ᐅ Automated nighttime irrigation – does anyone do this?

Hello @HeimatBauer. You might want to choose a different nickname here 😉

Your neighbor will probably light the bonfire anyway when you’re laying down more lawn again.

I think lawn irrigation is fine as long as it uses your own rainwater.

@rick2018, @HeimatBauer can answer your questions now. I asked on his behalf.

CC35BS38 schrieb:

Although municipalities actively encourage this.

Municipalities/cities just don’t want to prepare and enlarge their old pipes, shafts, and drains for increasing heavy rainfall events. I can understand that, it costs an enormous amount of money. They just want the builders to simply let less rainwater into the sewer system! That is much cheaper for everyone... Since the costs for cisterns are rarely likely to pay off, the builder ends up footing the bill. Of course, it makes sense to replenish groundwater by keeping everything permeable... Presumably, the costs for installing cisterns in all gardens are also lower than digging up streets everywhere and installing larger sewage pipes, especially when you consider the costs of civil engineering work in the road being passed on to the neighboring residents.

Depending on the grass type, lawns require between 10-20 liters per m2 (1-2 gallons per ft2) per week. So your rainwater tank is sufficient for one week of watering 500-1000 m2 (5,400-10,800 ft2) of lawn.

haydee schrieb:

Hello @HeimatBauer. You might want to choose a different username here 😉
Your neighbor probably just burns the brush pile anyway when you’re laying down lawn again.
I think lawn irrigation is fine as long as it uses your own rainwater.

@rick2018, @HeimatBauer can answer your questions now. I asked on his behalf.

No, I created the account several years ago when I started my first house planning. I just got a message that my email address is already in use—turns out it was me 🙂

The situation varies a lot between municipalities. Around here, the best service you can do them is to use a lot of water—although the media currently portrays a different picture, the situation is not the same everywhere, for example, not like in Brandenburg. This doesn’t deny the real issue of water shortages in general—it’s just that we don’t have that problem here.

rick2018 schrieb:

Depending on the grass variety, lawns require between 10-20 liters per m2 per week. So your cistern is sufficient for one week of watering for 500-1000 m2 of lawn.

Considering that I sometimes don’t water for weeks while other gardens are already turning brown, my cistern can last four weeks without any rain. If we calculate with 30 liters per m² (12 inches per yd²) during a heavy summer rain, a single summer rain would refill my cistern halfway.

By the way, when using rainwater, is it advisable to install a fine filter to prevent irrigation systems from clogging?

@HeimatBauer
And last summer? I believe you also had a very long period without rain then. Can you top it up afterward?

@rick2018
HeimatBauer is not new to gardening. He actually knows quite well what works and what doesn’t, and lawn care is his specialty. I’ve known him for a while from the depths of the WWW.