Rain Skip but No Rain

I was surprised to see a rain delay/watering skip when the chance of rain was minimal. I have fescue in my backyard in central Oklahoma because it is too shady for Bermuda. Fescue requires twice the amount of water than bermudagrass. I was surprised that Rachio does not take this into account. Perhaps my settings are incorrect. Any ideas or feedback? My solution today was to water the fescue manually.

@robertokc

Flex daily doesn’t ever “skip”, it determines that your soil moisture is above “zero” and will not water. In your case the predicted rain was actually very low (.08 in) but enough to keep you slightly above “zero” because your previous moisture balance was .05 in. So .08 in of forecasted precip - .05 in yesterday’s moisture balance = .03 inches. That is why flex daily chose not to water today. We don’t take individual species of grass types into account, just cool season or warm season grass with different root zone depths. In your case when you say

Does that mean twice the watering duration or twice the watering frequency?

Here is your graph, it perfectly determined not to water since predicted precipitation kept you slightly above “zero”.

:cheers:

According to Oklahoma State University, bermudagrass requires a abou 1 inch of water per week during July. Fescue requires 2 inches per week. Obviously this amount will vary according to sun exposure, root depth, soil type, etc.

If that is the case and you feel that zone is not getting enough water I would just increase watering duration.

:cheers:

2 Likes

Franz, would you suggest putting just the fescue zones on a fixed schedule during July and August?

I’m really not a watering expert, I just play one on TV. I believe Flex Daily will still work, maybe just increase the watering duration, or increase the crop coefficient a bit so it waters more frequently?

:cheers: