I installed my Rachio 3 a month ago and did the wizard to help set up the schedule for my sprinklers. I used to water the zone 3 to 4 times a week for an hour before sunrise and that seemed to be what my lawn needed to stay green.
With Rachio in control (flex daily), it seems to only want to water for an hour and a half once a week. My grass doesn’t seem to like that; It’s turned quite yellow.
I’m wondering if installing a water meter would help so that the Rachio knows exactly when the lawn needs to be watered, and how much.
I’m also considering doing the Rachio Thrive plan. Would that bring my dying lawn back, or is that something that needs to be started in the Spring?
Curious on the community’s thoughts on these topics.
It would help if you could post what your Advanced variables are for a typical zone. Are all your zones running low on water (yellow), or just some.
With your old system running 3-4 hours per week, and your new one only 1.5 hours a week, it is logical that the yard is not getting enough water. But a month ago, temperatures were higher, so water requirements lower. Still, seems like your Flex Daily needs some fine tuning. You can increase the water applied by reducing the Nozzle Inches per Hour under Zone Advanced settings. That won’t increase how often it waters, though, and once a week is unusual for Flex Daily with temperatures as high as they are.
I’d say short term, lower your Nozzle Inches per hour by a third, and post your Advanced variables, along with a graph and table if you can for the zone you’re concerned about.
I’m sure Thrive is a good plan, but your current problem is probably lack of water, so work on that first.
