how bad has heat and drought been this summer ... and do you think the previous watering schedule was sufficient???

it doesnt look like it ...

that said.. i cant imagine a couple minutes twice a week is good enough for anything ...

i would probably give them a long deep drink for fall ... and hope for the best ...

and to be clear.. none of that is going to go away .. and you will probably have to go out with some scissors and cut off the uglies .. just an angle cut into green ... not the whole leaf for now ....

one trick is to dig a few small holes.. around each plant ... with a hand trowel.. or tablespoon.. and FIND out about moisture at depth ... and then water enough to get moisture down into the root mass .. and once you do.. then you can cut back ... since it is fall ...

frankly.. they arent dying.. and they dont look all that bad.. for what was.. im guessing.. a hellish summer ... do get them watered.. clean them up.. and hope for the best ... they dont look like your typical foo foo finicky plants .. but i dont do CA gardening ...

welcome to the forums ...

ken

I have my timers set to water 3 times each allowed night: 5 minutes each at 2 am, 8 pm, and 11 pm.

Just not enough water. 5 minutes of sprinkler activity is barely tickling the plants with water. It would better if you could water less frequently but for a longer period of time so that the water penetrates deeper into the soil profile where the roots are. Sprinklers work fine for a lawn but are not an efficient delivery system for other plant types.

Also, I don't know where in CA you are but with the heat wave that we had a couple of weeks ago, most gardens right now look like they were blow-torched.

The middle one which is bird of paradise is often ratty looking and needs someone to get in there with clippers and remove the dead stuff. Not sure what the others are, but the right one could use a tidy-up as well.

Get a moisture meter and you won't have to guess about overwatering or underwatering. The symptoms can look very similar. If the plants are getting full sun all day, they may have been scorched by our recent heat wave.