Hi @TonyG, I hear what you are asking.
There is a calculator to help set up a zone for drip emitters - Drip Emitter Calculator for Precipitation Rate & Area
I think what you are wanting is a guideline on how to segregate pots into different zones and set up schedules for them.
I added a ‘container’ zone to my Rachio, with emitters for containers spread over most of my patio and back yard garden beds. My wife is the gardener, I just try to keep her happy. There are probably over 50 containers in this zone now. I wish I would have created 3 zones instead of 1, and run 3 lines of tubing to service the areas with containers (anywhere except for the lawns). I notice, that when we are home, most containers still get watered by hand, that the Rachio is mostly used on a manual program for this zone when we are away on vacation to keep container plants alive.
The drip irrigation design rule that I read was to determine the ‘base’ plant with the least water requirements, use a small emitter on the base plant, then larger emitters on other plants to irrigate with the correct amount of gallons/day for each plant depending on the schedule duration. What is missing, is the frequency of watering. The plants in the small pots usually need more frequent waterings, the larger pots/planters take longer to dry out. Some pots do not tolerate over-watering, some like to get saturated, then dry out completely before wanting more etc. Then you get variations of sun, shade, rain vs no rain. The combinations become endless.
So if I started over, I would have 3 zones based on watering frequency (daily, every 3 days, weekly), and set up a fixed schedule for each. I would find the base plant for each zone, use a 0.5 GPH emitter and calculate the run time, and go from there. It wouldn’t be perfect, but better than a single zone.
For larger pots, I use adjustable bubblers (shrubbler, micro bubbler) to adjust water volume instead of fixed emitters for larger pots.
Hope that helps.