I would like to use less water! What's the best parameter to change?

I am mostly using Rachio 3 for cool season grass. I live in Northern Virginia. Based on my research, I have closest to Clay Loom. With this limited data that I have provided, I would simply like to use less water than what Rachio 3’s Daily Flex is creating. I understand that this may mean that my lawn would be less than optimal, brown, or not healthy. I would like to take that chance and see what happens - and then adjust from there. What’s the best [advanced] parameter I can change to overall use “less water”. Thanks in advance for your help.

EDIT: I have read through documentation that I can find and I am confused because the increasing or decreasing most parameters cause duration to decrease and frequency to increase or visa-versa – so at the end it seems to be using the same amount of water.

Easiest adjustment to use less water is to adjust watering times. Tap your schedule on the schedule tab -> Watering Duration -> adjust watering times (either individually, or for each zone individually)

Thanks! Does that affect anything if lawn needs more water in the heat of the summer sun? Does it make it fixed forever?

What I am trying to do is if it is automatically supposed to use x water in May, y in June and z in July. Then use x-a in May, y-a in June and z-a in July (a fixed amount/proportion less every time).

I recently increased the maximum allowed depletion (Flex schedules only) for my rear lawn from 50% to 70% — made it space out watering another day or so depending on environmental conditions. The lawn was growing way too fast and was far too lush and healthy (haha). I don’t know if this impacts the seasonal adjustment. I haven’t seen that occur yet for my lawn. However you could adjust the depletion down when you get into your really hot months if the grass looks stressed. This is just one way of doing it; others may have better methods to reduce water consumption.

The easiest parameter to move is crop coefficient. It will not adjust watering duration, just watering frequency +/-. I would start with 5-10% increments and see how that affects the moisture graph. It will change it in real time. Note the calendar is only checked at 12 and 1 hour intervals so might not exactly match the moisture graph until it catches up. Hope this helps.

If you want more details this is helpful.

:cheers:

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