Irrigation Maintenance

Irrigation of gardens is wide spread these days and I believe the right way to go about keeping your investment well fed.

There are definite improvements taking place as well, especially for the residential garden with fewer sprayers being installed and more focus on drip feeders and micro sprayers.

Pop-ups are still the preferred method of keeping your lawn in good condition aside from surprising the dogs.

Micro sprayers and drip feeders are definitely a better choice in terms of effective water usage and of course initial cost.

The down side is that the maintenance level is higher as they clog and wear out quicker than other types of sprayers.

They are however easy to service and maintain and it is really a case of understanding how your irrigation system works.

Some of us have simple installations that require you to connect to your tap and turn it on for a period of time. Checking each nozzle in this manner is straight forward and replacement is easy provided you purchased a supply of them from your local garden shop, hardware store or Agri centre. It can also be quite a wet undertaking but this is no hardship in summer.

Should you have a computer controlled irrigation system you need not live in fear of this technology as to check the system you need not even touch the computer.

Merely locate the box that contains the valves for the various spray circuits which should be buried fairly close to your water supply and computer.

Inside there will be a number of valves dependent on the size of your garden. They should have a projection with some wires protruding.

Being careful not to damage the wires you can now turn this protrusion until you hear water gushing and see which sprayers come to life.

Open and close these valves one at a time to establish which valve controls which circuit and then systematically turn on one circuit at a time and check each sprayer on the line for wear or damage if it is not performing correctly.

Pop-ups can be unscrewed carefully making sure that you do not unscrew the riser (the pie that is attached to the buried black plastic piping) to which it is attached. Also make sure that no parts spring into the surrounding foliage. Wash the sprayer and check for blockages before replacing.

Micro sprayers can be replaced if in any way defective.

Remember to close all valves after completing your inspection and maintenance as the computer will take over the function when it is required to so and an open valve will create problems.