Identifying and understanding plant types is an important factor in meeting plant needs. Different plant types and associated root depths can be selected to determine controller runtimes and frequency between irrigation.

The WeatherTRAK controller lists 17 different plant types, 14 of which have corresponding crop coefficients (Kc) and default root depths. The crop coefficient is the ratio between maximum water loss and the reference water loss for a plant. Various plant species have different Kc’s depending on the time of the year. In the chart below, the custom plant types cpa, cpb, and cut can be assigned custom crop coefficients (Kc) for all twelve months for (Custom Plant A and B) or monthly custom crop coefficients for (Custom Turf). The names are simply placeholders. If a specific plant type with yearly or monthly data is known, enter the corresponding Kc and root zone depth accordingly.

Plant type default root zone depths can be edited from a range of 2-36” in 1” increments. Shorter root depths will result in more frequent irrigation while deeper root depths may have runtime with multiple cycles and soak times and less frequent irrigation days. If turf over-seeding is part of your annual maintenance, consider raising the root zone depth until seed germination is accomplished, then increase the root zone depth after the first mowing to adjust station runtimes.

Plant Species Table

Below is a table of common plant types and associated root depths.