Thanks! The nozzles I had were Rainbird VAN-12 series and I replaced probably about 5 heads, but I really need a few more to do. I just went to Lowe’s and got the Orbit nozzles with the same specifications (VAN and 12’). As far as the older nozzles, they were about 6 years old, so wear and tear probably caused them to not spray as effeciently. I opened some up and try to clean them, but the replacement nozzles are so cheap I just went with new.
Here are several possible causes that I’m sure all combined were ultimately the reason
-
Not watering correctly (pre-Rachio days). Until this forum and support articles, I never knew how to correctly water. One day I’d have grass drying out and dying, another day I’d have mushrooms.
-
Thatch: I went through a phase where I didn’t bag clippings. There are arguments for both sides of this, but regardless, this left large amounts of thatch.
-
Dog urine
-
A rabbit was getting into my yard and was alway hanging out in that area. So him eating grass, peeing and pooping in the area probably wasn’t great. At first I didn’t mind the rabbit because my boy loved watching him, but once I realized the massive defication that was going on out there, I blocked all accesses around the yard.
-
Winter Rye Overseeding: I overseed with Rye every winter, and every winter I let it go at some point because I get dejected after all that hard prep work and with not watering correctly, dog peeing, it was just a disaster.