I don't see "Any Day" as an option. Only the seven days of the week. Right now, I have it set for Monday/Thursday/Saturday...

Is that what you mean?

Also what time lenght are you using for your various areas?

I set mine for:

Front Yard: 35 minutes (lots of sun)
Side Yards: 35 minutes (lots of sun)
Back yard: 15 minutes (no problem with the grass, soil is always damp. Plenty of cross-spray from lanai watering)
Lanai Shrubs/Front Shrubs: 25 minutes (also waters part of front yard)

I'm also using "Smart Cycle", which breaks each of the 4 zones in a "cycle and soak".

Does this sound reasonable?

More times
 

My lawn guy recommended watering more times (especially during drought) but using appropriate same amount of water. I’m north of 44 and have the zoysia type of grass. Works well.

Sounds like you've set up fixed runs. A Flex Daily schedule would be better. Set it to end before sunrise. Here is an article on Flex Daily. Flex Daily FAQ My system watered this past Saturday (11th) and based on predicted weather, the system won't water again until the 19th. Now if the weather changes, it could water earlier or if we get rain, it will water later than the 19th. All of the watering times are determined by calculated moisture % with the soil having 50% moisture at root depth that you set. Here is an article: Moisture Levels

If you make all of the advance settings as I described, the run times for each zone will be calculated by Rachio. When you set up a Flex Daily schedule, there is an option for Any Day. This should be selected as it allows Rachio to determine what day to water since it decides when it is necessary.

My run times will be different than yours because of zone areas and precipitation rates but for my grass areas, it ranges from 39 to 68 minutes. Flower beds run for 50 minutes. I listed vegetation type for my flower beds as Shrubs which defaults to 15 inch root depth. I left it at 15 as my plants have been in place for 2 years. It should be noted that based on moisture depletion calculated by Rachio, the flower beds do not always get watered when the grass does.

Smart Cycle seems like a good option but I have found that you have to have the slope setting to Steep for it to work as described. Of course, this would change the total actual watering time too since it would think more water is needed for the sloped area even though it would also cycle and soak. I wish when it was selected that it actually performed the function regardless of slope as with a clay top layer, it might be needed for those that get runoff. I'd keep it selected in case Rachio changes the software.

Main difference between Flex Monthly and Flex Daily is that Flex Monthly uses historical weather data to determine watering needs and Flex Daily looks at actual current weather.

Did you find a weather station close by to connect with the Rachio or are you just using Rachio's calculated weather? If not, you could set up your own station. This is a good inexpensive one. Ambient Weather WS-2902. Mount it at least 6 ft off the ground in an area where the wind isn't affected by a solid fence (unless mounted above the fence), the house, trees, etc. Also want to be sure sprinklers don't spray into the rain cup. I'd also recommend the optional bird spikes. Some say that they don't always deter birds but any help in preventing them landing on the cup and using it as a toilet is a +. :laugh: Obviously, that and any leaves, etc that collect will affect rain fall readings. This unit requires batteries so be sure it's at a location where you can change them and clean the rain cup when necessary. It should come with instructions on how to connect it to whether underground but if you need assistance, this forum is good for asking questions. WxForum.net/Ambient Weather.

I have a Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station but it is considerably higher priced than the WS-2902.

Any other questions feel free to ask.

Lots of misinformation!
 

An amazing amount of misinformation here, including the Fertigator people, who I just fired over this issue, and even Mr. Helpful surprisingly. The rules for running your sprinklers are clear, your address has two specific days and times that the sprinklers should run. If everyone just ignores them, we have the potential to imperil our water supply.

The days and times to water are based on what district you are in (I believe Lake Denham is in District 14), and your lot #. That is not your address it is a number on your Villages ID at the end of U/L line. That will give you the table, District 14 is linked below, that tells you what days and time is your time to run your sprinklers.

https://www.thevillageswaterwisdom.c...1c6110a398.pdf

Yes it has been dry, and twice a week under these conditions will cause local brown areas that don't receive enough water. Those can be hand watered, but that's difficult from out of town. It is forecast to rain 4 of the next 10 days, so this issue is about to be resolved for everyone by Mother Nature.

If you notice on the sticker, it says "Recommended". It does not say this is a Rule. The info on the sticker is possibly a good starting point for those that may have never had a sprinkler system.

The stickers have bad info. For May, mine says 40min/zone, 1/wk and start at 7 AM. I have 6 zones. 6 zones times 40 minutes is 240 minutes or 4 hours. This would put my watering ending at 11 AM. Per your link (Irrigation Schedules for VCDD 14) at the bottom it says that Irrigation after 10 a.m. and before 4 p.m. is prohibited. Thus I would be in violation. You mention twice a week in your comment above. Does your sticker say 2/wk?

Hand watering is not an option for me. For one, it would require me to take the time to do it and move sprinklers. Why would I do that when I have an irrigation system? Secondly, I would have to use potable water which to me would be wasteful. Here in the south part of the villages, we irrigate with reclaimed pond water. This water came from rain (and some from the runoff of watered yards). By removing it from the ponds and putting it on yards, we are utilizing it naturally. If not collected and recycled, it would have been "wasted" since it would have percolated into the soil and eventually found its way back to the aquifer when it rained. We just borrowed it temporarily.

I've actually performed the calculation to determine how much yard area I have. Based on my lot and removing the area of the house, garage, lanai, front porch, sidewalk & driveway, I have 8841 sq ft. of grass & landscaping. Looking at the formula at the bottom of the page here How much is enough, I get 8841 x 28.3 X 0.05194 = 12,995.4 gallons which is the amount I could be using per month on average. I've averaged 7,583 gallons between Jan and April. Yes I keep a spreadsheet of my usage every month.

With the Rachio being a smart controller, I'm hoping to be below the average amount for 2024 and still have a great looking yard.

You fired Fertigator for telling you your lawn was brown and lacking water?

I'm definitely on Flex Daily Schedule. I still cannot find and option for "Any Day".

After my initial setup (without picking days of the week), I checked the "upcoming" calendar, and like you, the watering dates show about 8-9 days between scheduled waterings. Problem is, that is about what I was watering before and it wasn't nearly enough.

And yes, I found a Rachio connected weather station in my Village, about 0.5 miles away.

Is 50% depletion too much for grass? That is what my front and side yards are set for. But they are the problem zones... Would raising that % increase the frequency of the watering?

Would increasing the Crop Coefficient help?

Thanks in advance!

Any Day was one of the options as you were setting up Daily Flex. You'll need to delete your current Daily Flex schedule and start over in order to see it. Optionally, go to the Schedules tab and select the arrow to the right of the schedule. Scroll down to Interval and select all days of the week by checking each one.

Once you set up the schedule, let Rachio set the minutes. Once you change them, Rachio leaves them alone.

50% depletion is fine. Crop Coefficient if set on Dynamic should be 70%.

Regarding the 8-9 days between watering, it can and will change. The calendar is what it is thinking as of today, tomorrow or the next day you'll probably see a change. It is looking at forecasted weather (with a good % chance of rain in the next 4 days) and estimating the loss of moisture due to evapotranspiration. As live data is obtained, it will recalculate.

What is the % Moisture in each zone?

What Village are you in?

I just changed the days to every day and it has me watering 4-5Xs a week, but...

I looked at each upcoming watering schedule and it seems to break up the zones every day, rather that do everything each day of watering. It looks like my front and side yards are 2-3Xs/week, which hopefully will be enough. It's less for the shrubs (which have never been a problem.

I'm in Osceola Hills @ Soaring Eagle...

As of tonight, all 4 zones are either 109-110%, which is odd, since the grass (from what I can see on my front yard camera and what my neighbor and Dean's say) needs more water...

I'll leave it like this for a week or two. If it still isn't enough, I'll start over (I've done it twice in the last few days :loco:) and try some of your other suggestions.

Thanks again!

Did you get any rain today? That is included in % Moisture. We just got 0.14 inches of rain here and my % Moisture went from 64 to 73.

Don't know. Not there right now. But thanks for the PM and we'll talk when I get back...

Some info from Deans:

https://www.deansservices.com/public...Irrigation.pdf

https://youtu.be/xI9mw5fNKkI?si=kX4F_qMFPjXB43pA