While gardening is a wonderful pastime enjoyed by many people throughout the warm seasons, it is not without its plights and follies. Whether it is the deer making a midnight snack of your newly planted flowers or a sudden lack of rain, finding the best way to maintain your garden is always on a gardener’s radar. Which is why we would love to introduce the idea of smart irrigation!
Smart Irrigation takes timed sprinklers a step farther by adjusting your water usage each day based on weather patterns and/or the current condition of the soil. These systems have sensors that closely monitor the daily amount of moisture in the soil so it knows how much water to release per day. Some systems even have the ability to incorporate local weather data to adjust your systems for incoming rain! This is both beneficial for the plants and the person! For your plants, this reduces the risk of either over or under watering your flowery friends. And for people using these systems have reported noticeable differences in their water bills, they are using less water than they would with a traditional sprinkler system.
So how does one go about finding if these would work for your garden? There are a few things to consider while looking for a smart irrigation system. The first being whether or not you are happy with your current irrigation system in place, or if you are looking to install a new system. If you’re content with your current system, there are soil moisture sensors that are designed to integrate with a pre-existing set up. Though it is recommended to do a quick search on which sensors would best integrate with your current home systems. If you’re looking for a whole new system replacement, we recommend looking at brands such as the Moen Smart Sprinkler Controller and Moen Wireless Soil Sensors. Similar to its sibling, the Moen Flo Whole House Leak Detection, this system is built to work wirelessly for easy integration into your household.
Another thing to consider is the size of your garden and how many stations you may have. Checking the product information to see how many stations these sensors can handle before purchasing can help save a return trip to the shop! While your standard smart timer is going to be able to hold around 6 to 8 stations, there are some like the Orbit Smart Irrigation Timer that can handle up to 16 stations for those with vast gardens!
The final thing we recommend considering is your current household technology. For example, if your household uses a lot of Alexa products, there are smart irrigation systems that are built to work with Alexa, such as the Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler System. If you prefer to just have your phone, looking to see if the smart irrigation system is more compatible with iOS systems or Androids systems can also help you avoid glitchy system issues post install!
Regardless, we are excited to see these systems take off and help us with both our water usage and our plant health. So at the end of the day, we can grab our favorite drinks and enjoy a happy garden.
Need help selecting or installing an irrigation system for your yard? We’d love to help! Contact us at 636-391-1233
