We are planning our house rebuild after our recent house fire. Basically starting from dirt on a typical residential lot in north SA. It's 1/3 acre and we will lose some yard with a bigger footprint on the new house.

I'm thinking about skipping the irrigation system but don't know if that's a stupid idea. I've inherited systems in both of our last two houses and they've been more of a pain in the ass than anything. Valve box locations were almost always a mystery and felt like I was constantly dealing with busted heads and various other issues.

I pretty much just started using the hose-end oscillating sprinklers and just managing with those plus hand watering.

Do y'all think having a new system where I know everything is mapped out and hopefully done right would eliminate a lot of those problems?

Lawn was St. Augustine but I guess we will put in some kind of zoysia since we are starting over. It's a pretty shaded lot.

Been putting systems in since 2017, and I've never seen any issues with any of them. If done right they are very maintenance free outside of minor adjustments and such. Valves typically last 15+ years.

Make sure they put all heads on funny pipe (swing joints), and use waterproof wire connectors. In that area especially, I would strongly encourage all PRS heads (pressure regulator in each head) for water conservation.

Thanks for the replies. I guess my post was kind of silly because as I was typing it out and thinking about having first hand knowledge of where everything is this time I realized that loan would make things a lot better. I know it's much better to get one put in before we do all the landscaping so I guess it's a no-brainer.

Thanks for the tips on the install. I'll make sure to check those things.

Hunter HydraWise controllers ftw….awesome app and WiFi enabled.

If you are doing gardens in front I might look into drip lines for them vs traditional spray heads to avoid potential fungal issues on plants from watering over the top

Astroag said:

---

Hunter HydraWise controllers ftw….awesome app and WiFi enabled.

If you are doing gardens in front I might look into drip lines for them vs traditional spray heads to avoid potential fungal issues on plants from watering over the top

---

It's all I use. The other plus is the contractor plan to where I'm able to manage my customers

mAgnoliAg said:

---

Been putting systems in since 2017, and I've never seen any issues with any of them. If done right they are very maintenance free outside of minor adjustments and such. Valves typically last 15+ years.

Make sure they put all heads on funny pipe (swing joints), and use waterproof wire connectors. In that area especially, I would strongly encourage all PRS heads (pressure regulator in each head) for water conservation.

---

As someone who works in the lawn care industry, "high efficiency heads" like MP rotators are the one of the more annoying things we deal with.

Thisguy1:

What issues have you had with the Hunter MP Rotators? I replaced my Rain Bird spray bodies and Rotators with Hunter MP Rotators about 3 years ago and have not had any issues so far. I have been in my 26 yr old house 11 years and am in the process of changing out the Rain Bird valves with Hunter PGS-101 valves. I can't tell if the Rain Bird valves are original to the house, but if so, they lasted many years before one failed recently. I just happen to like Hunter Sprinkler.

Maintaining a sprinkler system is not difficult. There are lots of YouTube videos to fix just about sprinkler problem. I would recommend installing a new system. Just make sure your valve cover lids stay visible, and you won't have a problem when repairs are required.

I didn't know where 4 of my 8 valves were located in my yard. A sprinkler company came out about a month ago and found them within about 20 minutes.

The biggest issue I see is our customers do not know how to use them. The idea and purpose behind them is fine. They almost handle a cycle and soak method which is great for our soil in BCS. But I guarantee you in a couple of months I'm going to start going to houses of customers of ours who are telling me their grass is dying and it's because they are watering zones with MP rotors for 1/3 of the time that they should because they're used to old school heads.

It's all about water output, not times. MP rotors and similar high efficiency heads take a lot more time to get the water output you need when the good lord shuts off the rain for a month or two here at a time. They also require more heads, which ends up in heads malfunctioning and more hot spots for customers that aren't on top of their irrigation systems.

I am not an irrigation expert. I deal in turfgrass. MP rotors cause a lot of headaches.

Get one, just document clearly where everything is and spend some time upfront learning from the installer. Hand watering and sprinklers are not going to cut it when the real heat hits. Your yard will be trash and your foundation is likely to suffer too

You might have time to hand water but future home owners will likely hate not having an irrigation system already installed.

Thisguy1 said:

---

mAgnoliAg said:

---

Been putting systems in since 2017, and I've never seen any issues with any of them. If done right they are very maintenance free outside of minor adjustments and such. Valves typically last 15+ years.

Make sure they put all heads on funny pipe (swing joints), and use waterproof wire connectors. In that area especially, I would strongly encourage all PRS heads (pressure regulator in each head) for water conservation.

---

As someone who works in the lawn care industry, "high efficiency heads" like MP rotators are the one of the more annoying things we deal with.

---

Ah yes let's keep wasting half of all of the water used in this industry that is already the highest residential user just because we don't want to pay $5 more per head or educate our customers on how to run the damn things.

We educate, it just a lot of educating. I understand they serve purpose.

The price of the heads is never the issue.

Thisguy1 said:

---

We educate, it just a lot of educating. I understand they serve purpose.

The price of the heads is never the issue.

---

I'm not just talking about you. Industry wide people absolutely install standard heads in their systems because of price.

I have a copy of the Hunter product manual, so I look up the water output tables for the mp rotators. Off the top of my head, I believe they generally put out .4"/hr vs .8"/hr for a sprayhead, so I run them twice as long as a sprayhead. I can water twice a week where I live, so I shoot for .5" per watering or 1" per week.

I initially made the same mistake after changing over to mp rotators and not running them long enough to achieve .5" per station. I figured that out after checking out the specs.

Even with the lower rate on the MPs I still do cycle and soak. The Rachio controller makes this really easy and I would assume other modern controllers do as well. The cycle and soak runs for a portion of the schedule then stops to let the first water soak in and break some of the surface tension of the soil, then the rest of the cycle runs a little after that.

1 acre, no drinking water costs sent to water vegetaion outside except by hoses in drought.
Saves on drinking water concerns & eventually costs if everyone could do same.
Contributing to water table via self-waste management aka septic system (moot in your case).

Land.arch designed our xeriscape surroundings, some minor rainbarrel practices, R.O. water minimal backup.
Remainder share & evergreen trees (if your HOA permits).

Yes, this mybe a tangent to your specifics not yet fully understood but
it may be a forced future for all of us running out of resources, often wasted
and could include gray & rain water systems to irrigate .. .even stabilize foundations.

Food for thought

We're about to re-do our dirt yard in Northwood. Going with a lot of rock and ground covering. I read recently that clover is becoming popular? Doesn't seem hardy enough to with stand playing in the yard.

Quote:

---

I read recently that clover is becoming popular? Doesn't seem hardy enough to with stand playing in the yard.

---

It's popular for people to write articles about & post pictures on social media. Doesn't work in Texas (at least Central Texas) in my experience, the clover fades out in summer & doesn't wear well.

If you want a drought tolerant lawn alternative look into groundcovers like horseherb, various sedges, or native shortgrass blend like Thunder Turf if you're in full sun. Note none of these can take wear like Bermuda, Zoysia or St. Augustine does.

I love when my neighbors let their yards go full weed….nothing says I care like going full weed

Makes sense. St. Augustine and Zoysia my favorite but they need water. We're probably going to do a lot of rock and Vinca in the front. S Augustine and Zoysia in the back.

I'll never have another lawn without one if I can help it.

Sorry to piggyback on this, but I do have a question about zones/heads…..

My zone 1 are all misters and cover my flowerbeds plus the area of grass down one side of the house. I would prefer to not have sprinklers in the beds anymore, but instead hand water as needed. But I don't want to lose the misters watering the grass down the side.

Can I just cap the heads in the beds? Can I just turn the little screws to a point they will just be off and not spray anymore? Or something completely different? What's the best option for this?

Quote:

---

Can I just cap the heads in the beds? Can I just turn the little screws to a point they will just be off and not spray anymore? Or something completely different? What's the best option for this?

---

Better to buy a 1/2" threaded cap than just turn the screws as you'll get some bleed even turned all the way down. Worst case you screw them down too far & it falls out the other side.

Not knowing the exact layout it's difficult to say what the best option is. Capping the heads in the beds will increase flow to the heads in your lawn area, so you could add more heads in that area or increase nozzle radius to get better coverage.