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Get smart (water-wise) with this $150 rebate

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED APR 14, 2020

Use your smartphone and the Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller to keep your irrigation in sync with the weather. (Photo courtesy RWA)

Regional Water Authority offers great deal on smart sprinkler controller

Considering how our spring weather has been bouncing from cold and wet to hot and dry, here’s a timely offer: A great rebate on a “smart” sprinkler controller.

Local residents can now save $150 (or more) on a Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller, thanks to an instant rebate program offered by the Regional Water Authority and Sacramento-area water providers.

Representing 21 local water providers serving about 2 million customers, the RWA always has an eye on reducing water consumption. A smart controller such as the Rachio 3 can save an estimated 13,500 gallons of water per year for a typical Sacramento household.

How does it work? The Rachio 3 Controller acts like a thermostat for your sprinklers, using local weather conditions to adjust how long your sprinklers run, explains Amy Talbot, RWA water efficiency program manager. The controller automatically reduces sprinkler run times when the weather is cooler and increases them when the temperatures rise. You also can manage the controller from your smartphone with the Rachio app.

The Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller typically retails for about $230 for an eight-zone system and $280 for a 16-zone system, but both models are being offered at a reduced rate of $75 plus tax. (Installation is not included.)

This deal is available for a limited time on a first-come, first-served basis until funding is exhausted. Rebate details, eligibility requirements and a link to purchase the controller are available at BeWaterSmart.info .

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An article about gardening.

Keywords:

gardening Sacramento sprinklers water conservation Regional Water Authority irrigation weather

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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