In terms of tree health it would be best to keep irrigation water off all parts of tree. If that can't be avoided water on the trunk of tree should be fairly harmless. You definitely don't want to water the foliage of any tree with irrigation water as it will impact the health of the tree. Trees mu...

Honestly, I'll likely do a number of tests screwdriver, shovel, jar, I like having lots of data (hopefully non-conflicting).

I find I have the hardest time judging plant response, and with so little rain in MA right now, everything's in a pretty bad state.

My goal is to characterize the clay/silt/sand proportions primarily to understand my watering requirements.

I used a flashlight and that seemed to help. It still isn't an obvious demarcation, but close enough for this task.

I'm having a real tough time finding the 2 minute line in my soil structure test. I took soil from the top four inches, worked out all the clumps and rocks and roots by hand, filled a jar half way, added water and shook. Basically after 2 minutes, it's still basically all brown except some organic m...

Thanks for the write up DFW. Im purchasing a Rachio in a couple of weeks when I get my system installed. Looking forward to it, just not the bill! Look for discounts on the gen 1 models as they clear out for gen 2. Software is the same, just no controls on the unit for gen1. I found my deal on slic...

Another vote for the Rachio with one caveat; as of last year, the programming/software did not allow for a delay between zones. This was important to me as I'm on a well and needed recovery time. Looking forward to them programming this feature so I can get back to using the Rachio. It was great to...

Another vote for the Rachio with one caveat; as of last year, the programming/software did not allow for a delay between zones. This was important to me as I'm on a well and needed recovery time. Looking forward to them programming this feature so I can get back to using the Rachio. It was great to...

dfw_pilot wrote:I have a Davis 6163

Awesome write-up, thanks!

Mightyquinn wrote:So with the Rachio, I can be as technical as I want with the information it uses to program itself?? Am I able to turn on zones from my phone while in the yard?

Yes, to both questions.

DFW, how detailed did you get with the Rachio setup, regarding soil type, individual nozzels precipitation rates, slope steepness etc.? Also what Davis station do you have?

Another Rachio user here, when the Gen 1 16 zone model went on sale for $109 from HD, I grabbed it.

There are several threads in the Rachio community requesting this feature, so it will come eventually, I hope. They seem to be pretty responsive. What I plan to do now is to use one of the unused zones as a buffer zone, i.e. run the zone (which doesn't have any valve connection) for 5 minutes betwee...

Looks great! I found that early doses of stater fert woke my bewitched mini-reno this spring. That really seems to help kick-start it.

Right, I haven't read through all of this and perhaps I'm missing a detail, but I don't think there is a delay from zone to zone. This seems to break the time up into intervals, but the well is continuously running.

Rachio Gen 1 16 Zone model.

Awesome stuff, thanks!

I've upgraded to one of the newer smart irrigation controllers. However, I'm on a well, and it doesn't seem to have the option to put in a well pump delay between zones. My original controller was a hunter pro-c and included this setting. How do I know 1) If I need to use this, and 2) what the delay...

So is the theory that you want to get it down 4 inches, once per week, whether that takes 1 inch of water, or 1/2 inch or 2 inches?

Nice, I'm looking to get the Stihl Kombi 130 today, well at least get prices, I can never buy big ticket items without tons of research, price shopping, etc., weakness of mine.

Happy fathers day to all the dads out there!