Just read this, and this was very similar to what I was experiencing:
Gerardv514, the table and graph shows irrigation only occurred on 6/7 and will not irrigate again, should rain approximate what is forecast, until some time in the future. In fact, 6/7 was the only day irrigation occurred, as you got rain on 5/30, 6/3 and 6/4. On 6/7, if it didn’t water, moisture would be below 0%, so that’s correct. A little rain is forecast for 6/9, but if you get no more rain than that, it should probably water again on 6/12.
2 things: You mention your Flex Daily schedule is set to water 4 times next week. Do you mean it’s /allowed/ to water 4 times next week, or that you see it on the schedule? You didn’t post that chart/graph, but based on this week’s average ET of 0.136", I would expect it to water the 0.35" of water every 2.58 days, or every 2-3 days. Of course, next week’s temperatures might be higher, resulting in watering more often. Also, if you’re only allowing Flex Daily to water on 4 days a week (not sure if you are), that can limit its performance somewhat. Always allow it to water as many days as possible.
Second, I notice you’re using Weather Intelligence Plus, rather than a local PWS (Personal Weather Station). The weather reported will be the same, but the rain reported will be different. You may find a local PWS nearer you gives rainfall values more consistent with your location.
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FYI, this post is by someone in Europe trying to tell Rachio it’s using a US weather station (as info for Flex Daily is not available outside US/CND), so results or symptoms there may not be typical.
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I think I had saw that it was about to irrigate again and then I initated a skip, since the ground was so wet.
I’m allowed to water all days, I saw 4x’s a week in the calendar (schedule). I also noted temperatures were only in the 70’s, so the summer heat of 90’s hasn’t even set in yet.
Evidence that the lawn is getting a bit much water (although mostly due to rain) is mushrooms popping up in the lawn.
So i did notice a difference when we had that big rain storm. WIP (Weather intelligence plus) was stating we had .1 of water (i cant recall exact amount so this is an example). I knew it rained a lot more than that so I changed it to a local weather station and the amount of rain stated it was .9 (again another example but it was pretty drastic). For now I set it back to WIP, should I use a local one instead? There is one a block over from me.
Yes, use a local PWS. Just take a look at it and make sure that it appears to be recording precipitation correctly.
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Unless all your zones are EXACTLY identical, they may water on different days.
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As you’ve seen, rainfall can vary quite a bit, so I would choose the weather station closest to you.
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I have 2 in my area, one is .14 miles away and the other is .51 miles away. In between the two, the one that is a bit further away appears to report a bit more data such as the UV and solar radiation. Should I still go with the closest one, or use the one reporting most data?
Yes, this I am aware of. Just didn’t make sense why zone 4 (example) was doing every other day (resulting in 4 irrigation for the week) despite all the rain we recently received and only about 70 degree temps, also in a some shaded zone.
The only data used from local weather stations is the rainfall, so just choose one that seems to be reliable and has rainfall similar to yours. Other weather conditions, such as humidity and temperature, are used for your general area, and are not obtained from the PWS.
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Thank you all.
Is it normal that the ‘bucket’ on flex daily doesn’t fill all the way when the system irrigates; as indicated for tomorrow 6/11?
Yes. I’ve seen that as well and consider this normal
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3 of my 7 zones will irrigate tomorrow. Those (the front) are at a 17% soil moisture level. The back 4 zones are at 28% soil moisture but won’t irrigate till Sunday. What’s the difference considering both are below the 50 depletion.
That will ALWAYS be the case. The calculated amount that Rachio puts down, unless manually changed, is exactly equal to the Allowed Depletion value. However, the ET for the day will always deduct from that, so the normal highest it would be is the irrigation amount minus the ET amount.
Neither is getting below 50% depletion, which is at the bottom of the line. One zone /would/ go below 50% (0% moisture) on the 11th, the other on the 12th, so they both each water on those days.
Ah so 0% soil moisture is 50% depletion?
Here is the front zone, which will water tomorrow.
I would have thought the back would of irrigated at the same time considering it’s showing depleted more on the line chart?
It’s confusing. The terminology is confusing, and then the graph seems to contradict that.
Let’s say 100% moisture is a fully saturated area, from the surface down to the bottom of the roots. We want to water half of that value, normally, so when the /actual/ moisture gets to 50% we want to water. This is considered to be 50% Allowed Depletion (50% off of the full 100%). And the default value of 50% makes this more confusing. If it’s only 40% depletion, then when moisture gets to 60%, we would water.
Unfortunately, Rachio’s graphs and tables show only the Allowed Depletion value, normally 50%. When it’s full, it’s 100%, but when the moisture in the graph reaches the 50% allowed depletion, and it’s therefore time to water, the chart reads 0% instead. So the chart always reads the percent of the Allowed Depletion that is left. At 70% actual moisture, there is 20% of the allowed 50% left, so it reads 40% moisture. And if that doesn’t confuse you, you’re a better person than me!
The main thing is to consider the chart as FULL when it’s at the top, and TIME TO WATER when it reaches the bottom.
The Front, today, is at 17% (0.06" water left). Tomorrow, without watering, it would go to 0.06" minus the ET of 0.09" or -.03" (although Rachio never shows below zero - although I think they should). This triggers watering to occur tomorrow, as without it, it would be below zero.
For the Back, today, it is at 28% (0.10"). Tomorrow, without watering, it would go to 0.10" minus the ET of 0.08" or 0.02" (5%), so still above zero, so no watering occurs. The next day it would drop to 0.02" minus the ET of 0.1 or -0.08, below zero, so watering will occur.
It seems to be working correctly.
Makes sense. Thanks for the insight.
Just FYI, even though I’m normally a visually oriented person, I normally totally ignore the Rachio graphs and just look at the detail data. It makes a lot more sense to my mind. The graphs just bring up too many questions.