How many times a year should an irrigation system be tuned up?

AMWUA advises adjusting schedules at least four times a year as the seasons change. Hardware checks fit the same rhythm: before summer heat, after the monsoon storms, and before the cool season. A yard with new plantings or recent repairs benefits from an extra look between those turns.

Should I water the landscape after it rains?

Only if the rain did not reach the root zone. Check soil moisture near a few plants, confirm any rain sensor or rain hold has released, and look at exposed tubing and heads for storm damage. Resume watering based on plant and soil condition rather than a fixed number of days.

Seasonal Irrigation Tune-Up

Check coverage, leaks and controller settings as the yard and season change.

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Make the current system fit the current yard

A tune-up is a walk through every zone with the water running. It looks for the problems that build slowly: heads knocked out of line by the mower, nozzles plugged with grit, drip tubes pulled loose, valves that weep, and a controller still running last season's program. None of these is an emergency. Together they decide whether water reaches the plants or the pavement.

The yard changes too. Shrubs grow over spray heads, a tree shades what used to be a sunny bed, and a lawn gets converted to gravel without anyone capping the old heads. A good tune-up updates the zone map to match the yard as it is today, and caps or converts the heads that no longer have anything to water.

Fix the waste first, then adjust the timer

The order matters. Changing the schedule before fixing a leak or a misaligned head just moves the waste around. Repair the faults, check coverage, and only then set the run times, one station at a time, by what each one waters.

The Arizona Municipal Water Users Association recommends adjusting the schedule at least four times a year, and Glendale's calendar gives natural points to do it: before the summer heat, after the monsoon, which the National Weather Service counts from June 15 to September 30, before the first winter frost, and again in spring. Each visit should leave you with the current program in writing. The Glendale inspection checklist lists what to look at between visits, and the Glendale tune-up page covers the local calendar.

Source: Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, Watering Schedules, Checked Oct 1, 2026