[Pete1313]

Found a new to me website that shows forecasts for ref ET a week in advance.
https://digital.weather.gov
In the second column scroll down and select "Daily FRET (in)". There is also alot of other interesting weather info. If the page is slow to load, there is also a mobile link at the bottom of the map that loads faster. The mobile link is in UTC time so make sure you convert the time(subtract 5hrs for CDT)or you might think the forecast is for the next day.

 

[J_nick]

So even with going into the "Daily" FRET it is still the estimated ET for the week?

 

[Pete1313]

No, when I select Daily FRET, it gives me the Forecast for just tomorrow, Friday, which is .19" for Chicago. I can then check what is forecasted for Sat, Sun,.. or any of the following days for the week. Then by selecting Weekly FRET you can see what it is combined for the whole week. The weekly FRET for Chicago is 1.14". Maybe the page is loading slowly and it is still stuck on max temp? Try the mobile link it is faster.

 

[J_nick]

It's working fine for me. I'm right around .2 daily with 1.5ish weekly. Surprisingly Ive been watering less than that at around .9-1.2" a week

 

[Pete1313]

It's working fine for me. I'm right around .2 daily with 1.5ish weekly. Surprisingly Ive been watering less than that at around .9-1.2" a week

I'm currently at 100% ref ET, but it is a new renovation. I will eventually dial it back to about 80% of ref ET as that has worked well for me in the past on KBG. I believe warm season grasses have an even lower requirement (If some warm season members can confirm).

 

[g-man]

Pete, do you maintain a log or use a rachio?

 

[Pete1313]

I have a hunter hydrawise. I have fertilizer and spray spreadsheet logs similar to yours I believe. I do plan on making an ET and irrigation log but most likely won't start one until later this fall or next spring after I get away from daily watering. The hydrawise does have smart watering features that use ET but l am too OCD to use them .

Also HERE is a site that I use from the Illinois State Water Survey that shows actual ET numbers from previous days that I use with the forecasted numbers.

 

[g-man]

So if you don't have a ET / irrigation log, how do you know when to irrigate (prior to the reno)? I can't keep track of my zones mentally and the shade areas are very different than the sunny areas.

I'm just trying to see different approaches. I'm thinking on starting a log of what the rachio is doing to compare in more detail. I just changed my allowed depletion from 50% to 30% until the roots recover from the summer.

 

[Pete1313]

The last time I had KBG at my old house in 2015 I did have a watering log but it was not in spreadsheet form. It was in paper and pen form.

I think it would be a good idea to start a log to compare between what the Rachio is putting down and what the actual ET numbers are.

In hindsight should have started a detailed irrigation log from seed down on the reno to reference the amount of watering.. the first week i watered 150% ET spread across 5x a day, the 2nd and 3rd weeks, after it was saturated, it was 3-4x a day at 120% ET, now in the 4th week it is 2x a day at 100% ET and starting Tuesday I'll go down to 1x a day and probably be at 95-100% ET.

 

[dfw_pilot]

How far do you want to take it for a log? A weather and soil station will log all of that for you as well.