Landscape Resources

There are many ways you can save water on your landscape. Below are some resources to help you get started.

Seasonal Watering Guidelines

Infographic showing winter watering guidelines from October to April. Grass should be watered for 10–15 minutes, one to two times per week; shrubs for one hour, two to four times per month; and trees for 1.5 hours, one to two times per month. Illustration shows grass, shrubs, and a leafless tree with roots beneath the soil and a sun overhead

These guidelines are based on local research from the University of Arizona and expertise from our Zanjeros (conservation specialists) to help you understand how often and for how long to water your landscape.

Once you establish a run time that gets water to the root zone of your plants, keep the run time consistent throughout the year and add or subtract the number of waterings, depending on the season.

Assumptions: These guidelines are based on using 2-gallon per hour drip irrigation and Tucson’s most common soil type, sandy loam. If you have clay-type soil, cut your waterings in half and double the run time; consult our monthly guide for more details. If you have bubblers instead of drip irrigation, you’ll need a much shorter run time. If your drip emitters put out more or less than 2 gallons per hour, per plant, adjust run time up or down.

Exceptions: Newly planted vegetation, vegetable and flower gardens, potted plants, and shallow-rooted plants and annual flowers usually need more frequent waterings. Cactus and succulents in the landscape need very little water after establishment; rainfall is usually enough to keep them healthy.

When it rains, give your irrigation system a break and skip watering. Smart controllers and rain sensors will do this automatically. All landscapes will benefit from mulch around the plants, which helps retain soil moisture and reduces water used by plants.

Poor irrigation scheduling is one of the problems regularly seen in commercial and residential landscapes. Plants that get watered too frequently for short periods of time often develop very shallow root systems. A better strategy is to apply more water, but wait longer in between waterings. This encourages the roots of plants to grow deeper into the soil where evaporation is less. Plants with stronger root systems are stronger above ground and can withstand more extreme weather conditions.

More Tips

Large trees need more water and should be watered longer to reach deeper roots (3 feet). Shrubs should be watered to 2 feet deep.
Avoid watering from 10am – 6pm when evaporation is highest, but do set the system to run when you can monitor it. We recommend a start time of 6am.
Landscapes and irrigation systems require regular maintenance like many things in and around our homes. Do a manual run of your system once per month and walk it to look for leaks and stuck valves.
At a minimum, irrigation controllers should be re-programmed twice per year to adjust for the varying water demands of plants in different seasons.