Help: Soil Type Selection

[tssilvei]

Hello,

I am not sure of the soil type in my area. Does Rachio Gen 2 automatically select soil type based on location?

I used the Web Soil Survey app and got the soil report (attached) for my area. Can someone assist me in setting the soil type & other properties?

Thank you!

[Linn]

See http://community.rachio.com/t/moving-from-flex-monthly-to-flex-daily/4650/11 for the screens to go to in the web soil survey after you set your AOI. MY only change to this recommendation is instead of setting “all layers” in the layers option, I would set a depth range with the bottom number being 8" or so. This will probably give you a pretty close number.

[azdavidr]

@tssilvei Take a look at this thread. I’m not too familiar with the data format that you sent. The thread shows how I gather the soil info. Note that it will give you the soil type, but the key parameter is Available Water Capacity (AWC). Regardless of what soil type you choose use this method to find your AWC and plug it into your zone settings. It is a significant factor in defining your schedule characteristics.

Silty Loam vs. Sandy Loam What to Set?

@jleh I get to the info. from a slightly different path, which allows you to pick the depth that you’re looking for and it returns a weighted average. I think the table from your post above lists the data based on the assumption of 60 inches of depth, which is why you end up dividing the number in that table by 60 (to get it ‘per inch’). I would think the most accurate method would be to choose the depth of your deepest roots in that zone, but I’m not positive on that. Since my AWC doesn’t ch…

[plainsane]

set awc to .18 then start working up ward from there if things seem proper in hot drought conditions.

[plainsane]

choose clay, but the most important part is getting the awc correct. i know this is not clay but choosing clay will introduce more/longer soak periods which will not hurt. its the awc that really matters.