Water Smart with Your
Water Budget Sprinkler Timer

1. Place 3-6 Green Grass Gauges at different distances from the sprinkler.

2. Run the sprinkler for 30 minutes.

3. Measure the total number of inches in the gauge, (or measure the depth of the water collected in the tuna can with a ruler), then divide the total by the number of Green Grass Gauges to get an average depth.

Enter Your Water Application Rate:      (from the test above)     inches in  30 minutes

Set A Base Program (suggested base programs below)

Below are examples of schedules you can use to build a base watering schedule that applies one inch of water per week for lawns and one-half inch of water for shrubs at 100 percent water budget. Use the Green Grass Gauge number and your Water Budget Timer to easily adjust the base watering schedule to follow the weather throughout the season.

First make sure the water budget setting is at 100 percent. Then input the selected base watering schedule from the estimates below. Your timer is now set to follow the weather with weekly adjustments to the water budget feature.

For example: If the Green Grass Gauge is 1.27 inches, you simply adjust the water budget 130 percent and the timer will increase times for all zones. If the Green Grass Gauge number is 0.72 inches, you adjust the water budget to 75 percent and the timer will decrease times for all zones.

Keep in mind that the Green Grass Gauge is a general reference and the actual water requirements for any given area should take into account the amount of sun or shade an area receives, the slope of the site, the soil conditions and the type of plant material being watered. All of these factors should be taken into account when setting the base watering schedule.

Use the Percent Adjust Feature

The following schedules are for one inch per week at 100 percent water budget.

Weekly Watering Schedule for Full Sun Lawns (One inch per week at 100 percent water budget)
Monday	10 minutes
Wednesday	10 minutes
Friday	10 minutes
Full Sun Shrubs and Shaded Lawns (One-half inch per week at 100 percent water budget)
Monday	5 minutes
Wednesday	5 minutes
Friday	5 minutes
Gardens and Annuals 3 Weeks or Older (Three-quarters inch per week at 100 percent water budget)
Monday	8 minutes
Wednesday	8 minutes
Friday	8 minutes
Full Sun Lawns Sloped or Clay Soil (One inch per week at 100 percent water budget)
	First Watering			Second Watering
Monday	5 minutes	15 - 30 minute break		5 minutes
Wednesday	5 minutes			5 minutes
Friday	5 minutes			5 minutes

View printer-friendly version of base watering schedules for one inch per week at 100 percent water budget.