hello, my zones are set up, nozzle rates calculated, sun/ slope, efficiency at 70% and crop coefficient
at 70 or 80% ect. i have had my rachio for several years. last year I started being charged tiers for water, and it got very expensive. our allowed schedule is every other day. i am in minnesota, with kentucky blue grass.
What tweaks can I do, to minimize my water usage, while still having a nice lawn ?? can the allowed depletion be reduced to say 25% or ?? should I lower the crop coefficient say 10% across the board, and adjust back up if needed. anything else come to mind to tweak ??
if I recall our bill went up $400 or $500 the last watering quarter, and we have a smaller yard. trying to get some tweaks before I spend an additional $1500 or so compared to what we use to with the tiered billing.
I live in Minnesota, and the system is still in standby, but was turned on and all zones tested, so ready to go!! thanks much for your time
I guess being able to dial it back depends on how the grass will tolerate it, and what you deem as acceptable looking.
Land of 10,000 lakes and water is expensive. Meanwhile, here is AZ, water is cheap with no restrictions. Go figure.
“I guess being able to dial it back depends on how the grass will tolerate it, and what you deem as acceptable looking.”
correct, the question was how,
what would you try to adjust dialing back?? like what settings.
I’ll monitor it and increase if needed as the year progresses.
some quarters last year, I had neighbors paying 700-900 from a bill that might have been $300. there was definitely conversations about it.
You need to decide / find out what is best for the lawn, to be watered less frequently but with the same amount of water, or as frequently with Less water.
To keep frequency but reduce water, you could increase the nozzle value.
To decrease frequency, you could decrease the crop coefficient
here is a good article on the impact of each advanced setting on duration (amount of water) and frequency.
How do I edit duration and frequency on Flexible Daily Schedules? (rachio.com)
What’s better for the lawn long term…the answer is almost always less frequent for longer duration.
Short term, the grass may stress in hotter months as the roots work to dig deeper, but this promotes a much healthier drought tolerant yard.
The daily watering restrictions are going to make it tough to manage, IMO. Personally, I’d dial back frequency, and try to leave the duration up. Like @scrambler said, decrease the crop coefficient 5-10% and see how it does.
Thanks for the information, I’ll try backing the crop down 10% and see how it goes.
The every other day seems to jam up the flex daily.
Would dropping the minimum 50% down to say 25 or 35% , would that reduce the frequency as well?? Thinking the bucket being at 50% from full to empty, and every other day, the lower figure would let the bucket empty a bit more.
Trying to get a feel, and will monitor, and adjust back up if needed.
Thanks again for all your time!
If you visit the page I linked to, you will see what the effect is on both duration and frequency