Most of my small back yard is grass, but my wife has a “butterfly garden” with flowers In our hot South Carolina summers, the grass can go several days without water, but the flowers cannot. With my old controller, I used a B schedule to water the back yard, including flowers, 2 minutes a day, usually late morning, to help cool them off. My main schedule also watered the back lawn, and changed depending on temperature/Budget, to give the water to the grass.
What’s the best way to do something similar in Rachio? I tried creating another Flex Daily schedule, and can’t (even if I disable the main schedule - little surprised about that). If I create say a Fixed schedule for the back yard (for say 2 minutes a day), will main main Flex Daily schedule, which also waters the back yard, consider the water from the Fixed schedule in its watering?
Are you saying that your backyard grass and your wife’s “butterfly” garden are in the same zone? Or are they 2 different zones?
I did something similar to you for a different use case. I wanted to combine a Fixed Schedule to water twice a week, and top it off with a Flex Daily so that grass gets watered any day if needed. I don’t think Rachio was designed this way because I found two limitations.
First, Flex Daily didn’t add future watering from Fixed Scheduled in its moisture graph. It most definitely added the Fixed Schedule water after they occurred.
Second, and because of the first issue, I had both Fixed Scheduled and Flex Daily water the lawn on the same day.
Now, if you plan on watering at different times, and only for 2 minutes, then you might have a better outcome than I did. If you do give it a try, I would like to hear how Rachio behaved.
Yes, they’re on the same zone. Butterfly garden was added years after the house was built, and builder only put in a 6 zone system. Actually, he put in 5 zones, and connected a soaker system with the front yard (a definite no-no). I added a 6th valve and connected it to the now drip zone.
While my Rachio has 12 zones, I’d have to install new wiring (about 75’, under a walk) as well as new valve(s) and piping to add any more.
New homes these days have simplified irrigation systems, while established homes have new trees, bushes, gardens and planted areas. It’s a huge compromise.
I think they work well together. Of course, if you’ve already watered the normal Flex Daily amount, later in the day the Fixed schedule will still water, whether it’s needed or not.
However, I have found that the water from both schedules (and even manual operation and “testing” are added into the water graph and considered when determining when to water next. In a way, that’s really neat. In another way, it’s impossible (I think) to just add additional water to a zone that seems to not be getting enough, because Rachio will simply delay when the next water cycle occurs.
I think your only option is to create a 2nd schedule that is a Fixed schedule for a couple of minutes every day as moisture suggests. I use a Flex Monthly schedule so can’t comment on how a Fixed schedule would interact with a Flex Daily.
In my test I didn’t see irrigation from Fixed Schedule added to the soil moisture graph for future days. It only added those that had already happened. And it even kicked off a Flex Daily schedule right after the Fixed Schedule overnight because the irrigation from the Fixed Schedule did not trickle to the Flex Daily when it decided to water.
It should be fine to combine as long as watering amount of Fixed is insignificant, and the runtimes do not overlap.
moisture, I don’t see the irrigation from the Fixed Schedule adding to the soil moisture graph for future days, either. It does, however, show it after the Fixed irrigation is done. So the past watering is considered for determining future Flex irrigation, but does not consider how much /will/ be applied. With a short runtime, that should be fine, I think.
