How much less water do plants need in winter?

A lot less. University of Arizona Extension says plants use three to five times as much water in hot, dry, windy weather as in winter, and that established trees and shrubs need winter water only after four to six weeks without rain. A summer schedule left running in December overwaters.

Seasonal Irrigation Tune-Up

Walk every zone at the turn of the season, fix what has drifted and set the controller for the months ahead.

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Why the season sets the agenda

Plants in the desert use far more water in the hot, dry, windy months than in winter; University of Arizona Cooperative Extension puts the difference at three to five times. A schedule that was right in July overwaters in December, and one left on a winter setting starves plants by June. A tune-up ties the physical check of the system to that calendar, so the controller and the hardware are both ready for what comes next.

Spring and early summer tune-ups focus on coverage and leaks before the heat makes every fault expensive. Late summer and autumn visits look at storm damage after the monsoon and step the schedule down. Winter checks confirm the system is not running more often than the plants need.

Sun City's calendar adds two markers: the monsoon, June 15 to September 30, and a frost window that across Maricopa County opens between late November and mid-December, per University of Arizona Extension.

What a tune-up visit covers

Each station is run in turn. Heads are checked for height, aim, broken parts and clogged nozzles; drip lines for missing emitters, kinked tubing and filters full of sediment; valve boxes for seepage. The controller is read in full, the date and time confirmed, backup battery checked, and run times and watering days set for the season, with the reasoning written down so they can be adjusted again.

Small repairs found on the walk, such as a riser, a nozzle or a drip fitting, are usually handled during the visit; larger problems are written up with the zone and the symptom. The useful output is a short note per zone and a schedule the homeowner can read. For a measured look at how evenly the water lands, see the irrigation efficiency audit; for timer faults found on the visit, see irrigation controller repair.

Source: University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Watering Trees and Shrubs, Checked Oct 1, 2026