[Jngiblin]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

#1, I'd rely on LOCAL Home Depot or Lowe's to pick up sod, they ONLY stock varieties that are appropriate for our area.

#2, We took the free Florida lawn maintenance classes provided by the U. of F. when we first built our home here. Don't know if they have changed over the years, but, we were give the following advice and through the years it has proven very very reliable:
. remove as much of the dead "thatch" as you can in the bare areas, but don't obsess over it, just see that it's "roughed" up.
.fill in the spaces between the pieces of sod with Black Cow (comes in bags where garden soil, manure, etc. is stacked)
. and lastly, they taught us that if you only have small bare spots, places here and there, perhaps from grubs, after spraying for the grubs, you can just "rough up" areas smaller than a dinner plate, and simply fill them with Black Cow... they WILL fill in with the need for purchasing sod if they are small areas.
#3 As for the system, they are a headache, why not just manually set the number of minutes ? But, I understand if you are seldom here and really need to rely on the auto. The university extension USED to also offer free classes on irrigation systems, Hunter and one or two others. You might inquire (their office is/was in the Sumter Co. Sheriff's annex on route 466 near Morse Blvd.) if they still offer these very helpful classes. Many of us have found the "rain sensors" are also frequently not working, or are completely useless ! Good luck. The extension classes are GREAT, and "free"(well, our taxes support the ag. extension office of course) makes them even better.

All three questions answered! Thank you for taking the time to respond. I’ve become well versed in irrigation. My initial question was as a result of not finding zoysia in any of the local stores and I looked over time at multiple retailers.