Overview
Yardian’s Smart Program automatically calculates the most efficient watering schedule for your yard based on the weather data, zone profiles, your preferences for each zone, and optional water restrictions.
The calculation is a 7-day cycle. The information on the first day is accurate, but the following 6 days are estimated for reference. Every day at midnight, the schedule will be recalculated based on the updated weather data.
Yardian's Smart Program is structured using the EPA WaterSense weather-based smart watering algorithm. Learn more about How Smart Watering Works.
Quick Start
- First, let’s modify the MAD (% Maximum Allowable Depletion) in the Plant setting page to determine the watering interval. A higher MAD value will result in a longer watering interval, while a lower MAD value will result in a shorter watering interval.
If you usually run a zone 3 times a week, you can modify the MAD value to get an estimated watering interval of around 2.3 days (7 divided by 3 is 2.3). - Once the watering interval is determined, we can adjust the watering time by changing the AR (Application Rate) value in the Sprinkler Heads setting page. A higher AR value will result in a shorter watering time, while a lower AR value will result in a longer watering time.
Set up Parameters for the Smart Program
In the Main tab, go to the My Yard section. Select the zone you want to assign for the Smart Program.
1. The Plant Setting Page
- Please select the default plant closest to yours.
- You can change the Root Depth and MAD (% Maximum Allowable Depletion). Normally it is hard to know the root depth, so you can leave it as default.
- You can change the MAD to specify the Watering Intervals. As you change the MAD, the Watering Intervals estimated by the Smart Program will change accordingly.
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MAD indicates the maximum amount of Plant Available Water allowed to deplete from the soil’s Field Capacity. A watering task will be scheduled when the soil’s water level is below the MAD line, so it determines how much water would be applied and how often. The default MAD is 50%.
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2. The Sprinkler Head Setting Page
- Please select the default sprinkler head closest to yours.
- You can change the Application Rate (AR) to specify the Watering Time. As you change the Application Rate (AR), the Watering Time estimated by the Smart Program will change accordingly.
The water application rate is the depth of water applied by sprinklers in a zone, used to convert the amount of water to watering time. A lower estimated application rate could lead to a longer watering time.
By default, the application rate is presented in either inches or centimeters per hour (in/hr or cm/hr). It can also be converted to the volumetric flow rate of a sprinkler head (gallons/minute or GPM). If you switch to the volumetric flow rate, be sure to input the number of sprinkler heads.
3. Other Parameters
In the zone settings, continue to specify the Soil Types, Slope, Exposure, and Zone Area. You can use default values in most of the cases, but please specify the Zone Area as accurate as possible for better water usage estimation, especially if you use “volumetric flow rate + number of sprinkler heads" to describe the flow rate of the sprinkler head.
Assign Zone(s) to the Smart Program
There are 2 ways to assign a zone to the Smart Program.
1. Specify Directly in the Zone Setting Page
- After specifying all the required parameters in the zone settings, go to “Program”.
- Select Smart Program. You can edit the details if needed.
2. Specify Through the Program Tab
- In the Program tab, select Smart Program.
- Click the Zone option to assign zone(s) for this Smart Program.
Other Adjustments
Smart Watering Adjustment
If you need to adjust the pre-programmed watering schedule for any reason, you can always go to the "Smart Watering Adjustment" to tailor the program for each zone.
Smart Program Hours
You can specify allowable hours to run the Smart Program by setting up the “Smart Program Hours.”
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