| Happydaz |
07-14-2020 01:52 PM |
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Zoysia grass when properly grown is a beautiful green lawn. Sod Solutions, the company that holds the patent for Empire Zoysia (the variety that is planted here in the Villages) recommends the following: #1. Set mower cutting height at 1 to 2 inches. Higher mowing heights taller than 2 inches cause the grass to form a lot of thatch that attracts insects and fungus. #2. In the early spring you need to buzz cut your lawn to at least one setting lower than you mow normally. So if you mow all year at the highest recommended height of 2 inches you would buzz cut your lawn in March at 1 and 1/2 inches or less. This does not hurt the grass as the stolons of Zoysia are below ground level and the grass bounces back pretty fast. This can be hard on a mower so you can make partial passes doing a little each run. You need to bag up all this dead grass and remove it from the lawn. This early buzz cut goes a long way in keeping empire zoysia grass healthy.
I have followed these directions and my zoysia lawn has been growing very well. I mow my lawn at 2 inches. Commercial mowers balk at mowing zoysia low at 2 inches as they would need to mow every 5-7 days in summer to keep it at 2 inches. If you do mow each week at the top height of 2 inches the lawn takes on a carpet like look where the grass thickens up and looks flat without all the undulating look you get from higher mower heights. So bottom line is if you mow empire zoysia higher than 2 inches and don’t buzz cut it in the spring you are going to get a messy, uneven, diseased, insect infested lawn. The problem is no one is managing empire zoysia as it should be grown.
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