I am unclear how to set up my Xeriscape plants. The Rachio Xeriscape class seems to be for cacti, with a root depth of 6 inches. This matches with the Water Use It Wisely table’s Cacti category.
I have a number of supposedly Xeriscape plants that are more like shrubs. Examples would be
- Texas Sage
- Bougainvillea
- Yellow Bells
- Valentine Emu
- Mexican Honeysuckle
- Penstemon
How do you set up these plants? I am nervous about randomly adjusting settings just because Rachio does not supply the appropriate settings.
Option 1) Specify them as Shrubs (or perennials?) rather than Xeriscape, lower the crop coeficient to 0.3. Seems like the required water should also be less, so maybe underestimate the canopy size in the Water Use It Wisely table?
Option 2) Specify them as Xeriscape, increase the root length. Use the Shrubs water requirement in the Water Wisely table? Perhaps decrease this some arbitrary amount?
This all seems kind of arbitrary for a system supposedly based on scientific data.
The same issue applies to trees like
- Vitex
- Acacia
- Australian Bottle tree
- Chilean Mesquite