I agree @tmcgahey. When coming into Rachio, I found and having been finding others that it is easy to not trust the system because of previous experience. At first, I was severely underwatering, not really because of Rachio, but because I was not used to my low-volume sprinklers. Next, I thought I needed to put down quite a bit more water, but realized I did not because the water was very likely just going through the loamy sand that we have which means I was wasting water. I am thinking it would be a good idea to delete the schedule and create a new one to see what the durations would get calculated to instead of what I have kept changing (using flex daily). Comments are appreciated.
That is how mine is. My tree zones are all one zone, with ALL 2gph emitters. Trees will have anywhere from 2 per tree for the smallest, to 8 for the largest. My shrub zones are all set with 1gph, and 90% have a single, a handful of them have 2.
While I agree, best practices are to use the same flow rate (and NEVER adjustable!), there are countless systems out there with mixed vegetation, and in many cases a single emitter on each plant, and the only way to balance the system is to mix emitter flow rates. Most people don’t want to take the time or investment to run additional emitters since most don’t have a clue where their main drip line runs.
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I don’t know about changing the current Flex model, I’d like to see even more customization. The individual advanced settings could use a popup definition and formula to help those just learning. I’m probably just lucky compared to most that when I fine tuned all my settings for Flex scheduling that the watering time recommendations were almost identical to what I’ve done for the past decade. Most people who have had their property long enough should be able to tell how much watering to do to keep things alive. It was fun for me though to have more settings to adjust and learn more about the how and why.
I could see offering a new Fixed Flex schedule type for those that don’t want to tinker with customization but still want to use Flex scheduling. Instead of messing with advanced settings, it would be a Fixed schedule with the only additional setting being allowed depletion so the schedule gets the Flex frequency adjustments as ET changes.
We are still working on getting the trees and shrubs. While I am taking two lawn zones and splitting them into three, I have decided to create a tree drip zone and other drip zones. The design was having two drip zones . . . one for the garden which we do not have yet and the other for everything else. Obviously, this have been changing quite a bit. I almost got the 8 zone Rachio which would have been enough at the time. However, I got the 16 zone instead which will have all zones in use shortly (well, at least allocated until I have more than just grass). When getting the trees and shrubs, I will have to learn quite a bit about drip (at least the emitters to get the right ones and how to water with them).
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The fundamental question is that of what is it that Rachio’s striving to achieve? Is it 1) to simplify watering one’s lawn/garden; 2) to help successfully grow plants (through proper watering). Very different goals, very different paradigms, very different ways of providing user experience.
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That’s why they’re called Advanced. As a new user, a person should simply answer the questions given, which should get them in the ballpark. Especially if an Add/Reduce slider is added, I think most people will have no reason to go the the Advanced settings. I’ve been playing with mine for quite a while now, and consider myself capable of using the advanced settings, but most are still the default values.
Your soil doesn’t change. Your grass doesn’t change. The sprinkler heads don’t change. Except that my Centipede has somewhat different values than the average for Warm Season grass, that doesn’t change from standard.
Honestly, I think that Nozzle Flow is responsible for 90% of the changes or fine-tuning involved. Mine are waaaay off from Rachio’s standard values, but I’m afraid most people feel Rachio should somehow “know” exactly how their irrigation system operations and what their water use is. They don’t. And to set that value properly requires more work than some people expect to do.
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Yes. Entering the correct information for the plants and emission rates is complicated and requires some education. Many people hire a horticulturist who is trained in the science of irrigation.
A list of average root depths for common plants and trees may help.
Or maybe a program that allows you to select the type of plant and enters the information for you?
Yes!! I love magic.
It can’t be that hard to build a database of plant types by name that gives a bit finer granularity than the current. Rose bushes and rosemary bushes don’t share the same root depth nor the same watering needs and it would be nice to have some defaults that lets the user separate both.
I think of it as a cook book, coarse defaults are sometimes all we can aim for but whenever possible aiming for more precise data isnt a bad idea.