How To Determine Zone Run Times Using Evapotranspiration Data The Handbook of Technical Irrigation Information produced by Hunter

Industries provides formulas and other information that can aid irrigators in arriving at efficient watering schedules The following information is derived from this book !The irrigtaion run time formula calculates the number of minutes re"uired to apply enough water to replace the water lost by evapotranspiration for a specific crop irrigated with a system at a particular precipitation rate and efficiency ! #ollowed by the formula below$ T% &' ( Eto ( )c ************* +r ( Ea ,here$ T % Irrigation run time in minutes Eto % reference evapotransporation rate- in inches )c % crop coefficient- percent +r % precipitation rate of the area- in inches per hour Ea % application efficiency of the system- percent &' % .onstant for conversion of area- flow- inches per hour and inches per day into common units E(ample$ Determine the total monthly irrigtaion run time for an athletic field with an total monthly ETo of / ' inches and a crop coefficient for the warm season turf of ' 0' The sprinkler precipitation rate is 1' in 2hr with an application efficiency of 013 T % &' ( / ' ( ' 0' 1' ( 01 T % //4 min of total monthly watering time Thus if the system is programmed to water on 5' days during a month- the 6one watering time would be // 4 minutes 7525'th8 of the total monthly re"uirement Evapotranspiration Rates Eto or the evapotranspiration rate is a value given to help determine the rate at which plants lose water through evaporation Humidity- temperature and other factors are taken in account to determine the Eto rate at a given time These rates vary with the season and realistically they vary by the hour 9ut for lawn irrigation purposes- average Et rates are more than enough to schedule watering

:ccording to the ;ational .limatic .enter in :sheville- ;orth .arolina- the total monthly Eto rates for the :ustin area are as follows$ <an #eb =ar ' '1 5' @' .rop .oefficient :pr 41 =ay &' <un 0' <ul A' :ug 01 >ep 1' ?ct 4' ;ov /' Dec 5'

)c or crop coefficient is a value assigned various plants that lose water at different rates This helps adBust for soft leafy plants- like ferns- that would lose water faster than hard wa(y leafed plants- such as groundcovers ,arm season grasses such a 9ermuda lose water differently than cool season grasses such as rye >ee also Te(as : C = UniversityDs +otential Evapotranspiration data from a number of special weather stations located in central and south Te(as :pplication Efficiency Ea or application efficiency can only really be measured by a thorough sprinkler system audit This will measure the uniformity of coverage by using a system of !catch cans! placed throughout each 6one- running the system- reading the results- and crunching the numbers : rating of ' 01 is considered a pretty good number and indicates an efficient system Do not overlook soil consistency and active root 6one depth :ll of these are considered when calculating a scientific schedule for watering a landscape