We often hear about the importance of management in maintaining uniformity and water use efficiency during the irrigation season. But if you aren't keeping an eye on sprinkler packages and updating them in the off-season, you may not be irrigating your fields in the most uniform way, says Troy Ingram, University of Nebraska Extension educator in Valley, Greeley, Sherman and Howard counties.

TIME FOR AN UPGRADE? Most manufacturers rate sprinkler packages and pressure regulators for seven years or 10,000 hours of operation. But if you don't keep an eye out for the telltale signs, you won't know if it's time to upgrade the sprinkler package or pressure regulator.

"Most manufacturers rate sprinkler packages and pressure regulators for seven years or 10,000 hours of operation," Ingram says. "But I've talked to growers that haven't checked packages in 20 years. Then we've got people that have changed sprinkler packages, but not pressure regulators. Pressure regulators and sprinkler packages go together — if you're changing one, you had better change the other."

UNL Extension offers testing of pressure regulators as one way to identify whether or not it's time for an upgrade. As the off-season approaches, the first thing to do is a visual inspection with the system running, and Ingram says there are some telltale signs that may indicate it's time to change a pressure regulator:

• Regulators have a flexible membrane that can rupture over time and lead to water spraying out the sides of the regulator. This spraying may be hidden from view amid the water spraying out of the sprinkler, so you may have to look closely to identify the water source.

TELLTALE SIGNS: Water exiting out of the side of a pressure regulator (red circles) is one sign that the pressure regulator's flexible membrane has been ruptured.

• Spring tension also wears down over time. If the spring becomes weak, it decreases the pressure of the water going through the regulator and increases the flow rate. Irrigators may see the irrigation system pressure decrease and the gallons per minute increase on a flowmeter. Of course, it takes a flowmeter to be able to pinpoint this issue.

But what about sprinkler packages? Poor water distribution, resulting in over- and under-irrigated areas in a field, may be a giveaway that it's time to for an upgrade. The key cause of poor distribution and disuniformity is faulty sprinkler nozzles — in addition to pressure differences along the irrigation system. Over time, nozzles wear down, resulting in an uneven spray pattern. UNL Extension recommends using catch cans to test the uniformity of water distribution to identify if it's time for a change.

"After some time, those nozzles will wear and the spray pattern will get bigger. The nozzles wear down faster if you have water quality issues," says Ingram. "Especially during years where you're irrigating a lot, like 2012, it's going to be much more visible."

You can learn more by emailing Ingram at [email protected].