Upgrading to Smart Controllers

Southern California’s warm summers make it tough for plants to thrive. Luckily irrigation systems are becoming advanced enough to help out our precious landscapes. While most of us are familiar with traditional sprinkler heads; Smart controllers are the brains behind the scenes that are hidden. A controller is a system that each head is wired to telling it when to spray and not to spray. Over time these systems have gotten more intelligent and important to the way commercial landscape is operated.

Before the invention of smart controllers, traditional systems were used on most property types. In this specific system, the heads are set on a scheduled pattern that starts the system at the same time consistently. These systems are still used typically on single residential homes, and due to efficiency, large properties have moved away from traditional systems to save time and save energy. Traditional systems are not water conscious and don’t precisely measure how much each plant needs.

Like most things today, irrigation is online. While traditional controllers have set timers, Smart controllers check the weather and adapt. The advancements in smart Controllers offer many benefits compared to traditional controllers. Adding an efficient system to your landscape can help your landscape grow and protect your investment. Because the Smart Controllers are hooked up to the internet, they are able to update in real-time. Based on what the water district reports your plants are going to get the right amount of water. Also, with temperature and rainfall taken into account, Smart Controllers are able to properly disperse the right amount of water to prevent over or under-watering your landscape. Processes like these help save more money and have been shown to save up to 20 percent more water throughout entire properties. Another plus, Controllers like these reward owners with thousands of dollars in savings and rebates.

In addition to saving water, the remote control access allows much more of the work to be done off-site. While boots on the ground will still be used to inspect and make fine adjustments, a lot of work can be done remotely. Being able to monitor and control water from afar is a huge benefit that allows irrigation teams to spot leaks, turn on and off heads at will and potentially help communities. For instance, during the 2020 Silverado fire, Mission Landscape’s Irrigation team was able to turn on sprinkler heads to neighboring “at-risk” areas. During a mandatory evacuation, Mission Landscape was able to access the irrigation system remotely and water down the plants surrounding high-risk homes in the community, without inundating the area with more bodies and trucks, leaving the area clear for fire personnel to do their job.

Technology has come a long way for Irrigation, making it easy for all communities to save time and money. Mission Landscape is dedicated to protecting your landscape investment and looking for efficiencies in your system is an easy way to save big during the summer. For ways Smart Controllers can help you during the Summer check out our Summer Irrigation tips Here.

At Mission Landscape, we are the experts in landscape architecture, landscape construction, commercial landscape maintenance, tree care, water management, mulch, and green waste recycling. We serve a multitude of areas in California including: Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Sacramento County, and Imperial County.