For most North Texas lawns watered by spray heads, the fall answer is about 30 minutes per week per zone. That’s half of the summer amount. The simplest way to get there is to set your sprinkler controller correctly for summer once, then turn one setting, seasonal adjust, down to 50%.
That one change matters more than most homeowners realize. Every fall, our technicians find controllers still running summer settings well into October. As nights cool, that extra water does more than raise the water bill. It sets up large patch, one of the most damaging lawn diseases in North Texas.
Start with your summer settings
In 100-degree weather with no rain, North Texas lawns lose about an inch of water per week. Spray heads take about an hour to put out that inch.
The catch is our clay soil. It only absorbs about 10 minutes of water at a time. Run a zone longer than that and the rest runs down the curb instead of into the root zone. So instead of one long run, split the hour into six short ones:
- Water 2 days per week.
- Set 3 start times: 2 AM, 4 AM, and 6 AM.
- Run each spray zone 10 minutes per start time.
That’s 60 minutes per zone per week, in amounts the soil can absorb. The City of Plano recommends the same approach: short cycles with about an hour between them.
Rotor zones (the heads that rotate and throw a stream) put out water more slowly, so run them 15 minutes per cycle instead of 10. Drip zones in beds run 5 minutes daily. Watch your beds to make sure they stay consistently moist without becoming saturated.
Fall: turn seasonal adjust to 50%
Most controllers have a seasonal adjust setting, shown as a percentage. Once your summer schedule is in place, that percentage is the only thing you change for the rest of the year. The controller scales every run time for you.
| Season | Seasonal adjust | Spray zones | Rotor zones |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer | 100% | 60 minutes | 90 minutes |
| Fall | 50% | 30 minutes | 45 minutes |
| Winter | 20% | 12 minutes | 18 minutes |
| Spring | 50% | 30 minutes | 45 minutes |
Weekly totals per zone, based on two watering days.
If your city allows only one watering day
Several cities we serve limit watering to one day a week for part of the year. Frisco is already on a one-day schedule in September and October. Plano, Allen, and Garland move to one day a week on November 1.
Our recommendation: keep all three cycles on your one watering day. Remove the second day and leave the three start times and your seasonal adjust percentage as they are. At 50%, that works out to about 15 minutes per week per spray zone.
Two winter rules to watch. Frisco doesn’t allow sprinkler watering of lawns at all from November 1 through March 31. Plano’s winter guidelines ask residents who do water to run sprinklers between 10 AM and 6 PM, when it’s warmer, so water doesn’t freeze on streets and sidewalks. Rules change, so check your city’s current schedule using the links below.
Why the fall change matters: large patch
Large patch (often called brown patch) is a fungal disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension calls it the most chronic and economically important disease of St. Augustine and zoysia in Texas. The fungus lives in the soil year-round but becomes active when temperatures drop below about 70°F and the soil stays wet. A summer watering schedule running into October creates exactly those conditions.
What to look for:
- Circular brown or thinning patches, often with yellow or orange edges.
- Grass at the edge of a patch that pulls away easily, with a dark, rotted base.
AgriLife’s guidance lines up with what we tell homeowners: water evenly and only when needed, water in the early morning so the grass dries during the day, and avoid heavy fall fertilizing. Timing matters with treatment, too. Fungicide works far better at the first sign of disease than after patches have spread.
For Village Green customers, our technicians watch for large patch on every fall visit. If they find it, we treat it, and your visit summary includes photos of what we found. If you’re not a customer and you’re seeing circular brown patches, call or text us and we’ll take a look.
Check your city’s watering rules
Watering schedules are set by each city and can change with drought conditions. Current rules for the cities we serve:
Download our Fall Watering Guide: https://qrco.de/bh1W9L
Questions about your controller or a spot in your lawn? Call or text us at 972-495-6990 and we’ll walk you through it.
About the author
Ken Hyatt is the owner and founder of Village Green Lawn and Pest. He has worked in lawn care for more than 45 years, and Village Green has been locally owned in Plano since 1980, serving homeowners in Plano, Richardson, Allen, McKinney, Frisco, Garland, Sachse, and North Dallas.
