Allowed Depletion Question

Reading this article ( https://support.rachio.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010542148-What-are-Advanced-Zone-Settings- ) it says that “For sensitive, shallow rooted plants (where little reserve water is available), or very heavy compacted soils, a smaller depletion should be considered (i.e. 30-50%)”

As the default setting for Allowed Depletion is 50%, if we have low root grass (maybe 4 inches) and under that we have clay which would be heavy compacted soil, would it be wise to go down to 30% or 40% AD? Or am I reading this wrong, and should keep it at 50%?

For grass, I’d still go with the MAD default. If you need micro adjustments I tend to just use crop coefficient since it will only affect frequency and not duration (which you can easily adjust minutes on the schedule if needed). My mantra is the less advanced settings you affect the better :wink:

:cheers:

If your grass has shallow roots, then lower the root zone depth - i think the default is 6 inches. That will give you smaller, more frequent waterings.

@jkb @franz Had the lawn care person check root depth today with their tool, and he said the depth is 2-3 inches for my yard (planted last fall). So 6 wouldn’t be good setting at all. Glad I caught that early as having 6 inch may be detrimental to my lawn.

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