How can I best tune my system so that my system best only runs when I need it to? I understand that Rachio’s Soil moisture isn’t the same as VWC. I am measuring my clay’s VWC at 4” and it’s appx 80% VWC. I’m using a high quality moisture meter, not one of those junk ones from the hardware stores.
I’m someone familiar with the Rachio system. After checking the VWC on 6/20 it was very high so I “filled” the zone. Thoughts on what I can do to best tune the system. I’m suspecting I need to increase my Available Water or my presumed clay soil is not straight clay, open to ideas to test this if needed. I’ve already increased my allowed depletion from 50-60% & this helped very little.Spray nozzle rate & area are spot on. It’s established Common Bermuda in South Fort Worth, Texas. I have used Hydretain this year. Flex Daily schedule.
Why increase your allowed depletion? Doing so just causes the “wilt level” of your vegetation to be closer to the point at which you refill the soil profile… putting it in danger in Texas (says a guy just 80 miles east of you). Soil moisture is the soil status relative the allowed depletion (ie: 0 soil moisture is at your maximum depletion, when you must water). Chief problem with Bermuda this year is rain - too much to put stress on it to drive roots down where you need them. Let Rachio work on it, and you should see deeper roots and less frequent watering.
I adjusted the AD to let the soil dry out more to increase the time between watering since the VWC was still in the 80% mark when Rachio was wanting to turn on. I suggested possibly changing my Available water because perhaps my Clay is not Clay & it’s closer to a clay loam which would increase the available water to a 0.18 or 0.19 & Rachio would know it needed to dry out more between waterings and not be watering already wet soil.
