I’m a certified Rachio PRO. I admin 10x units and add more every week. I would like help determining soil type without having to test the soil or send it out. I found the https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx page and entered my address. It says I have “lauderhill soil” which per this link is basically a layer of MUCK that sits on top of limestone.
https://soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/L/LAUDERHILL.html Lucky me! This soil type has a tendency to “pond” water as it is poorly drained. But I cannot decide which Rachio soil type MUCK soil most closely conforms to. Sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, clay loam, silty clay, clay. My gut instincts say to choose sand or loamy sand because past the top layer or soil its all limestone. But a little guidance would be appreciated. You can use 2450 Greenbrier Court 33327 as the address if you want to lookup.
Hey @Mmrogge,
My team and I did a bunch of research to try and get you an answer! What we found was a soil type that is very similar to Lauderhill and in the same region. That soil type identifies closest with sand, so we suggest choosing sand but keeping an eye on it to see how your watering behaves!
Hope this helps 
Lo
Doesn’t it depend on which layer the roots are in? It they are in muck which sounds like saturated clay, setting for sand may adversely affect the roots because the soil is clay until the water gets below the roots to the sand.
Normally yes, but with limestone being the base layer, roots can’t get through it which makes the muck the base layer - if that makes sense.
I will give a disclaimer though - I am not a soil professional (maybe someday ), this was purely based on a deep dive in Google, so if there’s something I missed, please feel free to let us know!
@Mmrogge - Chatted with some others on our team and we decided that even though sand might be closest, sandy loam is probably your best bet for a healthy amount of water. Again, keep an eye on it, but sandy loam is likely the best option for you
Thanks for bearing through my research!
As a quick follow-on. The available water capacity (AWC) of sand soil type is .05 inches which could mean you are watering daily but much shorter durations. Sandy loam might be a nice compromise to less frequent waterings but a little deeper.
HI Laura,
If the roots can’t get through the limestone and the muck gets worse, why water frequently as you would for sand or sandy loam?
Thanks for working through this with me.
Tcremer
Franz! Thanks for the reply. I’m a Rachio Pro now. Installing new controllers every week. Where’s my “blue badge” on the forum? Kidding. About soil type, since the soil type question is basically helping you determine duration and frequency, rather than trial and error would you please post the AWC for each soil type? Sand, Loamy Sand, Sandy Loam, Loam, Clay Loam, Silty Clay, Clay
@laura.bauman badge?
Sand 0.05
Loamy Sand 0.07
Sandy Loam 0.12
Loam 0.17
Clay Loam 0.2
Silty Clay 0.16
Clay 0.15
Besides AWC, this support article has some other defaults you might be interested in as an installer. https://support.rachio.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010379087-How-do-I-edit-duration-and-frequency-on-Flexible-Daily-Schedules-
@Mmrogge @franz sorry for the delay! fixed it
Also, sorry for the silence @tcremer - still hoping to get more info for you regarding the limestone/muck situation.
Stay tuned and happy Sunday!
Now that I have reviewed the AWC list for the soil types I decided to go with sandy loom as my soil type. I will be monitoring the properties to see if this was a good choice or not. My local cooperative extension office had me choosing sand or loomy sand which due to its fast drainage rate and low AWC the schedule was watering more frequently and for shorter durations. The question the muck over limestone is a good one.