Spring Irrigation Startup: A Checklist Before Summer Hits

Most homeowners do not think about irrigation until the lawn starts browning in July. By then, problems that should have been caught in spring — a cracked line, a stuck valve, a misaligned head — have already been wasting water for weeks. A proper springtime startup costs almost nothing in time and protects the whole landscape for the rest of the season.

Pressurize the system slowly

The most common spring mistake is opening the main valve too quickly. After months of sitting empty, lines are full of air. Sending sudden full pressure through them can blow a fitting or crack older PVC. Open the supply valve gradually so water fills the system in stages and the air escapes through the heads instead of forcing a weak point to fail.

Run every zone manually

Once the system is pressurized, walk the property and run each zone one at a time. Watch every head. You are looking for heads that do not pop up, heads that spray sideways into pavement, heads stuck in the down position, and zones where pressure looks weak. Small problems are obvious during this walk and easy to fix before they become big ones.

Adjust coverage for new growth

Plants and turf change every year. Shrubs grow, trees fill in, beds get reshaped. Heads that aimed correctly last fall may now spray straight into a hedge or miss a corner of lawn that has thinned out. A few minutes adjusting arc and reach saves entire patches of grass from drying out under summer stress.

Reset the controller for the season

Programs from last summer are almost never right for the current spring. Cooler nights, more rain, and slower evaporation mean shorter run times are usually enough early in the season. Update the schedule for May and plan to bump it up as temperatures rise. A controller running a July program in May wastes water and over-soaks the roots.

Lopez Landscaping & Tree Service handles full irrigation startups, head adjustments, leak repair, and seasonal scheduling so the lawn stays green without overwatering.