Shoutout to my old drip sprinklers, you will not be missed
Three summers back I was running six old hose sprinklers on a timer that soaked my whole yard in Tucson whether the plants needed it or not. Two months ago I ripped all of it out and put in drip lines with a cheap battery timer, and I have not touched a hose since. For those of you who made the switch, how long did it take before you actually trusted the timer enough to go out of town?
Is it really that serious though? I set up a cheap drip timer two years back and honestly I stopped worrying about it after maybe two weeks. If the plants look fine when I check on them, the timer is working, end of story. Going out of town for a few days is not some big trust test. Worst case you come home to a few sad plants and you water them. I get wanting to baby a new setup, but at some point you just gotta let the thing do its job and go live your life.