Fine tune, decrease watering frequency

Using Rachio Gen 3 and very happy with the performance but I’d like to fine tune the watering times.

Don’t think changing the watering times for each zone is going to do the trick.
I have 8 zones and it is costly here in The villages, FL for the water.
The grass (St Augustine) is nice and green but I want to cut back the amount of water used.

Question - what parameter do I use to lower the water usage ?

Thanks

One of the simplest adjustments is to slowly adjust the root depth in the advanced settings for each zone. Decrease only 1 inch of depth at a time and wait a week to see the difference.

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@villageguy I usually recommend adjusting crop coefficient 5-10% down. This tells our system that the zone is “burning” moisture slower and more efficient, hence will water less frequently. After changing that value you can look on the moisture graph of the zone to see forecasted, immediate results. The only reason I hesitate adjusting RZD is that by decreasing RZD you will water more frequently but your durations will be lower. I think @spscoutenPhD recommendation might have the opposite effect you are looking for.

The other reason I like crop coefficient is that it doesn’t affect watering duration, just frequency.

This has some useful information.

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Re-reading this, @spscoutenPhD recommendation will decrease watering duration (decreasing direct water usage) since your soil moisture bucket is smaller (shorter roots) but the system will want to water more frequently to fill the smaller bucket up. If you just want to extend the watering frequency crop coefficient is the easier(st) parameter to adjust.

:cheers:

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Thanks will try adjusting the crop coefficient.

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@franz YES YES this is exactly the kind of practical info that should be included in the help of every setting. If I lower the root depth, it will water more frequently with less duration. That makes for a more obvious effect of changing the setting.

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There used to be a support article on advanced settings that included a table that showed this for each setting. I’ve searched and I can’t find it any more. I’m guessing that they may have removed that table because unless you did a really deep dive into how Flex daily works it probably was just confusing.

I can see that. Well I’ll keep experimenting.

Is this the article/table you are referring to?

:cheers:

Yes, @franz, that’s it!!! But I sure couldn’t find it. I searched on “advanced settings” and I couldn’t find it. Glad to know it is still there.

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