I am wondering what is the appropriate zone type for ferns. Anyone have an idea?
Additionally, these ferns are in a green wall planted in pockets. I understand that the choice of soil will impact the length of irrigation based on the soil drainage, but given that these plants are in pockets, whatever the soil type drainage, the pockets will stop water from draining fully. Thus I am wondering if I should select a Clay soil type, which tends to retain water, to bias the controller towards less watering.
I’d set the soil type to what you believe the soil is. Since ferns are pretty high water use, you may want to adjust the evapotranspiration in Advanced Zone Settings from the default – perhaps look up the species and see if there’s an ET0. I’m guessing they’re 80-100% ET. Also set the appropriate root depth – my guess is they’re really shallow! Maybe no more than 6", could be only a few inches – check yourself or google for literature on the species you’ve planted.
Once you’ve adjusted those settings, you’ll find that zone type doesn’t matter anymore. So you could set to whatever and changes the root and ET settings.
