Yard freaks

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

sounds like you got a good start of the season. i'm going to put a little more effort this year on things. i'm being tricked with this nice weather right now and i'm still expecting one more snow dump on us i still need to prune a bunch of my limelight hydrangeas and clean up a lot of last years summer annuals and ornamental grass that's all dead lol.

btw, do you have any drip irrigation? i'm researching on converting my sprinklers in the flower beds to drip. looks pretty simple to do from watching a bunch of Youtube videos. suppose to save water $$$$

No we have a regular irrigation system / no drip but we had a well drilled back in 2003-ish so we are off city water for irrigation only. Well has payed for itself several times over.

[roastbeef]

I spent a good part of the day yesterday replacing sprinklers to 180* heads in the middle of the yard (pointing towards the wall). I capped three heads along the house side. Our house faces south and blocks the sun, so half of the lawn doesn't get enough water and half gets way too much. The slight slope doesn't help either.
My wife wants artificial grass, and I don't. I told her to give me the summer to resurrect the grass and she agreed. We also have two big dogs, which don't help.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

I spent a good part of the day yesterday replacing sprinklers to 180* heads in the middle of the yard (pointing towards the wall). I capped three heads along the house side. Our house faces south and blocks the sun, so half of the lawn doesn't get enough water and half gets way too much. The slight slope doesn't help either.
My wife wants artificial grass, and I don't. I told her to give me the summer to resurrect the grass and she agreed. We also have two big dogs, which don't help.

did you do any kind of overseeding in the fall?

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

did you do any kind of overseeding in the fall?

I just put some seeds down, but I fell like I'm lazy about it. I just put seeds in a spreader and that's that. I might sprinkle some earth worm castings around, but I'm not aerating like I should.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

I spent a good part of the day yesterday replacing sprinklers to 180* heads in the middle of the yard (pointing towards the wall). I capped three heads along the house side. Our house faces south and blocks the sun, so half of the lawn doesn't get enough water and half gets way too much. The slight slope doesn't help either.
My wife wants artificial grass, and I don't. I told her to give me the summer to resurrect the grass and she agreed. We also have two big dogs, which don't help.

Just fyi Hunter and Rainbird both make heads (i.e. RainBird 5004+) that you have flow control so you can use them when needed and shut down when not. I'm an irrigation contractor and between that and nozzle changes it usually solves the problem. Capping can cause issues in the long term if the heads are ever needed again from landscape changes or if you are somewhere that winterizations are needed.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

Just fyi Hunter and Rainbird both make heads (i.e. RainBird 5004+) that you have flow control so you can use them when needed and shut down when not. I'm an irrigation contractor and between that and nozzle changes it usually solves the problem. Capping can cause issues in the long term if the heads are ever needed again from landscape changes or if you are somewhere that winterizations are needed.

Good to know, thanks. We have lived here for two years now. We're in SoCal, so there's not really winter care here.
The problem we have is the house creates shade in a large part of the yard year round. It is kiddy year round as a result. My wife understandably hates it because the dogs track it in the house. I suppose I could mark where the heads were in case my plan falls apart...I didn't see anything that had a shutoff feature at Home Depot but i also wasn't looking for that.
Also, when looking for the nicest pop-up heads they had, orbit seemed better than rainbird. The rainbirds were all plastic, and the orbit at least had a brass head.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Good to know, thanks. We have lived here for two years now. We're in SoCal, so there's not really winter care here.
The problem we have is the house creates shade in a large part of the yard year round. It is kiddy year round as a result. My wife understandably hates it because the dogs track it in the house. I suppose I could mark where the heads were in case my plan falls apart...I didn't see anything that had a shutoff feature at Home Depot but i also wasn't looking for that.
Also, when looking for the nicest pop-up heads they had, orbit seemed better than rainbird. The rainbirds were all plastic, and the orbit at least had a brass head.

Try SiteOne for getting your irrigation supplies. The stuff from the home stores aren't actually the same products as what a pro uses, look the same until you pick them up.

If you were able to get a brass nozzle I'm guessing it was a spray head? Most of Orbits products are junk but that nozzle is well made. That said there is a screw on the top middle of the nozzle that you can turn clockwise to shut the flow off without changing anything (on the old nozzles you likely had and the Orbit). Was it a Rainbird 1800 head with VAN nozzle?

If you have plastic VAN nozzles look into upgrading them to Hunter Mp Rotors, you won't have to change the head. That alone would solve much of the water issues since they lay the water down at a more controlled rate, aren't affected by wind, and use 30% less water. They are plastic but protected by a stainless steel collar. You can also adjust the distance and arch for precise watering. All of our systems use those and most new clients are converted over to them due to the issues you are experiencing. That's all I use at my house as well since my lawn is shaded and we also have pets. Only cost about $7 a piece and you'll be amazed as soon as you put them in.

Hope that helps and love that back hill landscape!

[roastbeef]

Thanks for that! If I ever do a full swap, I'll go that route. This is what I got and I have a few more left over. They seem to be ok, but we'll see how they hold up.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Thanks for that! If I ever do a full swap, I'll go that route. This is what I got and I have a few more left over. They seem to be ok, but we'll see how they hold up.

Yep, those MP Rotors nozzles work on those spray heads, adjustable to 0 flow if needed on your current nozzles.

[Mosaud1998]

What lawn?

All I see in my area/state is snow and dead grass

[UncleWede]

Cut the second major trunk of the bacon avo tree, and the magic avo-man put 2 more Hass graphs, then topped the first two he did a few months ago. Now it's all Hass above 2.5' off the ground. He recommended triple-15 and when I brought out the bag he said"can't store that in the garage". I was stumped. "Needs to be spread at the edge of the canopy

Told all the rose buds they were beautiful as I stroked them. Already had to snap off the first couple of hips.

Chile and tomatoes are in the ground. Peas I planted in Nov are tasting GOOD

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

Just fyi Hunter and Rainbird both make heads (i.e. RainBird 5004+) that you have flow control so you can use them when needed and shut down when not. I'm an irrigation contractor and between that and nozzle changes it usually solves the problem. Capping can cause issues in the long term if the heads are ever needed again from landscape changes or if you are somewhere that winterizations are needed.

awesome an irrigation contractor! quick question lol if you could take the time to answer i'm converting my flower beds against the house sprinkler system to drip. i know how to do the conversion but wanted to know about a particular section i don't know what to do about? in the center of my horse shoe driveway i have a flower bed that surrounded by grass so there's 4 sprinklers all around it that waters both the grass and the flower bed in the middle. well, even with all the adjustments and what not i can't get all my flowers, shrubs and what not watered in correctly. can i tap off one of the sprinkler heads with a drip system and still be able to run the other 3 sprinklers or will that cause an issue with water pressure? i tried searching in Youtube but no luck appreciate it

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

awesome an irrigation contractor! quick question lol if you could take the time to answer i'm converting my flower beds against the house sprinkler system to drip. i know how to do the conversion but wanted to know about a particular section i don't know what to do about? in the center of my horse shoe driveway i have a flower bed that surrounded by grass so there's 4 sprinklers all around it that waters both the grass and the flower bed in the middle. well, even with all the adjustments and what not i can't get all my flowers, shrubs and what not watered in correctly. can i tap off one of the sprinkler heads with a drip system and still be able to run the other 3 sprinklers or will that cause an issue with water pressure? i tried searching in Youtube but no luck appreciate it

Absolutely. If they are spray heads you can actually get a kit that screws on in place of the nozzle to use drip line. The head will need to be pressure reducing like a Hunter Pro Spray PRS-40. Drip actually takes very little flow to run. Now the thing is drip needs to run much longer than over head irrigation so you will fight wet and dry spots. I would recommend whats called blank drip and then use high flow point emitters to each plant.

Now if the heads are Rotors like RainBird 5000s or Hunter PGA then you will have to tap into the existing below ground line and add a drip pressure reducer.

Is the valve for the heads in the same area or on the other side of the driveway?

[Dlpfcb]

Originally Posted by Savageenterprise

Just finished this up a couple weeks ago, my backyard is now completed. Already had a couple good fires, so happy with the way everything turned out.

Anyone know what kind of tree this is?

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

Absolutely. If they are spray heads you can actually get a kit that screws on in place of the nozzle to use drip line. The head will need to be pressure reducing like a Hunter Pro Spray PRS-40. Drip actually takes very little flow to run. Now the thing is drip needs to run much longer than over head irrigation so you will fight wet and dry spots. I would recommend whats called blank drip and then use high flow point emitters to each plant.

Now if the heads are Rotors like RainBird 5000s or Hunter PGA then you will have to tap into the existing below ground line and add a drip pressure reducer.

Is the valve for the heads in the same area or on the other side of the driveway?

i have 2 rainbirds on order since HD, Lowes and Menards don't carry anything in stock that replace the existing heads for the drip system so i know what you're talking about when it comes to that for the flower beds around the house. but i see what you're saying for what i may need to do for the center lot. i will see how i can do this...thanks again!

[spazzyfry123]

We've got centipede that was once thriving under my care, but now looks like hell. I mean it was yard of the month for the HOA a few months in a row it was looking so good. At the end of last year's season, I think I had a fungus issue as I was traveling for about three weeks with effectively nonstop rain. Grass went from a cut every five days or so to about 20 days. When I did cut, pretty certain I unknowingly spread the fungus around and did some damage throughout. Also cut a bit more than 1/3 blade length when doing so. Wild to think a year's worth of work to get it to top shape went to shit in a matter of a couple weeks.

TruGreen now takes care of the lawn - with our newborn I just needed a break from it for a year, but there are some areas that are just flat dead or have been replaced by crab grass and broadleaf. While I am disappointed in the weed issues with TruGreen, I think we are working to a resolution. That said, if the fungus created the dead areas, I'm not entirely sure how accountable they can be for this and I'd like to get ahead of it to get things on track.

Considering Scotts' EZ Seed Patch and Repair ( LINK ) for the affected areas (some patches with nothing, some are replaced entirely with crabgrass, and effectively my whole backyard is just dead grass), but wondering if I should just plan to seed the whole yard given it is a bit more widespread. I see Scotts offers their Turf Builder Grass Seed and Mulch ( LINK ), but this is full-resto mode.

What's the best plan of attack here? Wait for the weeds to die out and then seed? Should I go ahead and seed? Tough to know how to approach this as TruGreen will be doing their thing in parallel.

Edit - tossing in a couple pictures. Disregard leaves. Having huge oaks is always a challenge in the beginning of spring

[bosstones]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

Try SiteOne for getting your irrigation supplies. The stuff from the home stores aren't actually the same products as what a pro uses, look the same until you pick them up.

Yeeeees! We had irrigation put in throughout our yard last fall and found a local SiteOne as recommended by the project coordinator from the irrigation company. The irrigation company ran all the in-ground supply hoses and valves we needed. Wife and I got all the hose, couplers, adapters, etc... we needed.

It wasn't bad installing ourselves and worth it to save the extra $$$. The couplings were a PITA to install in the supply hoses but there were only a few we had to tap into.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by bosstones

Yeeeees! We had irrigation put in throughout our yard last fall and found a local SiteOne as recommended by the project coordinator from the irrigation company. The irrigation company ran all the in-ground supply hoses and valves we needed. Wife and I got all the hose, couplers, adapters, etc... we needed.

It wasn't bad installing ourselves and worth it to save the extra $$$. The couplings were a PITA to install in the supply hoses but there were only a few we had to tap into.

It's so funny that you are saying this as I just received an email from a client wanting to do just that. They are a current client and are trying to help their daughter out so her new sod can be watered. I'm not really inclined to do such but I may for him since I know of their situation.

How much did they give you off if I may ask? Their project was going to be around $6k for just the lawn.

[bosstones]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

It's so funny that you are saying this as I just received an email from a client wanting to do just that. They are a current client and are trying to help their daughter out so her new sod can be watered. I'm not really inclined to do such but I may for him since I know of their situation.

How much did they give you off if I may ask? Their project was going to be around $6k for just the lawn.

Ha! I'd have to see if we got a discount from SiteOne. I don't remember what we dropped there but I want to say it was several hundred bucks between several large spools of drip line, couplers, staples, etc... I think the spools were something like 100ft or 150ft of hose each.

The irrigation company would've charged several bucks per square foot to install the drip lines vice the several cents per sq ft it cost us to buy and install the material ourselves.

Or did you mean the cost of the lawn irrigation itself?

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by bosstones

Ha! I'd have to see if we got a discount from SiteOne. I don't remember what we dropped there but I want to say it was several hundred bucks between several large spools of drip line, couplers, staples, etc... I think the spools were something like 100ft or 150ft of hose each.

The irrigation company would've charged several bucks per square foot to install the drip lines vice the several cents per sq ft it cost us to buy and install the material ourselves.

Or did you mean the cost of the lawn irrigation itself?

The cost itself. Our mark up on supplies is 250% so I'm sure you saved money lol. So you're totally drip then? Here we have to pull all pipe underground and use overhead watering due to the size of the lawns. I know some places are doing all drip which is so much better for the environment!

[bosstones]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

The cost itself. Our mark up on supplies is 250% so I'm sure you saved money lol. So you're totally drip then? Here we have to pull all pipe underground and use overhead watering due to the size of the lawns. I know some places are doing all drip which is so much better for the environment!

Not all drip. We have:
1. drip in the landscaped areas
2. 'supply infrastructure' (stubbed lines) for drip in future planned landscape areas
3. sprinkler & mist heads in all the grass areas (excluding future landscape areas + back easement)
4. below ground, quick-coupler hose bibs in...3 locations. These things are awesome! No more dragging multiple hoses.

I forget how many total zones but I want to say it is something like 14 grass, 3-4 drip, 3 hose bib, and 3-4 stubbed zones. All sprawled over a ~32k sq ft yard.

I probably need to refactor 2 of the drip zones so the spruce and birch are grouped together and the tall grasses are separate but I guess I can always stub the tall grass areas once they are established.

[nyalpine90]

how difficult is replacing sprinkler head?

landscapers are next door, will be getting estimate from them.
my lawn needs help,