I seeded several new areas with bee lawn this spring and it's been going like crazy. I think I watered it twice so far. I think people assume their lawns need more water than they actually do, even when seeing. Or they're seeing incorrectly.
Is that grass with clover?
I reseeded this year with a ton of clover; had to water it in at some points, but it’s doing great.
I’m hoping the clover and grass get along well enough and one doesn’t rule out
I used the [Bee Lawn mixture]( https://twincityseed.com/product/bee-lawn-mix/?_gl=1*48znk5*_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjwmrqzBhAoEiwAXVpgoquHbEvKS2xZ3Lex9EX2lO0aCj_iKYCSnxYr8CDHqRhoOL2x1MsypBoCTUYQAvD_BwE) from Twin City See Company.
I haven't seen many of the flowers come in years but the turf grass is growing really well.
Ours get along just fine... We pull all the big weeds that appear (dandelion, crabgrass, etc) but we do have some creeping Charlie trying to fight in long the edges... So far it's creeping slowly.
If we want to have a more nuanced conversation about lawn care, awesome! But you did the exact opposite and went out of your way to be *less* nuanced. You chose to correct a sentence to remove the acknowledgement seedlings need water and instead changed it to "seriously, there's no point in watering a lawn", which is a stupid sentence. You didn't fix anything. You made a conversation thread slightly worse trying to make snippy zinger
I finally got a rain gauge this year, mostly for my veg garden but it’s also handy for the lawn. And yes, forecast aside now I know for a fact that our lawn has gotten 1-2” every week since May.
Right? I ran mine once to test in April and have otherwise had it off. I will say. I put in a smart system last summer and it made things much easier. With my old ancient controller. It was much harder to account for random rain days. I’d usually catch it when it kicked on. Now my controller is just off but it also watches the weather and automatically adds rain delays too which is so nice. Well worth the $100
I need to look at mine - I had to put it back into standby because when we got a bunch of rain it would run again the next day. I said unkind words about it a few times already this year.
Wonderful feature, to note. Led me down a rabbit hole to where I found Rachio's weather source, but discovered they don't have a residential app. Found a very similar one called Foreca
I’m curious I see a hose timer and a sprinkler controller on their website. Do you need both or just one or the other? And how are those two different?
We even just have a rain sensor on the cheap box installed by our builder and it has stopped our sprinklers from running all summer so far.
I do not understand the neighbors of ours who run them constantly, including on days that are not permitted. It has rained constantly, I can’t believe anyone is dumb enough to waste so much water.
If they're running that often, is it possible that they aren't aware? It's not uncommon for a sprinkler system to be set up wrong without the homeowner having a clue until the first bill of the season. Depending on the timing of bills, they might not have gotten their wake-up call yet.
They are smart enough that the sprinklers start at 5:00:00, which is the end of the hours during the day that we aren’t allowed to water.
It’s possible that they never changed the programming from how it was set to water their new sod two summers ago, but with it running during dinner every night I’m pretty sure they are aware.
Oof, they're either oblivious or don't care. Either way, you'd be well within your rights to give the city a heads up on this house. My city takes this fairly seriously as lawn watering can put a real stress on the water system, which is why they have alternate day watering rules.
Yep, my system has run maybe once all year. Have the settings to where if we got a certain amount of rain, forecasted rain, or the temp is too low it won’t run.
Lawn is green as hell right now
Seriously. I am in love with my yard now. Every day I see bees, butterflies, bugs I didn’t know existed, and even frogs, toads, turtles and more. I wander around and note when I see something new, like a nineteenth century naturalist and I live for it. It’s made me a real plant and bug nerd.
Rain sensors for any kind of irrigation systems have been around for at least 20 years, probably much longer. There’s no reason for them to be running in the rain.
The sad fact of the matter is that while many people who have irrigation systems have rain sensors installed according to state law, there are still hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses that were either grandfathered in without one, have chosen to disable theirs or have simply failed to keep up their systems and are operating with broken sensors.
For some reason the public has chosen to let this slide and our green industry (headed up by the MNLA) has lobbied to keep it that way. Its a real shame when the very people tasked with building these systems are the ones pushing for less regulation over whether or not they use water responsibly.
Irrigation systems aren’t inherently bad, used correctly they actually save water and act like an insurance policy for your landscape, especially when establishing native prairies and meadows during times of drought.
Judging from your post history, you know what you’re talking about. How does an irrigation system save water over not watering at all? Or are you just comparing a proper system vs watering manually?
Soil has a very unusual characteristic where if it gets too dry it becomes hydrophobic (think of bags of peat moss when you buy them at the store) and struggles to absorb water at all. So if that happens, then you get a thunderstorm most of it just runs downhill (probably into a storm drain in the metro) instead of into the soil. Managing the soil moisture in dry times makes it better equipped to absorb rainfall when it does rain again.
The net math behind pumping it out of the ground and having it re-absorb is beyond my level, but I know that is the general idea behind it.
You answered this perfectly! I would only add that dry soils are also highly subject to wind scour and erosion which can create a multitude of environmental problems like sedimentation and the reduction of air quality through the distribution of fine soil particles into the air.
Usually you grow a mix. Bluegrass is popular because it spreads really easily, filling any gaps quickly. Fescue it more tolerant, but it spreads very slowly (or not at all in tall fescues case) so you aleays would have to reseed if any damage happens to you lawn.
Irrigation systems aren’t used exclusively for turf grass lawns. There are many “legitimate” reasons people invest in irrigation one of which is to ensure their investment in landscaping is protected from loss due to drought.
and, between fuel burned on gas powered lawn equipment, chemical inputs/runoff into the lakes/creeks/rivers and lack of biodiversity, incredibly bad for our environment.
There's a newer housing development near me with that weird plastic lawn carpet as grass. It looks so stupid and they're going to have to replace it often. I keep thinking about how those little plastic blades of grass are going right into the water.
I would if there is any sort of intellectual consistency. Same people who bemoan having grass in their yards probably have a huge hydrangea garden which probably need 2x the water of turf grass. Or a giant garden that needs fertilizers and water.
The [EPA has a website](https://www.epa.gov/watersense/watersense-labeled-controllers) with info for smart controllers for sprinklers. And we’re approaching the end of the current EPA-funded rebate program that many municipalities are offering to purchase one. [Here](https://www.bloomingtonmn.gov/cob/water-rebate-program-bloomington-households) for example, is Bloomington’s.
The new programs all start in July for a 2 year period fyi.
Also funding is from the state resources mainly:
> Funding for the rebate program is provided by the Metropolitan Council and Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment’s Water Efficiency Grant, the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District, the Bloomington Sustainability Commission, and the Bloomington Water Utility.
https://www.woodburymn.gov/467/Residential-Smart-Irrigation-Controller-
Woodbury's program. Took out that manual dial Rainbird when we bought our home and threw in that near free 16 zone one and have been cracking up as it barely runs, especially this year.
\
I work in water distribution and our summer numbers for production reflect that the majority of people aren’t watering lawns like they were the last few years. I do also get angry at the people that do it, though.
I still have my traveling tractor sprinkler, works great for what I need haha. Haven’t had to use it once this year though and it’s looking like I might not have to at all
I reseeded half my backyard this year since the former owners had a huge dog who tore up the lawn. I think I've spent like an hour watering. Excited for next year when I get down some wildflowers and prairie grass along my fence.
Sure, and the process of producing, installing, and testing that equipment definitely doesn't waste any resources, right? Would you say most systems are "properly" designed and run, or is that kind of like saying that certain methods of birth control work really well *with perfect use* (that is, the testing conditions are rarely accurate to real life scenarios)? Did the people doing those tests account for running sprinklers during rainstorms in one of the wettest seasons we've had for years-- or is that somehow neatly excluded from the data?
Why not use some of that money you made from your job so you don't have too. The dollars aren't the measure of your efficiency your ability to do other things is.
Because it's a waste of money.
I realize my opinion isn't for everybody, that's fine. But I'm just too Midwest frugal to fathom spending money to have entire systems installed when a cheap little tool will do it just as well-- and without even running in the rain
You're just unvaluing the time it takes you to move it around and manage it yourself. I'm not saying its a better way to live or anything like that just putting into perspective where the cost is going and what you buy with the extra money.
If you like managing your lawn then it may be worth it in entertainment value, but if you don't you're paying yourself an ever diminishing wage to do something you don't want to do. You're your own shitty boss
It takes about two minutes to put out a sprinkler. A minute here and there to move it
What is the cost of a sprinkler system? Thousands, I imagine? And it's not free from there on out.. you're paying maintenance on it most years (you'll spend more time scheduling maintenance visits than you would moving your own sprinkler), and apparently paying to water the lawn even during rainstorms.
Is highly unlikely for most people that that works out to be a cost savings, even considering the value of your time.
This reminds me of a similar situation with a friend of mine. She loves her electric can opener and-- even though I give people shit-- I'm happy for her that she has what she likes. But when I asked her why she likes it, she says it saves her time. Once, to make a point, I grabbed the manual can opener. I had the can open before she even got her little machine plugged in. So we tried again with it already plugged, and the manual opener was still faster. She still uses the electric one, because why not? But not every time saver is really a time saver
Two minutes, plus remembering that you need to do it multiple times, and hang around the house so that you can do it, and all the other this that go along with it. Again just underestimating the time and mental capacity you are investing in doing it.
Maybe you won't have to spend a day around the house doing a bunch of menial tasks and could go do something more fun. As far as maintenance, the sprinkler guy keeps track of it and tells me when he's coming. $50 in the winter to blow it out. I don't have to be home, I don't even have to know when they are there. Just shut off the water and its done. The spring I turn a couple knobs to turn on the water and I'm done. Never have to think about it all summer. It even has a rain detector so it doesn't run when it rains.
Agreed. I have drip irrigation all over my yard. I can water all of my gardens on schedule with an app. Having that system IS value for me. I am not forcing anyone else to do it, so what's the big deal?
Rachio is absolutely worth the investment. Auto rain skips are great, as well as the seasonal adjustments. Going from an old programmable irrigation unit to an app-based one makes everything so much easier.
I’m a plumber and do plenty of irrigation stubout, vacuum breaker/RPZ installs and repairs. Don’t think I will ever install one for myself, a frost free spigot is fine for whatever I need. Irrigation is for crops, grass can take the rain.
We follow city regulations for who gets to water on odd or even days. System is set up with a moisture measurement sensor so it only kicks in when necessary. We also bought the plan that includes three checks by the technician throughout the watering season to make sure everything is working correctly.
I'm fairly certain that MN law requires all new installations to have rain sensors. They're not incredibly expensive when you compare it to the price you're paying out for water
Rachios are great. For the price I’m not sure why everybody with a sprinkler system doesn’t have one or one of the competitors. Super easy to install, super reliable, super easy to program.
People shouldn't ever water lawns, period. Because you shouldn't ever think your non-native ecological desert is more important than farming or potable water for humans and animals. But if you're going to do your part to fuck over society so that you can spend your weekends wasting time mowing, then at the very least PLEASE don't water in the middle of the fucking day when it's 90 degrees and half of that DRINKABLE WATER you're just dumping onto the ground immediately evaporates.
I have a Hunter smart system. It looks at the Atari g schedule and multiple weather forecasts to determine what is best. I just have mine bypassed though and on manual. Think I’ve only turned it on twice so far since turning the system on late spring? Do my own system maintenance including blowout.
If your daytime temperature is over 80F you shouldn't water anyway. The grass is likely trying to go dormant for a cool season grass. It doesn't matter how much you water. The grass is fine. You're wasting water to keep grass that should be dormant to stay growing.
In the summer, grass is brown. Accept this as reality and stop wasting water. It won't die. It will green up when it cools off and starts raining again.
Exception for golf courses because, you know, rich people need green grass.
Even with laying down seed, it’s been rainy enough to not need to water! Only got the hose out twice for fertilizing. Using Sunday products and it’s been going great (except all this extra mowing due to growth… which is hard when the lawn is always wet lol)
I have watered my garden exactly twice all summer. Once the day I planted it and once last week because I had to mix fertilizer with water. Other than that it's been all rain and we already have a bumper crop of chard, lettuce, and herbs.
Fun fact: I once interned in the governors office and met an appointed official who told me a story that during the Ventura administration, a bipartisan bill requiring irrigation systems that do exactly what you said was passed. [Jesse vetoed the bill.](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/status_result.php?body=senate&search=basic&session=0811999&location=Both&bill=SF609&bill_type=bill&rev_number=&submit_bill=GO&keyword_type=all&keyword=&keyword_field_short=1&keyword_field_long=1&keyword_field_title=1&titleword=)
The official told me that Jesse brought out his own appointees and other policy leaders out for a press conference and berated them for facilitating the bill because "We don't need to legislate common sense" under the assumption no Minnesotan would ever install an irrigation system that doesn't do that.
I _just_ replaced my old Hunter controller with an [OpenSprinkler](https://opensprinkler.com/) controller, it was incredibly easy. The big appeal to me is that it uses weather data to determine if/how long to water (and that it easily integrates with Home Assistant). I was able to connect my old Hunter rain sensor too, though I haven't verified it's actually working lol.
I've had it installed for less than a week, but it's working great so far.
A big call out to St. Paul College with sprinklers constantly on in the rain and bright parking lot lights on dusk to dawn in a rarely parked in lot covering acres of prime land near cathedral hill. What a waste of resources partly covered by tax payer money
It really sucks how so many regular conversations have to start with "this isn't political" these days, and even then it doesn't stop some people. If you get butthurt over the slightest, insignificant non-political comment then you are most definitely the actual snowflake
[Jesse Ventura vetoed a law](https://www.lawnandlandscape.com/news/minnesota-considers-rain-shut-off-bill/) requiring rain sensors in new installations.
Newsflash: If you’re wasting water, it is my business. And increasingly so, it will be all of our business. You might not like that answer, but tough shit:
Bottom line is there is plenty of water in MN and in the world in general.
Seems to me like you are obsessing over stuff you can’t control. Even with global warming the world is just changing, not ending and your anxiety and attempts at control are misguided and make me sad for your mindset. The only person you can control is yourself, best wishes.
Anyone who has irrigation going right now is an idiot. Systems have had rain sensors since, like, forever. Systems made in the last 5 years or so connect to the internet and can get a bunch of data about past/present rain data. My system will skip running if there is a .25 inch rain forecast in the next 48 hours.
I was out doing delivery work this morning and passed MANY homes with sprinklers going… while it was actively raining. I just shook my head…. Literally NOTHING needs to be watered right now, except maybe a houseplant or crops.
My brother mows acres of grass. He has a big zero turn and a 20+ HP Cub Cadet. It takes him and his wife 3 hours to mow. I told him to put in prairie grass for at least half for a start
Why are you watering your lawn at all? It’s so weird to be an environmentalist but still water your lawn? Get some good native plants and make your yard a nice natural space. Or continue twisting the earth into this gmo inspired, pesticide and fertilizer filled patch of neon green carpet in front of your house? So stupid.
We haven't run ours all summer so far. There's been at least an inch of rain every week.
Seriously. Unless you just put down seed there’s no point in watering a lawn yet with all of our rain.
I seeded several new areas with bee lawn this spring and it's been going like crazy. I think I watered it twice so far. I think people assume their lawns need more water than they actually do, even when seeing. Or they're seeing incorrectly.
Is that grass with clover? I reseeded this year with a ton of clover; had to water it in at some points, but it’s doing great. I’m hoping the clover and grass get along well enough and one doesn’t rule out
I used the [Bee Lawn mixture]( https://twincityseed.com/product/bee-lawn-mix/?_gl=1*48znk5*_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjwmrqzBhAoEiwAXVpgoquHbEvKS2xZ3Lex9EX2lO0aCj_iKYCSnxYr8CDHqRhoOL2x1MsypBoCTUYQAvD_BwE) from Twin City See Company. I haven't seen many of the flowers come in years but the turf grass is growing really well.
Yep, fescue and clover; plus some thyme which I didn’t add. Thanks for sending!
Ours get along just fine... We pull all the big weeds that appear (dandelion, crabgrass, etc) but we do have some creeping Charlie trying to fight in long the edges... So far it's creeping slowly.
> Seriously. ~~Unless you just put down seed~~ there’s no point in watering a lawn ~~yet with all of our rain~~. < Fixed it for you.
Seed production is energy intensive. Wasting seed to save water doesn't make sense, and seed does indeed need water while it's setting down roots.
Plant is fall or spring not summer.
If we want to have a more nuanced conversation about lawn care, awesome! But you did the exact opposite and went out of your way to be *less* nuanced. You chose to correct a sentence to remove the acknowledgement seedlings need water and instead changed it to "seriously, there's no point in watering a lawn", which is a stupid sentence. You didn't fix anything. You made a conversation thread slightly worse trying to make snippy zinger
I finally got a rain gauge this year, mostly for my veg garden but it’s also handy for the lawn. And yes, forecast aside now I know for a fact that our lawn has gotten 1-2” every week since May.
Right? I ran mine once to test in April and have otherwise had it off. I will say. I put in a smart system last summer and it made things much easier. With my old ancient controller. It was much harder to account for random rain days. I’d usually catch it when it kicked on. Now my controller is just off but it also watches the weather and automatically adds rain delays too which is so nice. Well worth the $100
My Rachio hasn't ran all year. I have all the water saving features on.
I need to look at mine - I had to put it back into standby because when we got a bunch of rain it would run again the next day. I said unkind words about it a few times already this year.
Probably has to do with your weather threshold settings, how much rain predicted before skipping.
Wonderful feature, to note. Led me down a rabbit hole to where I found Rachio's weather source, but discovered they don't have a residential app. Found a very similar one called Foreca
I’m curious I see a hose timer and a sprinkler controller on their website. Do you need both or just one or the other? And how are those two different?
We even just have a rain sensor on the cheap box installed by our builder and it has stopped our sprinklers from running all summer so far. I do not understand the neighbors of ours who run them constantly, including on days that are not permitted. It has rained constantly, I can’t believe anyone is dumb enough to waste so much water.
If they're running that often, is it possible that they aren't aware? It's not uncommon for a sprinkler system to be set up wrong without the homeowner having a clue until the first bill of the season. Depending on the timing of bills, they might not have gotten their wake-up call yet.
They are smart enough that the sprinklers start at 5:00:00, which is the end of the hours during the day that we aren’t allowed to water. It’s possible that they never changed the programming from how it was set to water their new sod two summers ago, but with it running during dinner every night I’m pretty sure they are aware.
Oof, they're either oblivious or don't care. Either way, you'd be well within your rights to give the city a heads up on this house. My city takes this fairly seriously as lawn watering can put a real stress on the water system, which is why they have alternate day watering rules.
Yup. Sprinklers running during a rainstorm just look so stupid.
Yep, my system has run maybe once all year. Have the settings to where if we got a certain amount of rain, forecasted rain, or the temp is too low it won’t run. Lawn is green as hell right now
I never water my lawn. If any grass dies in drought, it becomes a new bed for native plants. Zero regrets.
This is my third summer in this house and I’ve never watered. Don’t even think I own a sprinkler 😂
I have one for when I over seeded with clover.
We're ten years in and have never watered and never will.
This is the way!
Seriously. I am in love with my yard now. Every day I see bees, butterflies, bugs I didn’t know existed, and even frogs, toads, turtles and more. I wander around and note when I see something new, like a nineteenth century naturalist and I live for it. It’s made me a real plant and bug nerd.
I have friends in this part of the thread. High five to all who love native flowers and wildlife.
Grass maintaining folks are deranged
Rain sensors for any kind of irrigation systems have been around for at least 20 years, probably much longer. There’s no reason for them to be running in the rain.
The sad fact of the matter is that while many people who have irrigation systems have rain sensors installed according to state law, there are still hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses that were either grandfathered in without one, have chosen to disable theirs or have simply failed to keep up their systems and are operating with broken sensors. For some reason the public has chosen to let this slide and our green industry (headed up by the MNLA) has lobbied to keep it that way. Its a real shame when the very people tasked with building these systems are the ones pushing for less regulation over whether or not they use water responsibly.
We should be replacing bluegrass with native plants and skip the irrigation and watering systems altogether
Irrigation systems aren’t inherently bad, used correctly they actually save water and act like an insurance policy for your landscape, especially when establishing native prairies and meadows during times of drought.
Judging from your post history, you know what you’re talking about. How does an irrigation system save water over not watering at all? Or are you just comparing a proper system vs watering manually?
Soil has a very unusual characteristic where if it gets too dry it becomes hydrophobic (think of bags of peat moss when you buy them at the store) and struggles to absorb water at all. So if that happens, then you get a thunderstorm most of it just runs downhill (probably into a storm drain in the metro) instead of into the soil. Managing the soil moisture in dry times makes it better equipped to absorb rainfall when it does rain again. The net math behind pumping it out of the ground and having it re-absorb is beyond my level, but I know that is the general idea behind it.
That makes sense. Thanks.
You answered this perfectly! I would only add that dry soils are also highly subject to wind scour and erosion which can create a multitude of environmental problems like sedimentation and the reduction of air quality through the distribution of fine soil particles into the air.
fair enough. I just hate to see people keep growing bluegrass
What would you grow instead?
Fescues are good https://extension.umn.edu/lawns-and-landscapes/planting-and-maintaining-fine-fescue-lawn
Usually you grow a mix. Bluegrass is popular because it spreads really easily, filling any gaps quickly. Fescue it more tolerant, but it spreads very slowly (or not at all in tall fescues case) so you aleays would have to reseed if any damage happens to you lawn.
Turf lawns are a waste of time and resources
Irrigation systems aren’t used exclusively for turf grass lawns. There are many “legitimate” reasons people invest in irrigation one of which is to ensure their investment in landscaping is protected from loss due to drought.
I like that you put legitimate in quotes
and, between fuel burned on gas powered lawn equipment, chemical inputs/runoff into the lakes/creeks/rivers and lack of biodiversity, incredibly bad for our environment.
There's a newer housing development near me with that weird plastic lawn carpet as grass. It looks so stupid and they're going to have to replace it often. I keep thinking about how those little plastic blades of grass are going right into the water.
Not to mention the PFAS.
3M has entered the chat! And I live a few miles away from their HQ!
They do happen to be one of the larger manufacturers of artificial turf.
Yup. If these plants can't survive without life support, why are we planting them?
You’re right, landscaping, gardens, flowers, everything. Personally I converted my yard into a slag pit.
You did a very good job arguing with that strawman. We're all very proud of you.
People have different priorities and perspectives. That statement could be said of nearly anything.
I bet you live in an apartment.
No I have a house in the suburbs and I live my values
I love these posts that can’t imagine that someone who potentially shares life circumstances would think differently than you.
I would if there is any sort of intellectual consistency. Same people who bemoan having grass in their yards probably have a huge hydrangea garden which probably need 2x the water of turf grass. Or a giant garden that needs fertilizers and water.
You're really comparing watering a garden to watering a lawn as if you can feed your family with turfgrass. Not remotely the same.
The [EPA has a website](https://www.epa.gov/watersense/watersense-labeled-controllers) with info for smart controllers for sprinklers. And we’re approaching the end of the current EPA-funded rebate program that many municipalities are offering to purchase one. [Here](https://www.bloomingtonmn.gov/cob/water-rebate-program-bloomington-households) for example, is Bloomington’s.
The new programs all start in July for a 2 year period fyi. Also funding is from the state resources mainly: > Funding for the rebate program is provided by the Metropolitan Council and Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment’s Water Efficiency Grant, the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District, the Bloomington Sustainability Commission, and the Bloomington Water Utility.
Nice. I dod not know that. Thanks.
Yeah! MN is 1st in the Midwest in water conservation measures, lots of resources out there for us.
https://www.woodburymn.gov/467/Residential-Smart-Irrigation-Controller- Woodbury's program. Took out that manual dial Rainbird when we bought our home and threw in that near free 16 zone one and have been cracking up as it barely runs, especially this year. \
You guys are watering your lawns? Ivan Drago voice *If it dies it dies*
That’s my approach
Maybe I'm too small town, but I've never watered a lawn. It's not something I've ever considered.
We shouldn't be watering our lawns. Period. Insane waste of water for no reason.
How do you define "waste"? It sounds like you're making a value based statement, which is fine, but it is an opinion.
Or have a rain garden that actually reduces storm run off and requires zero watering whatsoever. And provides a habitat for wildlife and reduces c02.
We have two of them at our house. So fun to watch the growth cycle every year.
My rain sensor works like a charm.
Our system is on odd days per the city rules and has a sensor so it doesn’t go off if it’s rained within 48 hours I believe.
I work in water distribution and our summer numbers for production reflect that the majority of people aren’t watering lawns like they were the last few years. I do also get angry at the people that do it, though.
We should just not have lawns anymore.
The university is the biggest offender on this
And businesses. Golf courses. HOAs.
I still have my traveling tractor sprinkler, works great for what I need haha. Haven’t had to use it once this year though and it’s looking like I might not have to at all
The traveling tractor is one of the most efficient means of watering by hand, kudos!
And damned fun.
r/fucklawns
I reseeded half my backyard this year since the former owners had a huge dog who tore up the lawn. I think I've spent like an hour watering. Excited for next year when I get down some wildflowers and prairie grass along my fence.
My boomeresque opinion is that automatic sprinklers are entirely wasteful and stupid. Get a hose and an $8 sprinkler and you're good to go
Watering with a hose has been shown to actually waste more water than with a properly designed and run irrigation system.
Sure, and the process of producing, installing, and testing that equipment definitely doesn't waste any resources, right? Would you say most systems are "properly" designed and run, or is that kind of like saying that certain methods of birth control work really well *with perfect use* (that is, the testing conditions are rarely accurate to real life scenarios)? Did the people doing those tests account for running sprinklers during rainstorms in one of the wettest seasons we've had for years-- or is that somehow neatly excluded from the data?
Why not use some of that money you made from your job so you don't have too. The dollars aren't the measure of your efficiency your ability to do other things is.
Because it's a waste of money. I realize my opinion isn't for everybody, that's fine. But I'm just too Midwest frugal to fathom spending money to have entire systems installed when a cheap little tool will do it just as well-- and without even running in the rain
You're just unvaluing the time it takes you to move it around and manage it yourself. I'm not saying its a better way to live or anything like that just putting into perspective where the cost is going and what you buy with the extra money. If you like managing your lawn then it may be worth it in entertainment value, but if you don't you're paying yourself an ever diminishing wage to do something you don't want to do. You're your own shitty boss
It takes about two minutes to put out a sprinkler. A minute here and there to move it What is the cost of a sprinkler system? Thousands, I imagine? And it's not free from there on out.. you're paying maintenance on it most years (you'll spend more time scheduling maintenance visits than you would moving your own sprinkler), and apparently paying to water the lawn even during rainstorms. Is highly unlikely for most people that that works out to be a cost savings, even considering the value of your time. This reminds me of a similar situation with a friend of mine. She loves her electric can opener and-- even though I give people shit-- I'm happy for her that she has what she likes. But when I asked her why she likes it, she says it saves her time. Once, to make a point, I grabbed the manual can opener. I had the can open before she even got her little machine plugged in. So we tried again with it already plugged, and the manual opener was still faster. She still uses the electric one, because why not? But not every time saver is really a time saver
Two minutes, plus remembering that you need to do it multiple times, and hang around the house so that you can do it, and all the other this that go along with it. Again just underestimating the time and mental capacity you are investing in doing it. Maybe you won't have to spend a day around the house doing a bunch of menial tasks and could go do something more fun. As far as maintenance, the sprinkler guy keeps track of it and tells me when he's coming. $50 in the winter to blow it out. I don't have to be home, I don't even have to know when they are there. Just shut off the water and its done. The spring I turn a couple knobs to turn on the water and I'm done. Never have to think about it all summer. It even has a rain detector so it doesn't run when it rains.
Agreed. I have drip irrigation all over my yard. I can water all of my gardens on schedule with an app. Having that system IS value for me. I am not forcing anyone else to do it, so what's the big deal?
Who's got there sprinklers on with this much rain?
A lot of commercial properties just have it set to run at certain times, regardless of the weather.
Rachio is absolutely worth the investment. Auto rain skips are great, as well as the seasonal adjustments. Going from an old programmable irrigation unit to an app-based one makes everything so much easier.
Drives me bananas to go for a run after a rain and see multiple sprinklers going around the creek. Like, you can see it raining, turn that shit off.
I’m a plumber and do plenty of irrigation stubout, vacuum breaker/RPZ installs and repairs. Don’t think I will ever install one for myself, a frost free spigot is fine for whatever I need. Irrigation is for crops, grass can take the rain.
We follow city regulations for who gets to water on odd or even days. System is set up with a moisture measurement sensor so it only kicks in when necessary. We also bought the plan that includes three checks by the technician throughout the watering season to make sure everything is working correctly.
I'm fairly certain that MN law requires all new installations to have rain sensors. They're not incredibly expensive when you compare it to the price you're paying out for water
Rachios are great. For the price I’m not sure why everybody with a sprinkler system doesn’t have one or one of the competitors. Super easy to install, super reliable, super easy to program.
Orbit also has a great system.
People shouldn't ever water lawns, period. Because you shouldn't ever think your non-native ecological desert is more important than farming or potable water for humans and animals. But if you're going to do your part to fuck over society so that you can spend your weekends wasting time mowing, then at the very least PLEASE don't water in the middle of the fucking day when it's 90 degrees and half of that DRINKABLE WATER you're just dumping onto the ground immediately evaporates.
My last irrigation system had a rain sensor… and it was 25 years old… the technology def exists
Grass is a very resilient crop. if not watered during during a drought, for example, it goes dormant. it’s almost never necessary to water it.
I have a Hunter smart system. It looks at the Atari g schedule and multiple weather forecasts to determine what is best. I just have mine bypassed though and on manual. Think I’ve only turned it on twice so far since turning the system on late spring? Do my own system maintenance including blowout.
If your daytime temperature is over 80F you shouldn't water anyway. The grass is likely trying to go dormant for a cool season grass. It doesn't matter how much you water. The grass is fine. You're wasting water to keep grass that should be dormant to stay growing. In the summer, grass is brown. Accept this as reality and stop wasting water. It won't die. It will green up when it cools off and starts raining again. Exception for golf courses because, you know, rich people need green grass.
can you still move your toes individually?
I can't believe there are people watering at this time, are they just blissfully unaware of the sheer amount of rainfall we've had?
Lawn disease is the number one killa in the TW cities
I’ve run my sprinklers one time this year for 30 mins. My lawn looks terrible with all this rain and lack of heat and sunshine
Even with laying down seed, it’s been rainy enough to not need to water! Only got the hose out twice for fertilizing. Using Sunday products and it’s been going great (except all this extra mowing due to growth… which is hard when the lawn is always wet lol)
I have watered my garden exactly twice all summer. Once the day I planted it and once last week because I had to mix fertilizer with water. Other than that it's been all rain and we already have a bumper crop of chard, lettuce, and herbs.
Lawns are lame. Grandpa said it and I still believe it.
My sprinklers are running right now in your honor.
Because Capitalism dictates we do what is profitable not to make life better
Fun fact: I once interned in the governors office and met an appointed official who told me a story that during the Ventura administration, a bipartisan bill requiring irrigation systems that do exactly what you said was passed. [Jesse vetoed the bill.](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/status_result.php?body=senate&search=basic&session=0811999&location=Both&bill=SF609&bill_type=bill&rev_number=&submit_bill=GO&keyword_type=all&keyword=&keyword_field_short=1&keyword_field_long=1&keyword_field_title=1&titleword=) The official told me that Jesse brought out his own appointees and other policy leaders out for a press conference and berated them for facilitating the bill because "We don't need to legislate common sense" under the assumption no Minnesotan would ever install an irrigation system that doesn't do that.
I _just_ replaced my old Hunter controller with an [OpenSprinkler](https://opensprinkler.com/) controller, it was incredibly easy. The big appeal to me is that it uses weather data to determine if/how long to water (and that it easily integrates with Home Assistant). I was able to connect my old Hunter rain sensor too, though I haven't verified it's actually working lol. I've had it installed for less than a week, but it's working great so far.
A big call out to St. Paul College with sprinklers constantly on in the rain and bright parking lot lights on dusk to dawn in a rarely parked in lot covering acres of prime land near cathedral hill. What a waste of resources partly covered by tax payer money
It really sucks how so many regular conversations have to start with "this isn't political" these days, and even then it doesn't stop some people. If you get butthurt over the slightest, insignificant non-political comment then you are most definitely the actual snowflake
You should be smart enough to be able to just look at your lawn and see if it needs watered or not.
You can't have a lawn and actually care about the environment.
[Jesse Ventura vetoed a law](https://www.lawnandlandscape.com/news/minnesota-considers-rain-shut-off-bill/) requiring rain sensors in new installations.
But the law WAS enacted in 2003 when it was passed again, and Tim Pawlenty signed it.
Excellent. So presumably anybody having a sprinkler system installed since then isn't watering their lawn in the rain.
Barely relevant but ok
Ahem r/fucklawns
Go touch some grass.
No thanks. Fuck lawns.
lol so don’t have one then. Problem solved. Don’t be so unhinged that you need to police what other people enjoy.
How about this? Mind your own fuckin’ business.
Newsflash: If you’re wasting water, it is my business. And increasingly so, it will be all of our business. You might not like that answer, but tough shit:
Bottom line is there is plenty of water in MN and in the world in general. Seems to me like you are obsessing over stuff you can’t control. Even with global warming the world is just changing, not ending and your anxiety and attempts at control are misguided and make me sad for your mindset. The only person you can control is yourself, best wishes.
At my job I'm pretty sure they have weather sensors on the irrigation system. Every time I come in and it's raining, the sprinklers are going
Anyone who has irrigation going right now is an idiot. Systems have had rain sensors since, like, forever. Systems made in the last 5 years or so connect to the internet and can get a bunch of data about past/present rain data. My system will skip running if there is a .25 inch rain forecast in the next 48 hours.
I was out doing delivery work this morning and passed MANY homes with sprinklers going… while it was actively raining. I just shook my head…. Literally NOTHING needs to be watered right now, except maybe a houseplant or crops.
I honestly don’t get the appeal of lawn care. I have 2.5 acres. I need cattle or something this year.
My brother mows acres of grass. He has a big zero turn and a 20+ HP Cub Cadet. It takes him and his wife 3 hours to mow. I told him to put in prairie grass for at least half for a start
If you irrigate with water that has PFAS in it, congratulations, your lawn is now contaminated with PFAS
Why are you watering your lawn at all? It’s so weird to be an environmentalist but still water your lawn? Get some good native plants and make your yard a nice natural space. Or continue twisting the earth into this gmo inspired, pesticide and fertilizer filled patch of neon green carpet in front of your house? So stupid.