Landscaping, Irrigation, and More

A rain sensor is an important addition to sprinkler system. A rain sensor detects when it rains and tells your automatic timer to turn your irrigation system off. It’s an important element in helping with water conservation since it eliminates unnecessary watering cycles by your sprinkler. A rain sensor should be mounted upright in an unobstructed area. It does you no good to have a rain sensor that cannot collect water. Collecting water is the only way it will know to shut your sprinklers off. Some common areas for mounting a rain sensor are on your roof, wall, fence, we even have optional mounting kits that allows us to put them on your rain gutters. A rain sensor should know within 30 sec – 3 minutes upon receiving moisture whether it needs to shut your system off. If it does not you need to call a professional irrigation technician to see if your rain sensor is working correctly. We prefer to use a Hunter Rain Clik Rain Sensor. It doesn’t even need to “collect” water to tell the system to shut off, it just needs to “sense” it. It’s the most efficient rain sensor on the market and carries a 5 year warranty. Do you need a rain sensor? 239-772-2607 or fill out a request for quote today.

While the Southwest Florida area needed some moisture, we got way more then we asked for with the entrance of Tropical Store Debby. Even at The Burroughs Home in downtown Fort Myers today I noticed the water was over the seawall.

The long term effects of Debby are appreciated, filling up our lakes, retention ponds, wells and aquafiers. However, there are some immediate negative effects on our grass and landscaping with the sudden insurgence of winds and rain. Heavy winds and rain damage landscaping, wash away mulch and fertilizer and can even erode soil.

Here are some issues you may need to deal with in the re-cooperation efforts from Tropical Debby:

1. It’s likely that your delicate plants may have gotten damaged with the heavy winds and rains we’ve received in the last several days. As soon as it is done raining you need to quickly prune these plants to allow for recovery.

2. Mulch has washed away. You may be able to rake and replace some of the wayward mulch. Your best bet is to re-mulch once the rains stops. If your mulch floats easily you may want to consider using a heavier mulch or switching to some sort of rock.

3. Consider holding off on fertilizing your grass and landscaping until after the rainy season subsides. Fertilizing during a storm season is often a waste of time, money and resources. Most the fertilizer will wash away which means it had no benefit for your property. On top of that, the fertilizer easily enters our ground water system.

4. Help your landscaping dry out faster by pulling mulch away from trees, bushes and plants. Mulch serves two purposes; it’s decorative and it helps keep hold moisture. We just got a ton of rain so holding moisture for starving plants won’t be an issue for many days.

Did you get some damage to your landscaping and need some clean up and replacement plants and trees? R & R Sprinkler and Landscape is a full service landscaping company. We can also help replenish your washed away mulch or can give you options on another materials for your beds and islands. We have years of experience to assist you.