How often are you watering the lawn? What is allowed?
 

I am down in Lake Denham, there only part time. I put in the Rachio controller so I can adjust my times from Massachusetts.

Anyhow, my lawn is very dry. Even Fertigator emailed me to tell me it needs more water. However, the schedule the Villages put in my controller box says I can only water 1X per week, which is crazy. It also says it's only allowed on Tuesday or Friday. The times for each zone are pretty short also.

Is that schedule a rule or just a suggestion. I would like to up the amount of water it's getting. Also, maybe do it overnight. I know watering at night can lead to fungus issues. But my schedule says to start at 7 AM. I feel that water is evaporating quickly with the warmer mornings.

We are about to enter rainy season, I hope your system monitors that? In my area recommend 3 times per week, even or odd days ( last time I looked)( I don’t have grass so not problem for me) When drought proclaimed the raise rates and reduce it to twice week. I’m sure there bean counter somewhere keep track? :police:

There are no strict rules, just guidelines. You should water before dawn, not when the sun is out. If you are having issues with your lawn due to inadequate water, I would not hesitate to increase it. I think that most people water two times per week, but may want to increase that to three, if you have a lawn issue.

St Augustine grass needs at least 1” of water per week. You really need to put cups out in your lawn to measure irrigation.

I’m thinking you misread the instructions from the Villages, it’s twice per week, not once. (i.e, your watering days are Tuesdays and Fridays). St Augustine can’t go that long without water. Sometimes it stresses out (grass blades folded in half) and needs water more than twice per week.

7 AM is a bit late to start watering. The sticker (instructions) tell me (at my house over in Fenney) that I can start watering at 4 AM. The later you start watering, the more water will be lost to evaporation. Best not to water after sunset as all that moisture sitting on grass blades will cause fungal growth.

Without knowing your lawn size and you being away, I’d recommend at least a 30 minute run on each zone with two runs on each zone per your allowed watering day (Tue and Fri). This way the total lawn zones will get watered for 60 minutes. I recommend breaking up your watering so that the water has time to permeate into the soil/roots vs running into the gutter.

That’s a good start, measure your irrigation at your earliest opportunity. Hopefully your Ranchio will measure rainfall and you won’t drown the grass.

If you have the Rachio, why aren't you using Flex Daily so that Rachio can control the watering?

I don't think I misread. While it says allowable days are Tuesday and Friday, the frequency shows 1 day per week. See below. I won't be able to measure until July when I'm there.

https://i.imgur.com/Sg8tTA8l.jpg


I'll check into that. I was assuming the sticker on my box was a rule or restriction of some sort so I didn't allow the Rachio to do anything except the schedule I set.

ETA: I just set up the Flex Daily. Will see how it goes. Thanks for the tip. I hadn't really looked at that before.

Fyi
 

Fyi
 

Duo post

Dean's Recomendation

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I've found that their "recommended" scheduling is inadequate. Right now, they recommend once every 6 days.

My neighbor (who watches my house when I'm away) and Dean's have both told me my grass needs more water.

Hence, I manually run the cycle in between the Rachio scheduled settings... So, now, I'm watering twice a week. From what I see on my SimpliSafe front yard camera, things are improving...

Every other day; with the substandard soil that we’re trying to grow grass on, I have to do it to keep my grass from burning up.

[QUOTE=frayedends;2330513]I don't think I misread. While it says allowable days are Tuesday and Friday, the frequency shows 1 day per week. See below. I won't be able to measure until July when I'm there.

Standard time is November thru March. Yes, dormant season for St Augustine Grass…..once per week, if even needed. I’ve turned off my irrigation at times in this period. So you are good for a twice per week watering now.

I think a 7 AM start time is late. Your call.

If you are indeed using Flex Daily then I'd say you have some settings wrong. Like if you chose warm season grass, the app defaults the root zone at 9 inches. Should be 6 at the most. There are other settings under advance that need attention too.

Sandy soil, so it drains quickly, so water 3 times per week.

Once or two per week, it drains and the "soil" does not retain water.

The key is how much water per week...........jus divide by the number per week.

Fertigator knows what they are talking about.

How often?

As often as needed.

Lots of good advise here.

The chart on your box seems ambiguous. I listen to the professional lawn care folks.

People have received letters for a history of over watering if over 7,500 gal/mo for a Villa or 10,000 gal/mo for larger lots. They blamed this for deterioration of some streets. So watch your irrigation bill with that as a target.

Having water run down the street indicates over watering As others have suggested, a controller that lets you break up watering into four short cycles helps avoid this and is most efficient.

Flume makes a device that lets you monitor water usage on you phone remotely and detects leaks.

Flume Water | Smart Home Water Monitor | Water Leak Detector

Catching one broken head while you're away will easily pay for it.

That is soooo helpful. Thanks.

What other changes would you suggest?

I do just under half the water duration that it says on the sticker. Twice a week except for Nov-Feb I switch to once a week.

I have had good success by watering for short periods 5 or 6 days a week. I found that by watering for long periods most of the water just soaks into the sandy soil. It’s working for me… my grass is Green.

For grass areas
Vegetation Type - Warm Season Grass
Spray head - Generic rotary nozzle I have the Hunter MP Rotators
Soil Type - Sandy Loam
Exposure - Lots of Sun - your may vary on zone
Slope - Slight

My advanced settings for grass areas are:
Available Water 0.12in/in (default based on soil type)
Root depth 6 in (default was 9 but St Augustine should be in the 4 - 6 range)
Allowed Depletion 50%
Efficiency 70%
Crop Coefficient - click on the lock, then check All Zones. This changes from Static to Dynamic. Crop Coefficients actually change month to month due to the weather.

For Flower beds
Vegetation Type - Shrubs
Spray Head - Mister - I have the little red fan sprays
Soil Type - Loam - landscapers amended the soil
Exposure - Lots of sun
Slope - Flat

Advanced Settings
Available Water 0.17in/in (default based on soil type)
Root depth 15 in (default for shrubs)
Allowed Depletion 50%
Efficiency 95%
Crop Coefficient - should be Dynamic if you set all zones to Dynamic above

I've added a 2" Vu-Flow filter to the irrigation water since we are using pond water in the south for irrigation and it plugs the filters in the sprinkler heads. This filter requires cleaning once or twice a month but sure beats cleaning the filters in each head.

Secondly, I added the Everydrop flowmeter to the system. This allows you to get actual gpm usage on each zone. With that, you can physically measure the area of each zone and then calculate the precipitation rate (value you'd enter for Nozzle Inches Per Hour) instead of using the default sprinkler head values. Let's assume you have the MP rotators. They spec at 0.4 inches/hour. However, your system should have head to head coverage (i.e. water from one head reaches the other head). So technically for a given area you are putting down more than 0.4 inches per hour. I'm sure I have greater than the 70% efficiency I put in my advanced settings but I wanted the system to run a little longer.

Added benefits of the flowmeter is that you'll get notifications of low flow, high flow and any flow after zones shut off. Low flow just sends a notification. High flow (break in line or a sprinkler head is damaged) sends a notification AND turns off the zone. You'll need to fix the issue and re-enable the zone before that zone runs in any future schedules.

You can do your own soil test using a jar. Remove some grass (leave any dirt) in a 3 or 4 inch circle. Dig out soil about 6 inches deep. Collect this soil to put it in the jar. How to measure is here: Jar Test

Then download the first Excel sheet here: Soil Texture Triangle

My values were:

Sand 68%
Clay 21%
Silt 11%
Based on the triangle, I'm barely in the sandy clay loam section. That isn't an option in Rachio so I dropped down to the Sandy loam. Rachio will think the soil is capable of holding less water which is fine.

I actually measured each zone area and put those values in the advanced settings. Then I followed this article to calculate precipitation rate - Calculating Precipitation Rate. And then changed my nozzle inches per hour to this value.

I did make the in app purchase for Valve Monitoring. This will notify you if a valve uses more or less current than when initially calibrated. It can help in seeing when a valve needs to be replaced. Of course, once purchased you'll have to go into the valve monitoring advanced settings and turn that feature on. Mine are set +/- 25%.

I also have my own weather station connected to Weather Underground so Rachio gets the actual temps and rain values from my station. Do you have a station close by that you are using or are you letting Rachio calculate rainfall?

While it may seem I have a good handle on the system, I'm still learning and tweaking.

I have the Hunter MP rotator heads on my irrigation system and it takes 50 minutes per zone to get a 1/2 inch of water. Your results may vary but I used the tuna can system to measure and that's how long it takes for mine.

I did try shortening the cycles and water 3 times a week but my St. Augustine didn't like it. I was starting to get some fungus from that method and was told that it is better to let the grass dry out a little so the roots grow deeper.

If your contractor advised you of the need to water more pay attention at least they are contacting you, cant blame them if your lawn goes bad.

Yup, I have updated my watering schedule based on input from the members here. I'm glad they let me know. I was really wanting to make sure I wasn't breaking a CDD rule or something. Don't want some Karen telling on me for sprinkling out of schedule. :D

Thanks! I'll give those changes a try...

What "Interval" do you use? Do you check off every day, so it is able to operate, regardless of what day it's scheduled? Or do you check 2 or 3 certain days a week, so it just runs on these days (weather permitting)?

Select Any Day. If you chose a specific day or days, then the software won't water unless the need is on that/those days. Probably will kill your lawn if it is dry say on Saturday and can't run until Tuesday (if you had selected Tuesday).

Did you find a local weather station?

We have a Racio too and in our area is allowed twice per week (Thursdays and Sundays) during Daylight savings. Then only once per week (Thursday’s) during Standard time.

I have lived in Florida for almost 20 years from Miami to Orlando and here. The watering schedules frequencies are very similar everywhere we have being.

We increased our to 3 x's a week. However we haven't been beck (haven't moved in permanently yet), to see if that is enough, but the 2×'s wasn't enough.

The default times for the Rachio is 3 minutes way too short if you haven’t changed it. Depends on what types of heads you have on how long to water. I water grass 20 minutes 3 times a week. Shrub areas 3 times a week for 10 minutes.

So the water doesnt run off - on the days i water, i run through the zones twice for half the time

So instead of running a zone for 20 minutes, i run it twice for 10 - starting 90 or 120 minutes apart from each other.

They're not going to replace your lawn when it is destroyed by chinch bugs from being over stressed due to lack of water. Check irrigation bill usage. Even the Villages web site recommends 7200 gal/mo for a designer home. How Much is Enough | TheVillagesWaterWisdom
I'm also a part timer. I have the b-hyve system and also have cameras. I have it set to every 3 days. I break it up on the days I water so it doesn't just run off. During the extreme heat and drought we're experiencing now, I'll add a manual cycle now and then. I was at about 4200 gals last month and I'll probably be 6-7000 this month in a Veranda so I'm within the guidelines. Before the new b-hyve controller I would hit 12000 gals in May and June. Too much run off and plenty of times it would water right before a rainy day. B-hyve uses forecast to adjust. Anyway, my advice is do what you need to do to save your lawn.

Finally, someone in the Villages who has taken all the steps for responsible irrigation. I have the same exact Rachio setup. I also installed a Flume water monitor that I got at a reduced price on Amazon Prime Day. I have to admit, although this is the optimal setup, most people are not going to do all this.

Installing the Rachio smart irrigation controller is #1 on the scale of importance. Setting it up as you mentioned by adjusting the advanced settings is #2. ( I found Allowed Depletion set to 30-35% to work best for me ).

After this installing the irrigation filter is really important because at certain times of the year especially when we don't get rain, the Villages sends us the worst irrigation water from the ponds. We get more sediment and other junk that clogs of the individual sprinkler filters. When this happens, they may still look like they are working but the flow rate is probably diminished. I've seen many stubborn people that don't want to get the irrigation filter and clean the individual filters, sometimes up to 50 heads only to find by the next day or two they are all clogged again. Chuck Grospitch, chuck.grospitch@gmail.com, 440-823-4273, can install one for you for those who are interested. Money well spent because you clean one filter once a month instead of 30-50.

My Rachio flow meter did save me recently by telling me that after it shut off all the zones, water was still running for a couple of minutes. After investigating, I found one of my valves was getting stuck and I needed to change the diaphram. As you mentioned, it also pays for itself when a head breaks and you are not aware. The flow meter will sense the increased water flow and disable that zone and send you an alert. I felt the installation and the cost of the flow meter was a little high but again if you can find someone to install it, it can pay for itself with just one failure.

Two times a week as recommended when we first moved in. At Linden south of 44. Grass is fine.

Thanks.

The Everydrop flowmeter is listed on Rachio's website. The wired version is $150. Excluding the wiring, I bet if someone had it on hand when the irrigation filter was installed, the installer would install it too. Except perhaps for the wiring.

Installation would be something like this.

Similar experience and setup is working for me also.

Multiple short cycles helps a lot. They put a thin layer of clay on top of the sand so it doesn't take much water to get run off.

Adding a filter has reduced sprinkler head issues.I find mostly small particles of algae.

Rachio controller
 

I to are from Mass and installed a Rachio controller. I have it set on Daily where I can control the days of the week and its time. Disregard the Villages schedule. Love the system

Remote Rain Gauge
 

I also have a Rachio controller to control our watering. We are doing 3 times per week. I go to the app Wunderground to check how much rain we get. I have two neighbors within 500 feet that have monitors. The monitors will show how much rain is received each 24 hours resetting at midnight. (Both monitors are within 0.1 inches of each other. ). My sprinklers are set to come on at 9:30 PM so if I’m out of town, I will check the Wunderground monitors to see how much rain we’ve had. I can also check if I think there is rain in The Villages while we are gone. If there’s been a half an inch or more rain within a few days I will skip that watering day.

Isn't that "3 minute run" just the default time to test you zones?