I am redoing my irrigation for the boundary of my property, which is lined with trees. I plan on using deep drip stakes for the irrigation with drip emitters.
Rachio doesn’t make setting up drip lines intuitive. How do I calculate the appropriate settings so I can properly use flex schedules for my configuration?
If you can come up with a target for how many gallons you want to deliver per watering, you should be able to use the info here.
I’ve had my trees and shrubs on drip for 6 years iyn flex, and it works great once dialed in.
Usually I hear folks at nurseries recommend “x gallons per watering once every n days”
Is the idea that I really only need the “x gallons” part and that the “every n days” is what Rachio will automate with a flex schedule by knowing the crop coefficient, available water for the soil type, weather, etc?
Yes, that’s essentially how it works for me. I deliver the same amount of water every time, but Rachio figures out the frequency.
It is important to make sure the zones are set up as accurate as possible, from the crop details to the irrigation type and precipitation rate. Once set up correctly, the system does extremely well.
To me, “x gallons per watering once every n days” is a rule of thumb based upon some soil type, weather, root depth, etc. that may or may not be accurate. When I planted some trees last fall, I was told something like that for encouraging the help get the trees established and then switch over to a different schedule which changes over time. This makes sense to me as the trees and more importantly roots grow.