Water Water Water

Posted on 11th March 2013 in Controllers, General, Installations, Turf

Any time lay lawn we will set your retic control box for you, but after that its up to you to make sure it is actually working.

Different controllers respond differently to power outages and occasionally controllers can ‘die’, leaving you with no water. A recent turf installation we did in Brighton came close to tragedy.

The house was uninhabited and the person responsible for it lived in the country. After laying the turf we set the control box and left, only to discover two weeks later that the control box had faulted and the lawn hadn’t been watered as needed. It was close to dead and was going to need some intense watering to bring it back to life.

At last inspection it seemed that the lawn had a chance of making it, which is very fortunate. A dead lawn doesn’t just cost money to replace. It costs to remove and tip, so in the end the exercise costs even more than double.

So please please please – check that your lawn is getting watered as it should be. And if its not then call us straight away so we can help you sort it out!

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Roam Remote Control

Posted on 25th November 2012 in Controllers, In My Own Backyard, Installations

 

I managed to get a hold of one of these babies for home the other day. On a quarter acre block it’s a bit of a pain running back and forth to test the stations so a remote comes in handy – and its even better when you need to change a nozzle.

Now its no longer a case of unscrew, flush, test while running back to the control box each time. Now you can operate the controller while standing next to the sprinkler. Much easier!

The remote allows you to operate your stations for a run time that you choose. Its really simple to install and use.

For some reason my first attempt at installation resulted in some bizarre error messages and strange behaviour by the system. The controller worked fine without the remote attached, however when I wired it up I discovered that 3 stations were coming on at once. There was power (23v) coming from pump, the actual terminal in use and two others.

It was a mysterious problem and I thought the controller was at fault, but I disconnected the remote wires and reconnected… and then all worked fine. I’m not sure what the issue was but its sorted now.

 

 

 

 

 

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A Garden Grows

Posted on 4th November 2012 in General, Ideas, Installations, Just For Fun, Local Knowledge

Its always nice when you get a chance to see how a garden you have worked in has developed and grown. I did some work for D & D from Quinns Rocks around 18 months ago and then went back this week to help them with the front yard.

This is how the back looks 18 months later.

The turf is Empire Zoyzia and there is an assortment of some beautiful plants in there too.

Like all turfs the Zoyzia goes dormant over winter, but it is just starting to come back nicely now.

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Some Days Are More Enjoyable Than Others

Posted on 6th October 2012 in Installations, Local Knowledge

Some jobs are more fun than others!

The location of this one made it a very enjoyable one, as well as some very generous people who brought us chocolate, drinks and ice cream throughout the day.

It turned out to be a much longer, trickier job than we first imagined, but the result was a good one. Some fresh Sir Walter Buffalo laid and the sprinklers working well.

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14.9

Posted on 27th September 2012 in Installations, Installing, Just For Fun

That’s how warm it got in Perth today…

So much for spring… We were out laying lawn and doing some fix ups and getting pretty cold and wet along with it!

 

Phil compacts the turf

 

Coby dishes out the sandwiches!

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How to Avoid Bore Stains

Posted on 26th September 2012 in bore, Installations

I drove past a school on the weekend that was painted blue, but had large red arcs around the paintwork – the result of sprinklers running off a bore.

If you have a bore and you are worried about staining then the answer is to try and design a garden and lawn that can minimise the results of bore water on them.

Some simple suggestions:

  • Use either miniscape dripline or adjustable staked drippers in garden beds rather than sprays. Both of these methods target the plants and drop water in the areas needed rather than risking overspray.
  • Have gardens close to the house and lawn further away, thus minimising the risk of water on walls.
  • Use MP Rotator nozzles rather than regular Toro. They will spray bigger droplets and get blown around less.

A little planning can allow you to have all the benefits of a bore without any of the nasties.

Of course there are some suburbs where bore staining is worse than others. If you live in Greenwood then you are in for a heap of colour on your walls, whereas where we are in Yanchep there is minimal staining. If you aren’t sure what to expect then just look around you at other houses with bores and see what they look like.

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How To Reset a Hunter X Core Controller

Posted on 14th September 2012 in Controllers, General, Installations, What's Going on There?

 

If you have an X Core controller that seems to be playing up then the most likely cause is that it needs resetting.

This can be done easily.

1. Press and hold the ‘PROG’  button.

 

2.  While holding the  ‘PROG’  button press the RESET button for 3 seconds, then release the RESET button while continuing to hold the ‘PROG’  button.

 

3.  Continue holding ‘PROG’ button until time is displayed (this takes about 8 seconds)

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Forgotten to Put Conduit Under Your Driveway?

Posted on 3rd September 2012 in Installations, Never Seen That One Before

It does happen occasionally…

I am currently trying to help some people find a way to get pipe under an 8 m wide driveway with access from one side only.  It is proving difficult.

With access from both sides you can clear a path, but meet in the middle but with access from just one side it is much more difficult.

I have managed to plunk 5m in, but after that it just gets stuck and with poor water pressure we are struggling to keep the pipe moving. Plunking is normally pretty straight forward but it helps if you have good water pressure and can come at the driveway from both sides.

I explored some options today, one of which was the ‘bullet-mole‘, a piece of steel you smack thru with a sledgehammer. It looks like a great option, but unfortunately it can only go 6m and I need one that can do 8… but it does look like a great option for people who have narrower driveways and are needing to get thru.

The other option seems to be compressed air. I haven’t done this before so I’m reluctant to try it unless I am sure it will work, but it seems this may be where we land up.

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Laying Sir Walter Turf in Sorrento

Posted on 13th June 2012 in Installations

This is a before and after post so you can see the massive difference new turf can make to a property. We levelled the ground, fixed up the retic and laid the turf.

 

 

 

 

 

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Laying Kikuyu Turf

Posted on 31st May 2012 in Installations, Turf

Its been over 5 years of running this business and only yesterday I laid kikuyu turf for the first time. Kikuyu is a cooch variety and is typically used in parks or for commercial applications.

It is hard wearing and sturdy. It has a broader leaf than wintergreen and yesterday’s batch felt quite spongy, although I don’t know if that is typical.

We can supply and lay kikuyu at the same price as Wintergreen if it is your preference.

 

 

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