Using Web Soil Survey to define your soil settings - Schedules & Zones / Set Up & Edit Zones - Rachio Community

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post by azdavidr on Sep 16, 2016

That’s awesome @DSNJ, and you’re welcome. Thanks for taking time to write your note. It’s great to know that the guide was helpful !

post by DroughtSaver on Dec 8, 2016

I want to echo what other posters here have been saying about finding non-local soil in their lots. Also want to note that for some 20+ years, it’s been a law in California to compact the soil in new construction to up to a 98 percentile, an almost stone-like consistency, to provide seismic stability so seismic waves pass through it quickly, producing less shaking. This kind of compaction doesn’t drain, at all. Folks living in new construction in earthquake prone states may also have this law.

Determining soil is hard stuff! Even my civil engineer neighbor, who’s taken numerous courses in soil science can still get fooled now and then by a soil that doesn’t test out like he thinks it will.

According to my soil survey, even at 24 to 31 inches down, it says I should have gravelly sandy clay loam and at 0-11 inches, I’m supposed to have “gravelly sandy loam”, which would suggest a really well-draining soil. I wish that were true, but a percolation test absolutely suggests a heavy, compacted, nasty clay-like subsoil. This, and other basic visual tests and soil texture “Feel Method” confirm this.

Over the years, constant mulching has made the soil in parts of my yard more friable and has started to build a nice black layer of top soil. I think one should use the web soil survey has a general guide along with various other basic visual tests, mason jar test, or a soil test if you can. Probably the best advice is what @azdavidr said, watch your plants for signs of stress and tweak values if necessary.

post by Toomanybarts on Jan 22, 2017

If only 90278 were on the survey!

post by mckynzee on Jan 23, 2017

@Toomanybarts Are you not able to use the survey? I’m assuming that’s your zip, I often use lat/long because it’s more accurate. Let me know if you would like me to look into it for you

post by Sdennis on Mar 16, 2017

It has taken me awhile to master the USDA soil survey web site. I use it as preliminary information in designing septic systems. Our soil in the county varies from pretty good clay loam to sandy soil on top of caliche (calcium carbonate) to pretty hard caliche rock (limestone rock).

post by mckynzee on Mar 17, 2017

@Sdennis I had the same issues- it’s not incredibly intuitive on how to use the site! I think have a feeling that’s part of why these instructions have been so helpful and popular…

post by tomlay on May 17, 2017

Hi @franz

Is this now in the software? Is that how my Gen 2 Controller determined a 0.2AW setting?

post by tomlay on May 17, 2017

I also have flower beds that we brought in soil and built them up. How would you determine AW in these situations? My mason jar test came out Loam with 45% Sand, 40% Silt and 15% Clay. Currently AW set at 0.2 like my grass zones and agrees with USDA Soil tables.

post by mckynzee on May 18, 2017

@tomlay I usually go with loam for nice, store bought soil. Loam’s AW is 0.17, so I may adjust your flower beds to that. Web soil survey is not incorporated in the software, however we have the average AW value for each soil type pre-populated in each soil type, so if you selected the correct soil type the AW should default to pretty close!

post by gadgetfan on May 4, 2018

@azdavidr - Thanks for this. Not sure how I missed it after having my Rachio for a while now, but glad I found it. Excellent work.

post by Trebacz on May 6, 2018

David this is an amazing guide and made a confusing government site with great soil information easy to navigate. Answered a lot of my questions as a new Rachio user. Turns out I have “very gravely loam” <3" and “very gravely clay” 3" to 20" with an AOI of 0.07 in Fountain Hills, AZ. We do dig with a pick-axe here. All sounds about right.

post by azdavidr on May 7, 2018

Hey @Trebacz, I’m really glad that you found the guide useful, and it was nice to meet you as well. Thanks for the nice comments about the guide! Welcome to the user community. Be sure to post with any issues you might be having, and/or any successes as well!

post by Skyball on May 8, 2018

Just came in to say thank you for this guide! Very helpful, and Rachio should either create their own or create an official play by play like you did to help people navigate the site and find their soil type.

post by azdavidr on May 8, 2018

Thanks @Skyball, I appreciate you taking the time to post this!

post by franz on May 8, 2018

@Skyball @azdavidr @Trebacz

I’m having our amazing technical writer take this and make it officially documented on our site.

post by Noonan on Jun 28, 2018

Thank you for posting this. This forum is very helpful, which is one of the reasons I recently install a Rachio v3. My run times are 43 minutes per station (flex daily), where they were 20 minutes per station three times a week with my prior non-Rachio controller.

I’ve used these instructions to find my soil quality, which I thought was clay loam. It turns out that I have the following:

What should I enter into the app?

Also, is a slope of 0-16% considered a slight or moderate slope?

Noonan

post by azdavidr on Jun 28, 2018

Welcome to the community! In addition to what you posted you should also have an ‘available water’ number. The description of what you should enter into the app. is in steps 16-19.

post by franz on Jun 28, 2018

This affects the cycle/soak times. I’d start with slight, if you experience any runoff move to moderate.

post by Noonan on Jun 28, 2018

Thank you. My available water is 0.2 per the websoil survey. This was the default entered by Rachio, so I didn’t make any adjustments.

post by franz on Jun 28, 2018

@Noonan I’d recommend starting with a zone or two if you are doing flex daily. See how it performs, get it dialed in, ask the community if you have any questions, then roll out to other zones if you enjoy the dynamism of it.

post by knighti10 on Jul 2, 2018

Franz, I live in Castle Rock so just down the road and for my shrubs after using David’s spreadsheet the shrubs are with all the near default settings are running every 5 days. I am not sure that is enough as some grasses are now getting distressed, so just checking on how to increase frequency? I changed root depth from 15 inches to 8 inches as the shrubs are only 2 years in…thoughts?

post by azdavidr on Jul 2, 2018

Your decrease in root depth will lead to shorter, more frequent irrigation. Maybe that’s enough? If not, and you’d like to increase the frequency further then consider increasing the crop coefficient, maybe 5-10% for starters.

post by Noonan on Jul 12, 2018

Thank you everyone for your responses. I did four mason jar tests. Two were silt loam in the front and side yard. Two were loam in the back. This decreased watering times by 7-8 minutes per station as available water went from 0.2 from the Soil Survey to 0.17 to my mason jar test.

Now I’ve got to run the spreadsheet on my catch cup tests with 113 measurements. What did I get myself into

post by naamang on May 3, 2019

Is this only able to be used on a PC or MAC? I’m attempting to use it on my Android smartphone and can’t figure out how to draw a square around my property in the “area of interest” step.

post by Kubisuro on May 3, 2019

Yes, unfortunately that government website is not meant for mobile use. A long time ago there was a university mobile app for iOS that interfaced with it but that app is no longer maintained. No idea if someone on the android side has interfaced with it.

post by gizbug on May 30, 2019

@azdavidr

I’m in a fairly new subdivision. My house was built last July, and my landscaping put in last fall.

My landscaper said that I have Clay or Clay Loam, it’s pretty heavier dirt.

When he laid down the sod/seed, he put black dirt down prior to laying.

When I go to the web soil survey, I get this information for my lot (house isn’t on the lot as the image is old).

Lake County, Indiana

BlA—Blount silt loam, Lake Michigan Lobe, 0 to 2 percent slopes

Typical profile

So my question is, should I use Clay, Clay Loam or Silt Loam per the website? Not sure which depth to use either for picking soil type from website.

post by azdavidr on May 30, 2019

If you follow the directions in the original post, you’ll get numbers for available water. That number allows for more finely set values then using the default soil settings that you’re referring to. I would start with that available water number and use a slightly higher or lower number based on your judgment.

Incidentally, I grew up in Lake County, Indiana. You guys have real soil compared to our sandy colored, rock-hard desert “soil”.

post by gizbug on May 30, 2019

Thank you.

post by duncanator on Aug 15, 2019

I used the soil survey map and the soil type (under my sod layer) is “very stony loam.” I would put this somewhere around clay loam, right?

post by tmcgahey on Aug 15, 2019

I would tend to say no. Stony soils would be more free-draining, the exact opposite of clay.

post by T-Will on Apr 9, 2020

We have “very stony loam” according to the web soil survey site, so would “Sandy Loam” be an appropriate setting to use for us?

post by Toneus on Apr 29, 2020

Thanks for the time you put into gathering this info. Many of the links in the pdf are out of date. This has more to do with the Community links changed.

post by beranes on May 25, 2021

Just came across an Android app called SoilWeb. It apparently uses GPS to pull info out of the soil survey making the entire process much easier. I’d be curious to hear of people find the app accurate.

post by mcrock on Jun 1, 2021

I used the SoilWeb and found we have “Exchequer very stony loam” which makes sense because every hole I dig/excavate for a plant I end up with about 20 river rocks. Which soil option in Rachio is closest to my soil type?

post by RitzLondon on Aug 27, 2021

@azdavidr @franz @sunny @tmcgahey
Thank you for creating this guide. Very useful.

I came up with the following:

Available Water: 0.19

Setting
Landform: Hillslopes
Landform position (two-dimensional): Backslope, shoulder
Landform position (three-dimensional): Side slope
Down-slope shape: Convex
Across-slope shape: Convex
Parent material: Silty and clayey residuum weathered from shale

Typical profile
A - 0 to 10 inches: silt loam
BA - 10 to 16 inches: silty clay loam
Bt1 - 16 to 22 inches: silty clay
Bt2 - 22 to 68 inches: silty clay
C - 68 to 79 inches: silty clay loam

Properties and qualities
Slope: 3 to 5 percent
Depth to restrictive feature: More than 80 inches
Drainage class: Somewhat poorly drained
Capacity of the most limiting layer to transmit water
(Ksat): Moderately low to moderately high (0.06 to 0.20 in/hr)
Depth to water table: About 12 to 24 inches
Frequency of flooding: None
Frequency of ponding: None
Maximum salinity: Nonsaline to very slightly saline (0.0 to 2.0 mmhos/cm)
Available water supply, 0 to 60 inches: High (about 10.6 inches)

Few questions for the community, please.

  1. What soil type would you pick? Silty Clay?
  2. What option would you select for the slope?
  3. I have a 25ft raised garden vegetable bed with a water drip, is there a particular way to set that up? (i.e. soil type, etc)

Thank you for your awesome help!

post by tmcgahey on Aug 27, 2021

  1. What kind of vegetation are we talking? Based on depths, it looks like grass could be one setting, and trees (if on their own zone) could be another.
  2. I wouldn’t look at the website for slope use your own judgment there. If you have a slip to your yard where you might have runoff, then set accordingly. The only thing slope setting will do is decide whether a cycle soak is needed.
  3. IMO, raised garden beds create their own hurdles. Since they not only get sun from the tip to the soils, but also from the sides, which heats the soil, drying it out quicker, it can be tougher to dial in. Is this a vegetable garden? In many cases fixed scheduling might be better for certain raised bed gardens…