Hi,
I’m a new Rachio 3 user, and am currently familiarizing myself with setting up zones with a view to using Flex Daily schedules in the near future. I believe I understand the purpose of all the advanced zone settings - and how they would be used in the Rachio algorithm - except for “Area”.
I use drip emitters for all our shrubs and trees. For shrub zones, there is usually only one calibrated emitter per shrub. So Efficiency is ~100%. And for a tree zone, I use an appropriate length and layout of Netafim TLCV dripline such that there is a 1 inch/hour emitter for every sq. foot under the tree canopy. So here too Efficiency is close to 100%.
However, since there is no way to specify the number of emitters in the advanced zone settings, I’m confused as to how the Area setting is used. I had been assuming that once the “Nozzle Inches per Hour” had been set, the algorithm would assume that there would be a sufficient number and placement of emitters to provide the necessary coverage for each plant’s root zone (within an irrigation zone), and that the area of the irrigation zone would not be needed.
But given the existence of the Area setting, I feel I must be missing something about how the algorithm works. Can someone help me out?
Thanks,
Dennis