New seed

[Bobbybob]

Wondering if this has been figured out yet??? Just seeded my lawn and would like to:

• Run from 9 am to 5 pm
• 2 zones every 3 hours
• 3 mins each

I have played around with all the different settings and for the life of me cannot get this schedule setup. Seems the limitation is in the “When do want the schedule to run?” portion of custom schedule. I want to have the ability to add a start AND end time but doesn’t seem like I can.

Even when I setup a custom schedule with a start time of 9 am, my custom schedule still goes on all night. I live in CO and don’t need water at night here as temps are getting too cold for that.

Thoughts, help, Rachio…why did you make this so complex??

[tmcgahey]

I still think the best option for new seed is to create 4-6 fixed schedules spread throughout the daylight hours. This allows you to disable a couple run times as the grass germinates and starts to grow. I just leave them disabled, and re-instate them each year for overseeding.

[Bobbybob]

Thanks for the reply…I must not be very smart here, but there is no way to stop a cycle? So in your example, say for the 7 am schedule, how did you stop that one from interfering with the 9 am watering??

[tmcgahey]

I haven’t overseeded yet, so those schedules are disabled at the moment, which is why they are grayed out. When overseeding, I change my drip to run at night so that it doesn’t interfere with the overseeding schedules during the day.

In my case, for each overseeing schedule (1, 2, 3, 4, etc), each zone runs for 10 minutes, so the total run time for each schedule is 70 minutes. Finishes long before the next schedule starts. I’ve found this does a good job with my MP Rotator nozzles keeping the soil moist, even when our daily temps can hit high 80’s or even low 90’s this time of year.

What I like about this method is that I can disable a schedule or two as the seed germinates and starts to grow. After about 4 weeks, I usually only have overseed 1, and overseed 4 running. Once the grass is pretty well established, I disable all overseeding schedules and let Flex Daily take over with adjustments for cool season grass of course.

And there is no hard and fast rule on how long to run multiple waterings a day. You need to just feel out your lawn as it germinates and grows. I’ve disabled schedules, only to re-enable them because we hit a few days of higher temps and soil was drying out too much between the watering.

[twin1]

Troy’s method above is the simplest.

But if you want to do it with only one schedule, I suggest this:

Daytime Watering Only?

I think you could do this by setting up a fixed schedule with manual cycle and soak. For example, you would set it to start at 6am in the morning. The cycle could be 10 minutes and the soak would be 50 minutes. And you want it to end after 10 hours. Then when the duration for the zone pops up, set the duration for 10 times 10 minutes, or 100 minutes (which you’ll have to put in as an hour and 40 minutes). That should work and you can play with your timing. Just make sure that you pick a nozzle …

I think there is a limit to the number of schedules you can have, so Linn’s method may be necessary if you have maxed out the number of schedules. It may be a bit complicated to understand, but once you have it setup, you’re good to go from now on.

Unlike most, I don’t put down mulch on top of the seed. Therefore I have to water more frequently (but shorter duration) to keep the seed moist until it germinates. So my schedule waters every hour for two minutes. It starts at 6 am and ends at 7 pm. The end time is determined by the start time plus the total duration, taking into consideration the number of zones you have.