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How to Work with your Plants: The Revolutionary Idea of Smart Irrigation

Jul 8, 2024

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 

 

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World Water Day 2023

Mar 21, 2023

It’s that time of year again, World Water Day!

Wednesday, March 22, 2023 is the United Nations’ designated day to come together and think about water; how it is used, how to make it sustainable and how to insure access to it worldwide. This year’s theme is “Accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.”

In 2015, the UN adopted, The Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provides a “blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”

The 6th sustainable development goal is “Water and Sanitation for all by 2030” and unfortunately, we are very off track to meet this goal. Flaws within the world’s water systems have an effect on the progress we are making and other global issues such as health, hunger, gender equality and education play a huge part in all people being able to access clean water and safe sanitation. Governments on average work 4 times faster to help meet these goal but seeing how water affects everyone, it is up to all of us to make a different by changing the way we consume, manage, and use water.

The story of the Hummingbird and its connection to World Water Day 2023…

“One day in the forest, a fire broke out. All the animals ran for their lives. They stood at the edge of the blaze, looking at the flames in terror and sadness. Up above their heads, a hummingbird was flying back and forth to the fire, over and over again. The bigger animals asked the hummingbird what she was doing. “I am flying to the lake to get water to help put out the fire.” The animals laughed at her and said, “You can’t put out this fire!” The hummingbird replied, “I’m doing what I can.”

– A story from the Quechua people of Peru

Just like the Hummingbird small acts can help us move forward to solve the water and sanitation crisis. Together we can take the small steps forward to make sure that all people have adequate access to the water and sanitation that they need to lead heathy and productive lives. To this end, the UN is holding its first water conference in nearly 50 years!

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The UN 2023 Water Conference is being held in New York City, New York from March 22nd -24th this year. The delegates will be working on the Water Action Agenda to help come up with a plan to get us back on track for the 6th sustainable goal and you can help.

By going to www.worldwaterday.org/share-2023 and adding your commitment to the “World’s To-Do List” you can make sure that your voice is heard and we can all commit to making changes that will benefit everyone. And as always, if you want to celebrate World Water Day with us or just have general plumbing concerns, please give us a call at 636-391-1233.