
Conventional nozzles, by design, produce smaller water droplets to irrigate close to a nozzle’s inner radius. Modern day nozzles have moving parts that work together to throw streams at different trajectories and lower emission rates. By applying water at lower rates soil is allowed much needed saturation time. Streams of water also assist in the reduction of irrigation wind waste.
Filtration
Point source emitters and drip irrigation distribute water at a very slow rate, this dramatic reduction in delivery can lead to orifice clogging. To reduce the risk of clogging, filtering and flushing is necessary. Proper installs filters on valves and flush valves on end caps, this provides each drip station with adequate prefiltering and post flushing.
Pressure Regulated Heads
Streaming rotary nozzles are reliant on a consistent amount of pressure, and water, to deliver droplets perfectly within the nozzles spray pattern. The combination of a pressure regulated head and streaming rotary nozzle can lead to 90% DU, which translates to 90% of the water leaving the nozzle ending up where it’s needed.
LED Landscape Lighting
Design capabilities with LED landscape lighting make system expansion and initial low-cost installation economical. Like an irrigation system, the idea is to use as little as possible and get as much as possible. LED lighting allows this and nothing is without its vulnerability, lightning strikes miles away can create failures in LED boards.
Smart Controllers
An irrigation schedule should change with the weather, smart controllers allow this to happen. Proper uses smart controllers to triangulate weather data and optimize scheduling. Remote management is crucial with Florida’s microclimates!