What happens if your sprinkler coverage is too high? Does it seem like your sprinklers overlap too much, covering too much of your lawn and therefore applying too much water? Here’s how you can troubleshoot your spray patterns and get just the right coverage for your lawn to ensure it stays healthy and not waterlogged.
How Much Coverage is Too Much?
First things first, you should determine if your sprinkler coverage actually is too high. The spray of each sprinkler head is actually intended to overlap in order to ensure you never get a dry spot. The spray pattern should look like a series of circles, each of which ends at the center of another circle. That means sprinkler heads should spray water right up to the next head. That might seem like a lot, but that’s what irrigation technicians are going for.
Now, you may have sprinkler heads that actually spray past one another, which means you may have three, or more, sprinklers adding water to the same spot. That is too much water. It is likely that the whole system will have to be adjusted to accommodate the change unless it’s just a single head that has been moved to ruin the pattern.
If you can’t find just one head that is out of order, then you will want to redesign the sprinkler system, working from the outside in, making sure that each head overlaps with the other just enough that the spray from one ends at the head of another. It might be best if you got a professional’s help to design your system and make sure that it will provide proper coverage to your lawn this time around.
But There’s Still Too Much Water On My Lawn
What if you suspect that your lawn is getting too much water,but it looks like your sprinkler coverage is just right? Symptoms that your lawn is water-logged might indicate other problems and not sprinkler coverage. For example, if you notice that your lawn seems overwatered near a slope, water could just be pooling there. An irrigation professional can design the system so that slopes are accounted for.
Other problems that could be behind a waterlogged lawn include:
- Poor soil drainage
- Watering for too long
- Watering during rains
- Malfunctions of smart sprinkler systems
Your irrigation technician can help you troubleshoot and resolve these problems.
What if the Sprinklers Themselves are Too High?
Maybe it’s not that your sprinklers have too much overlap. Perhaps you are actually concerned about the height of your sprinklers. Sprinklers that stick too high out of the ground may get damaged. They may also not get water in the soil directly next to them.If you have this problem, you need to know how to adjust sprinkler heads.
You will need to carefully dig out the sprinkler heads without damaging them or the water pipe running to them. You may need to use a hand trowel for this. Then you should be able to lower the head. If not, a professional can lower it for you.